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