Today you can often see different animals in the apartments. Someone gets cats, others - dogs. There are people who opt for rodents. Some houses have chinchillas, guinea pigs and decorative mice.
The latter will be discussed in our article. There is a white and gray mouse. You can also meet rodents with a more original color, for example, spotted.
Japanese mouse: view description
For the first time, these mice were bred in Japan as food for small snakes. But thanks to their friendly disposition, interesting color and unpretentiousness in the maintenance they were soon made another type of pet. The Japanese decorative mouse has become popular not only in its own country, but also in many other countries.
What is this animal? A small mouse four centimeters in size. The weight of the animal is 6 grams. The fur is white, randomly decorated with black specks that make the rodent look like a Dalmatian. Marks in animals are all different, they are usually bizarre forms. The peculiarity of these mice is that they do not smell.
Keeping and feeding Japanese mice
Such mice can be kept one at a time, and in groups. Just remember that you can’t keep two males in a cage, because they will arrange a “war” for the territory. Those who want to get a mouse to play with her, to watch her, it is better to opt for a boy.
Mice should be kept in a plastic terrarium, covered with a grill on top. Equip it with various objects for leisure: ladders, ropes, a wheel, snags and other elements. Place a mouse house in the terrarium.
It is necessary to line the bottom with sawdust. They should be changed once or twice a week. The optimum temperature for keeping these rodents is 21 degrees.
Mice should be fed with pumpkin seeds, fruits, corn, oats, millet, burdock leaves, cilantro, fruits, plantain, parsley and others.
Once a week you need to give protein food. It can be low-fat cottage cheese, a piece of boiled meat or an egg (hard-boiled). Hang a mineral stone in a cage.
Baby mice
This is not only the smallest rodent, but also the smallest mammal on Earth. The weight of the beast is eight grams. The body length of the rodent does not exceed seven centimeters.
These mice are great for keeping in a cage with small cells (no more than five millimeters). These rodents practically do not emit a specific smell. Mice should put clay or glass plates in a cage. Rodents feed on grain and cereal feed.
Also, add greens, vegetables and fruits to the diet. Sometimes give rodents flour worms, lean meat, ground into minced meat.
Cottage cheese and white bread are occasionally sometimes added to the diet of mice.
Gerbil
These rodents are well suited for keeping in an apartment. Gerbils in daylight are more active. They are easy to train, people are not aggressive.
The habitat in nature is deserts and semi-deserts. In appearance , the rodent resembles a jerboa, thanks to the elongated hind limbs and tail with a tassel at the end.
Rodents reproduce very well; they are not picky in food.
The gerbil cage should be metal, measuring 40x50 cm or more.
The rodent should be fed with legumes, herbs, and cereals. They also use hay, branches of soft tree species (poplar, willow and others). Germinated cereals are useful for gerbil. Also, the rodent loves vegetables, berries and fruits, and not only in fresh, but also in dry form. Sometimes give gerbil dairy products, cottage cheese, flour worms, dry gammarus and more. Gray bread is readily eaten by rodents.
The tubular bones of farm animals and chalk should be used for mineral feeding of pets. There must always be water in the cage.
In gerbils, the front legs are mobile, so they are often used in the process of eating food for convenience.
From the end of winter to late autumn, these rodents breed. In one litter there are up to five cubs. But, unfortunately, not everyone survives. The duration of pregnancy of such an animal is 23 days. After the birth of the babies, it is not necessary to plant the male.
At the age of twelve days, the kids already begin to eat on their own. During this period, they also continue to feed on breast milk.
Needle mouse
Sparkling decorative mice as pets have become relatively recent. These rodents conquered the hearts of people. They are sociable, quickly get used to people, especially those who care for them. In captivity and care are unpretentious. What is such an animal? The sparkling mouse is a cross between a gerbil, a hedgehog and a jerboa. The eyes of these animals are large, beautiful. The whole body is covered with fluffy fur, on the back there are real needles.
This feature became the reason that these decorative mice were called needle-shaped. The length of the body is on average 10 cm, and the tail is 9 cm. The muzzle of this rodent is very pretty. The lower part of the mouse body is covered with white pile, and on the top are needles of yellow, dark sulfur or tan.
It is necessary to keep in a cage, on the bottom of which sawdust should be laid. They need to be changed as they become dirty.
It is worth putting a house in the cage, in it the mice will rest. Shelves for climbing and ladders should also be placed in the cage.
These rodents need to be given deciduous tree branches. As for nutrition, there are no features. Eat everything that other decorative mice.
White home (laboratory) mouse
These rodents have long lost their wildlife. Recently, they are very common in people as pets. Their massive content began about 125 years ago. These rodents are sociable, unpretentious in care.
Best of all, a white mouse gets used to a person, if you acquire a monthly rodent. After the purchase, you need to pick it up more often, play with it. These rodents are very trainable.
Feeding is easy, they feed on different foods for rodents. White mouse eats greens, vegetables, cereals. In no case do not give roasts fried and fatty foods. It is useful to supplement the diet with flour worms or other invertebrates.
For growing incisors, branches of shrubs or stone fruits, crackers should be added to the nutrition of young animals.
The duration of pregnancy in a rodent of this species is approximately twenty days. The female brings about seven babies, although sometimes more. A mouse can give about ten litters per year .
Rodents must live in a cage. There must be a house in it. It is also advisable to put a wheel or additional accessories for games. The optimum temperature for the content is twenty degrees.
Home gray mouse
In addition to white, there are gray mice. They are also a subspecies of domestic. A gray mouse weighs an average of thirty grams, the body length is about ten centimeters. The tail length of this mouse is 10 cm. The rodent's hair is stiff. Coloring is monophonic.
Life span
And how many decorative mice live? This question cannot be answered exactly. Since the life span of animals depends on many factors. On average, it is two to three years.
Conclusion
Now you know what decorative mice are. We considered different breeds. We also touched on the topic of keeping and feeding these little rodents. We hope that our article was useful to you.