Environmental Enrichment For Mice
Environmental enrichment for mice is essential to ensure the welfare of these animals. While some people don’t like rodents, other people find them adorable and think they are social, friendly, and special pets.
Since all animals have different needs, in this article we will explain how to promote environmental enrichment for house mice .
Mice as pets
Not all breeds of mice are suitable as pets: only with some can a bond of trust and affection be created. In addition, these rodents live best in groups: if you want a house mouse, it is best to adopt two or more together.
To be able to live with any animal, you must first make sure you know its basic needs : what it feeds on, how it sleeps or what foods are harmful to it, for example.
In addition, mice must be checked by veterinarians who specialize in exotic animals.
After adopting them and making sure they are healthy, it’s time to prepare their cage. Thanks to the environmental enrichment for mice, you can create an adequate, safe and above all beneficial environment for them.
Mice are very active, curious and intelligent animals. Therefore, they need space for walking, running and even climbing. But exercise is not enough: you must also provide them with mental challenges and other occupations to keep them active, as well as satisfy their need to solve problems.
Environmental enrichment for mice: inside the cage
Environmental enrichment for mice begins in their cage. Make sure you buy a cage that fits their lifestyle – the best type of cage has several floors and has various heights, so they can go up and down, as well as climb.
Inside the cage there must be places to hide and small corners in which to take refuge to sleep. Mice love the hammocks that hang from the bars and the dark tunnels that go around and hide.
Also try to figure out what kind of toys they like. In addition to the balls to push, ropes for going up and down are also suitable.
They’ll also need small puzzles to whet their intelligence: pieces of food hidden inside paper balls, for example.
Environmental enrichment for mice: out of the cage
Living inside the cage may not be enough for many of these animals. In fact, outside the cage, it is possible to create other types of environmental enrichment for mice.
Therefore, many of the families living with these rodents let them walk around the house.
Before opening the cage door to your mice, remember that you must always supervise them.
This is the only way to make sure they don’t get in trouble, hurt themselves, and damage their home.
In the home, it is possible to create environmental enrichment for mice with ease – these animals love to look around, poke around and explore every corner.
Thus, you can easily create small paths up and down the tables and furniture, for example ropes with which to climb.
You can also place boxes or other objects in such a way as to create stairs and then place them on tables or shelves.
If your mice are particularly agile, don’t make them easy. And most importantly, change these items often so that they don’t memorize the way and make an effort to discover a new way to climb.
Take advantage of the fact that they no longer have a space limit in the cage : create large toys.
For example, part of the environmental enrichment for mice can be a cardboard box full of ping pong balls with some prizes or pieces of food – it will be like a ball pool of its size.
Basic security
When you start planning environmental enrichment for mice, don’t forget to consider safety: the rooms that the mice will move into must be safe.
Make sure there is no rodent or insect poison within reach, that there are no holes they can fall through and injure themselves through.
All gnawing materials should also be safe – you should never use papers with toxic inks or paints, treated wood, or toys with small pieces of plastic that they might try to eat.
Mice are intelligent animals, so you could teach them not to gnaw the cables of electronic devices : in addition to damaging them, they could get an electric shock and be seriously injured or die. Hide all cables and show them that the ones that remain cannot be gnawed.
Mice are easy animals to make happy: with the right environmental enrichment, your mice will be stimulated both physically and mentally. This way, their mood will improve, they will become more sociable and you can have fun together for many years.
