Where To Get Your Mice
There are three main options when deciding where to get your mice, these being a pet shop, a rescue centre or a breeder. Unfortunately a lot of people are unaware of the last two and buy from their local pet shop simply because they didn’t know they had a choice. However I feel there are many potential advantages to not buying your mice from a pet shop and would urge everyone to find out about the other options before doing so. I have written the following summaries about each to help with this.
Pet Shops
Until just a few years ago practically all of my mice had come from a pet shop. Unfortunately this has often meant they have had shorter than average life spans, been generally unhealthy or on one occasion even been pregnant and had a litter soon after being bought! This is not to say this will be the case for all pet shop mice but it is a sad fact that many shops get their animals from rodent farms - large scale breeders who turn out huge numbers of mice in poor conditions with little consideration for their health. Combine this with the fact that a lot of pet shops keep their animals in less than satisfactory conditions and have staff with little or no knowledge of how to properly care for, sex and handle them and it is little wonder that this is the result. Again I do want to emphasize that this will not necessarily be the case for every pet shop and I have had pet shop mice live long, healthy lives but I know I could have saved a huge amount of heartache - not to mention vets bills - if I had got my mice from other sources. Mice from a pet shop are often cheap however and, whether it’s actually a good thing or not, can be bought and taken home there and then.
Rescue Centres
It is generally well known about the countless numbers of cats and dogs in need of homes in rescue centres across the country. However it seems that not nearly so many people are aware that situation is the same for small pets as it is for the bigger ones. The numbers of mice in rescues aren’t as high as for many other small animals such as rabbits (possibly because of their shorter life span) but this certainly doesn’t mean they are in any less need, or are less deserving of a good home. A lot of people are put off from getting a small pet from a rescue centre as they are concerned about them having health problems or because they want to get them whilst they are as young as possible, but any animals that come into a rescue centre will be treated for any immediate health problems and as sadly a lot of the mice handed in to rescues are pregnant females there will often be babies looking for homes as well as older mice. I currently have several rescue mice and have found it to be a very rewarding and fulfilling experience to be able to give a good home to a previously unwanted and unloved pet. Rescue centres don’t charge for their mice but you will usually be asked to make a small donation towards their running costs instead. For further details of rescue centres who may have mice in need of homes please see here. UK Rescue Centres We also have a rehoming board on the forum, see Mice Needing Homes
Breeders
A good breeder will be someone who cares about their animals and aims to breed for good health and temperament, and is a world away from a rodent farm, feeder breeder (someone who breeds mice to be food for reptiles etc) or anyone else who simply puts any random males and females together and sells the resulting babies. A responsible breeder will know the origin of their mice and as they will not breed from any with a history of health or behavioural problems and as they will have been handled from a very early age, mice bought from them are far more likely (although by no means guaranteed) to be healthy, have long lives and be tame from the outset. It is the usual practice for a breeder to ask for a contract to be signed when you buy mice from them, stating that you agree to take good care of them and that you will let them know of any problems that arise. This is nothing to worry about and is an indication that the breeder cares about what happens to his/her mice after they’ve been sold, something to look out for. When getting mice from a breeder there will often be a waiting time of several weeks, often longer if you want a particular colour or variety but in either instance you can only expect to pay about the same price as you would in a pet shop. I no longer have a list of breeders on the site but for more details and to find a mouse breeder you can visit the national mouse clubs website.
