Martins Mouse Cage Upgrade

The mice are getting bigger cages, eventually.  I ordered the first two cages today.  They are 30" wide x 18" deep x 16" tall.  These will be for the 5 remaining girls.  It was discovered that the cage the girls are in is too small for the number of mice.  It also has been decided that the cages needed to be available to work as hamster or rat cages and the cages they are currently in are too small for that.

These cages are made with 1/2" x 1/2" wire.

Eventually the last 2 sets of cages will be replaced as funds permit.

The 2 cages that are currently in use will eventually be donated to North Star Animal Rescue based in the San Francisco Bay Area.  http://www.northstarrescue.org/  I will be keeping a set here for hospital cages.

To order this cage,  CC-3018 – Modified – 30" w x 16"t x 18"d, 1/2” x 1/2”, flip-top lid with 2 spring hooks, front door with 2 latches, collapsible carrier.

Hamster Cage Set-up Redesign

I set up the inside of the hamsters' cages differently this week.

 Rose's wheel and hanging toy.  Food has been moved near the water bottles.

 Top view of the cage, this is her burrow and balcony.  She is actually inside the igloo in the digging box right now.

 Pulled back view.

 The tube that goes from the cage to inside the burrow.

Another view of the burrow.












Kurumi's Cage:

 Bath, wheel, hanging toy.

View of the burrow and balcony.  You can see Kurumi exploring the back.

 Her wheel, hanging chew and sand bath.

 Kurumi on her balcony over her burrow.

 You can just make out the tube to her burrow!

A pulled back view of the cage.

 Kurumi happy with her new digs!

These cages are made by Quality Cage.  They are not on their site but they are 32" x 16" x 16" and are collapsible.

Yang Helped to the Bridge

Rattie Yang has been helped to the bridge.  He developed hind end paralysis, however he was still doing pretty good and getting around ok and eating.  He'd been on a diet of baby food and cereal to help keep the weight on him but he stopped eating a few days ago and just laid in the corner of his cage so it was time to help him because that isn't any type of life. :(

He's been prepared for private cremation at the Oregon Humane Society.

Rest in peace little Yang.

Twitter Passed

One of my little female mice, Twitter, has passed.  She was found, buried, under the igloo in the cage.  The girls had moved all of their bedding to the opposite side of the cage.

Twitter was one of the lab mice in Fat Kid Rules the World.

She's been prepared for cremation.

Rest in peace little Twitter!

Rodent Dry Mix

I've refined my mix again, and this is current as of 1/11/2013.  The seeds in the mix are sold as bird seeds.  The items with a * indicate a non-human grade ingredient.

As of 1/2013:

Dry Mix Base for Rats and Mice

60%
Thick cut Rolled Oats
Barley Flakes
Rye Flakes
Titricale Flakes

20%
Total Cereal
Cheerios

15%

Air Dried Carrots
Dried Parsley
Raisins
Dried Cranberries
Dried Bananas
Split Peas
Herb Salad (Calendula (Marigold) Flowers, Whole; Chamomile Flowers; Dandelion Leaf, Cut; Hibiscus Flowers, Cut; Raspberry Leaf; Rose Hips (Seedless), Cut)
Dried Sweet (Bell) Peppers
Other Dried fruits and veggies as available

5%
Dog Food (I use Kirkland Lowfat)*

(For treats and enrichment, I put hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, and freeze dried meal worms in a digging box (ground walnut shells).

Syrian Hamster/Mongolian Gerbil Dry Mix:
27%
Thick cut Rolled Oats/Groats
Barley Flakes/Berries
Rye Flakes/Berries
Titricale Flakes/Berries

18%
Seed Mix (millet, canary, flax seed, safflower, hemp seeds)*

27%

Air Dried Carrots
Dried Parsley
Herb Salad (Calendula (Marigold) Flowers, Whole; Chamomile Flowers; Dandelion Leaf, Cut; Hibiscus Flowers, Cut; Raspberry Leaf; Rose Hips (Seedless), Cut)
Dried Sweet (Bell) Peppers

Other dried veggies as available

9%

Unsalted Roasted Peanuts

Sunflower seeds*

Pumpkin seeds*

4%

Dried Bananas
Other dried fruits as available
Split Peas

Lentils

Total Cereal
Cheerios

15%

Freeze Dried Meal Worms* and/or Freeze Dried River Shrimp*

Oxbow hamster/gerbil food*

Frozen mix is (with amounts listed):

Frozen broccoli 5#

Peas 5#

Kale 5#

Sweet Potatoes 5 pounds (cooked, purchased raw from Winco) 

Beans 10 cups (cooked mixed beans purchased from bulk bins at Winco) No kidney beans.

Basmatti Brown Rice 12 cups (cooked, purchased from bulk bins at Winco)

Quinoa 12 cups (cooked, purchased from bulk bins at Winco)

I steam the rice and quinoa the day before combining my mix. I also cook the beans.  I boil them for 10 minutes then let simmer for 3 hours.  I cook the sweet potatoes.  I put the rice and quinoa in the freezer overnight and the beans and sweet potatoes in the refrigerator overnight.   The next day I cut up the sweet potatoes into cubes and mix everything together.  I then divide into freezer baggies for me to pull out and heat up daily for the critters.

Again, these diets are their BASIC diet.  They do eat other foods.  I mix in additional items in their frozen mix, for example bok choy, apples, canned mandarin oranges, blueberries, et cetera.  Just watch the items on the forbidden food list.

Inspiration:
I got inspiration for the diet here from the sites below.

The Dapper Rat http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#diet
Dream Mountain Rattery http://www.dreammtnfarm.com/rattery/about.htm
RatFanClub http://www.ratfanclub.org/nutreq.html
Rattie Rascals Rattery http://www.boardmanweb.com/rattery/nutrition.htm
Shunamite Diet: http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=shunamite

Rosie Being Her Adorable Self

These pictures were taken on 1/6/2013.  She is being her usual sweet self!

Kurumi Looking Cute

Kurumi had some shots taken when I was shooting pictures of the critters.

Here she is looking cute.

Here she is on her log.

And she is putting up with me holding her to take a picture.  She is really very sweet and doesn't mind being held at all.

Reeses and Nutella and Their Digs!

This is the first version of their digs.  I will be making some changes for the next time, but this is pretty good for now.  They are really enjoying their "burrow."  I "built" a chamber with a tunnel to it just like an article I read about preventing them from digging in corners.

I was only able to get Nutella in this series.  Reeses took one look at the camera and ran back into the burrow and wouldn't come out.  I think he made Nutella come out and see.

As you can see I took cardboard and surrounded the part of the cage I was putting the burrow in.  I don't use tanks because I can't interact with the critters as well and they are too heavy for me to lift to clean.  Anyway, I made a square of soda boxes that connect together and put holes in them to the inner part that is open (kind of like a courtyard).  Then I buried it all under the crinkled paper.  I placed a wire balcony over that and they jump up there sometimes. The original intent was the pink bucket was to be their sand but it doesn't work as I'd like it to so I put another one in their cage.

Here's the opening to the burrow.  When I put the kids in here they scrambled all around the open part and then shot into the burrow and up through the middle.  They were so excited!

So the food can't be buried as easily, balconies were laid down.  It also helps to keep the water bottle and wheel areas clear of paper.  All cages get two water bottles.  I use the Lixit Recycled Water Bottle Kit.

They get a giant silent spinner.

View of the burrow from the top.  (I was hoping Reeses would pop up.)

I'll try to get Reeses pics in the morning.  These little guys are really busy about 4 am.

I'm going to be setting up the hamster cages in a similar fashion with sand bath and a burrow.  I'm sure it will keep them really busy!

Woolsey Pictures!

Here is the baked potato! He is a very avid wheel runner and he sometimes sleeps in his wheel.

 

Here is his digs.  You can see he made his nest in his igloo.  On the next cage cleaning there will be some changes to include a sand bath area and a "burrow."  I can't wait!

Alfie Departs

Alfie was put to sleep today.  He had a huge tumor and respiratory issues.  He was a little over 2 years 4 months old rattie boy.  He was a rambunctious rat man who liked to hurtle himself through the door at you to take him out.  Even as he was getting ready to be put to sleep he would butt my hand.  I actually put this one off longer than I should and he was on a fleece blanket dragging himself around.  But it is hard to do the right thing, euthanize him, when even unable to walk properly he would drag himself over to you in a low crawl that would make the army proud.  Rest in peace little Alfie.