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Keeping mice in cool weather

6199 Views 22 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Matt Haslam, 
E
I know some of us here are able to keep their mice in there homes but what about those of you who don't. How do you keep your mice warm in cool weather.
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Matt Haslam
mice can survive in very cold temperatures indeed, we are talking minus C!

anyway when its very cold, just provide extra bedding materials. Plastic bin cages help to keep your mice warmer too.
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moustress
That may be true, but there are limits to how far it goes. the mousies need to have an enclosed space; a hide big enough, and three need to be three or four of them together to share body heat. You may recall this recent winter when it got colder than usual in England and at least one person had some dead meeces who were simply and plainly frozen to death.

I would take issue with keeping meeces in temps lower than 60F, as even that temp is a bit low for their high metabolisms to function normally. They are, after all, house mice, which evolved to share habitation with humans, and which are best kept at temps that humans find tolerable, whether that be in cold or hot weather.

Temps of or below 32F are not healthy for mousies.
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Matt Haslam
moustress said:
That may be true, but there are limits to how far it goes. the mousies need to have an enclosed space; a hide big enough, and three need to be three or four of them together to share body heat. You may recall this recent winter when it got colder than usual in England and at least one person had some dead meeces who were simply and plainly frozen to death.

I would take issue with keeping meeces in temps lower than 60F, as even that temp is a bit low for their high metabolisms to function normally. They are, after all, house mice, which evolved to share habitation with humans, and which are best kept at temps that humans find tolerable, whether that be in cold or hot weather.

Temps of or below 32F are not healthy for mousies.
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glad you filled the gaps in there moustress :)
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J
As long as they have bedding and a house, they'll be fine below freezing, although you'll notice that they eat more in winter (just like people and other mammals). It's the heat you have to worry about -- mice can't sweat or pant, so the heat kills them very quickly. However, they can shiver, huddle, and build nests, so they withstand the cold remarkably well as long as they're healthy.

A personal note: in January 2009 during the Kentucky blackout (40% of the state lost electricity for a week due to a freak ice storm) my street was evacuated by the city for a few days. I wasn't able to take my mice, but after the ordeal was over every single one of them (even babies) thrived without an ounce of heat (my betta was not as lucky!). Since we were evacuated on very short notice, all I had done was given them extra food. Their houses and bedding were all the same as always--small plastic or cardboard boxes, and aspen.

Mice who do not do well at lower temperatures are not as robust as they could be, and should not be bred from. Nobody--whether judge or pet owner--wants finicky, frail, potentially unhealthy mice.
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WillowDragon
I never lost any mice last winter... and the temps got to -15C

But I fed them LOADS, kept boys with girls and kept the girls pregnant and nursing. And I do a big clear out of mice that will not benefit my breeding projects either by selling, giving away or culling.

I did however, lose mice this summer, when the temps got over 30C

W xx
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E
Ok my mice are currently housed in plastic bins like most of us on here have and I have very deep bedding about 4" of aspen bedding plus tissue& news paper and hay.
So that leads me to the question do you simply feed more or do you change your diets up come winter.
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WillowDragon
I just feed more... some people (websites) advise more oats in your feeding, because oats are 'warming' foods, but my mix is pretty much 50% oats anyways.

I'm pretty sure I have read of people aternating between feeding the regular mix one day, and just rolled/naked oats the next and so on...

W xx
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J
WillowDragon said:
I just feed more... some people (websites) advise more oats in your feeding, because oats are 'warming' foods, but my mix is pretty much 50% oats anyways.
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Not to be a head bobber, but mine is about 50% oats too. And I also don't really change anything except the amount of food. :)
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Matt Haslam
50% oats here too
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L
I keep meaning to add more oats to mine but I cant find the ones I think would be best for them!
are you lot feeding pet oats (horse food) or shop oats for humans!

just to keep it on topic I keep my rats and mice in the shed and they do fine! I up the pasta for all of them and extra bedding in the winter. ;)
A few years ago before I put insulation in the roof it got so cold the water bottles froze up! rats and mice were all fine (although I wouldnt want them to get that cold again) they can make some fantastic nests when they need to
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Matt Haslam
the frozen water bottle thing is my indicator, basically i make sure it doesn't happen.

i really struggled to get whole/bruised oats as we don't have many livestock feed suppliers near us. i have use rolled oats, human kind.

my shed is mainly insulated and i can put an oil filled radiator in it overnight to stop it freezing also.
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J
Damp (frozen) bread helps when the temperatures sink. The mice don't care that it's frozen, they'll eat/drink it anyway!

I used to use horse oats, but then I started using whole oats sold for humans because they're easier for me to get (though more expensive).
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WillowDragon
I started off using cheap human grade oats from Co-op LOL

Now I buy in 20kg of rolled oats and 20kg of naked oats from a wild bird seed website that is fabulous. I also pretty much buy all my other straight seeds from there aswell.

W xx
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Matt Haslam
which site?
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WillowDragon
http://www.streetendfeeds.co.uk/index.asp

There is a section called 'Straight Seeds for Wild Birds'
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moustress
Perhaps English show meeces have shifted genetically enough that they are able to stand colder temps than normal mousies. that would explain why the English meeces I had some years ago did not produce much in the way of litters.

Once again, I take strong exception to the blanket put down of 'normal' mousies. They are not frail or any of the other slams suggested...and I'll restrain myself from further fulmination on the subject... with some difficulty. It's just sad, that's all.
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WillowDragon
There was a 'put down' somewhere in this thread? I didn't see that?

The only person I have seen use the term 'normal mice' is you my dear!

W xx
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moustress
Mice who do not do well at lower temperatures are not as robust as they could be, and should not be bred from. Nobody--whether judge or pet owner--wants finicky, frail, potentially unhealthy mice.[/quote]

There.

'Pet' or what I consider to be 'normal' mousies have the requirements they do and that doesn't mean that they are in any way deficient. They are just a bit different. And I still don't think it's in the best interest nor is it humane to subject animals to temperatures that are potentially unhealthy for them. I don't believe that English show mousies can thrive as well in temps below 60F; they may survive, but I don't think it's good for them and I think that it is inhumane treatment to leave meeces in cold conditions.

My mousies are not frail or finicky. They are healthy and vibrant and have no more or less health problems than anybody else's meeces, including English show meeces. It really makes me wonder, and not for the first time, if 250 years of selective breeding in a creature that has such short spans of time between generations has shifted the genome so far as to allow tolerance for what I consider to be harsh conditions. There are other areas in which I wonder about the differences between English show meeces and (yes, I'm going to use the word again!) 'normal' mousies, such as the relative size of internal organs as compared to overall size of the mousie.

Telling me that the kind of meeces I keep should not be bred is insulting. How else am I to interpret that?
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WillowDragon
I don't see that as a put down Moustress!! I don't understand why you do?

There was no mention of 'normal mice' in that statement... frail, weak individuals can occur in what you call 'English' mice too!

It was just plain fact.

W xx
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