Channel: CreekValleyCritters

Category: Pets & Animals

Tags: creekvalleycritterscalebmicepet mousecutemousedomesticated micecute mousecleaning cagefunny mouserodentcute miceanimalpet micefancy mousefancy micemouse carefunny

Description: Over the years many people have asked me to make a video on how I clean my open concept mouse cages, so here it is :) Sorry it is a bit long, but there was a lot of stuff to cover plus the mice were being adorable. Open concept mouseries are a wonderful way to keep mice. The reason they work is because most domesticated mice have an instinctive caution of heights and will never leave. Only very young mice, mice who are being severely bullied or highly motivated un-neutered males can sometimes jump. Since moving my mice into my new mouse room, I have not had a single jumper, not even the youngsters. This means they are very happy with their homes. I also think my older mice are teaching the younger ones, or maybe there is some epigenetics involved, but my new generations show zero sign of even thinking about jumping, it seems to no longer be in their DNA. This is making things easy since I do not have to put the youngsters in a cage with a door for a period of time as they mature. Open concept mouseries are wonderful because access is so easy, the mice feel free, the air circulation is excellent, you can give them so much more space and they can look really nice. If you do decide to try keeping mice in an open concept mousery, here are a few safety guidelines: make sure the room is 100% mouse proof and uncluttered so recapture is easy should one jump, put a bit of carpeting under the mousery to make any falls softer, ban any predatory pets, e.g. cats, from the mouse room, make sure the door is always closed. If you design the open concept mousery so the mice feel safe (6 inch bedding barrier, large enough space, lots of hides and toys, plenty of food and water), a mouse who jumps is rare, but it can happen. Steps to cleaning: 1. put mice in a safe container (if you do decide to leave them in the cage during cleaning, be hyper-vigilant of where they are at all times so you do not accidentally hurt them) 2. remove all toys, hides, food/water bowls, enrichments and bedding 3. sweep the cage 4. mix warm water with a little vinegar and use paper towel, sponge or wash cloth to clean the cage thoroughly 5. dry as best you can with paper towel or a cloth towel 6. wash all toys, food/water bowls, hides and enrichments with vinegar water, dry with paper towel or cloth towel 7. put down fresh bathmat carpeting/fleece (trim any loose threads with a pair of scissors) and dust free paper based bedding e.g. Uber bedding 8. return and arrange clean toys, food/water bowls, hides and enrichments, put torn up tissue paper into the sleeping huts 9. return mice and watch them enjoy their new, clean set up :) 10. carpet/fleece clean up: shake vigorously and then brush used carpeting/fleece thoroughly; put in a washing machine, depending on how 'used' it is, it can take anywhere from one to three cycles to be completely odor free, then dry in the dryer or air dry.