[Gpdd] MISC.: Amelia the Mouse

[Penny Charlesworth]

I have been without my laptop for ages but today I am visiting my son ( the one that pigsits) and have the use of his for the afternoon.

I have caught up on some GPDD while I had the chance and saw Pat's message about Amelia the mouse. I just had to send her a welcome as I have fancy mice myself.

They are so sweet and I hope that you will have a lot of fun with her Pat.

No-one seems to make a proprietary mouse food in England so I mix up various things for my mice. My local petshop sells all manner loose grains so I put a small handful of assorted grains in a bag - barley, rolled oats, whole oats and maize. I mix this with some of my cockatiels' seed and a bit of piggy mix. They like pumpkin and sunflower seed but not too much as it makes them fat. An occasional peanut is welcome. If I am cooking plain rice or pasta, I put a spoonful in their dish or a little cooked potato. They have hay to nest in and nibble at and three times a week they have a little veg. Mine enjoy a piece of the Piggyfriends' greens or a dandelion leaf. Seeding grasses go down well or a cucumber slice. A corner of my morning toast or a small piece of crust from wholemeal bread. A few cornflakes ( only from a cereal with no added sugar ). They like a piece of millet courtesy of my birds. Experiment with the veg. I have had mice in the past who liked carrot but my current girls do not. Same with apple.

My mice never meet the piggies although, if am carrying a piggy, I sometimes hold him/her up to the mice house. I keep mine in a 20 gallon aquarium, where they have lots of hidey holes, old cardboard tubes, branches from unsprayed fruit trees and a hanging water bottle as mice invariably fill a water dish with their substrate.

I always scrub my hands after handling my mice, who can become very tame given gentle and frequent handling.

I only keep female mice as, sadly, the males do pong somewhat. Lots of female mice will happily cohabit but the same cannot be said for the males.

I hope that this is of some help, Pat.

A very small hug for Amelia.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.