Reddit reviews Kaytee Puzzle Playground for Small Animals

Yay, I'm excited for your new pet -- as the other redditor said, thanks for leaving him alive! I used to have a roommate who had a snake, and we joked about my mice and her snake living in the same apartment without knowing about each other.

It's actually recommended to keep intact males alone. Females are social, but males are territorial and are likely to fight and injure each other.

For both food and toys, you can order online and it's even often cheaper. I personally recommend a "kibble," which is generally called a "lab block" in rodent-keeping-land, over a seed and nut mix. Mice tend to pick and choose their favorites and not get complete nutrition. However, if seed/nut mixes are what you have, it will definitely sustain the little guy and he'll have fun picking through it. You can also feed cooked pasta and dry cereal as treats (NOT as his sole food). Most veggies and fruits will be yummy treats for him too. The only ones to stay away from are those with high water content, like celery or melon. They can give him diarrhea.

For toys, you can buy them or make your own. In general, mice like to climb, to run, to hide, to tunnel, and to chew -- their teeth grow throughout their lives so they need to gnaw to wear them down. At minimum, you want a wheel for him to run on (so he doesn't get fat), some kind of hide for him to sleep in, and a hard wood block (not pine, which is dangerous for mice) for him to chew on. He'll also enjoy torn up paper towels, which he will make a nest from; a ladder or even some sticks to climb and chew -- I usually get my ladders from the bird section of the pet store; a paper towel roll to run through; and other things to climb through and around. I started out with the plastic igloo, a wooden arch (in the trash now, got peed on too much to clean), a wheel, and a couple paper towel tubes. I'd recommend something similar for you.

three years later, I am obsessed and have way too much mouse stuff, but to give you an idea of the variety of storebought vs homemade vs repurposed stuff you can give a mouse, my three girls currently have in their cage system: 3 plastic wheels (2 upright, 1 "flying saucer"), wooden ladder from the bird section, some pieces of cardboard I cut up and leaned on stuff, a plastic "igloo," plastic arches to run under that formerly were a milk pitcher I cut up, a "perch" that's the cut handle of the milk pitcher tied to the cage, 1 whole paper towel roll, shorter pieces of another one, a hanging chew toy (from the rodent section but I've used ones for birds and rabbits in the past), a rope and wood swinging bridge like Indiana Jones would run over (I think also from the bird section, I forget), a cone-shaped hide I got for free when I adopted a mouse, this thing: http://amzn.to/2ymOjdf which is a house you can build in a bunch of different ways, a rodent hammock that's supposed to hang but is currently on the ground because my mice are tiny jerks, a mug that my girlfriend wanted me to get rid of but I gave the mice instead, a very small square plastic hide I also got for free with mouse adoption but presumably is from the rodent section, and several wooden branches that are pre-cut and sanitized that I got from a small pet store that had a combined bird/rodent aisle so not sure what they are supposed to be for. Please don't be overwhelmed by this list and feel like you have to buy your little guy this much stuff! Like I said, I started with just a few things and.... over the years, it's snowballed.

I don't know a lot about how feeders are kept, so apologies if this next bit is info you already know. You're going to also need a source of water and some kind of bedding substrate. I recommend a rodent bottle over a water dish, because he will get a water dish dirty very quickly and changing it will get annoying equally quickly. Rodents like to burrow, so something they can make tunnels in is ideal. This is generally going to be either wood chips or shredded paper. Wood chips are cool looking, help to neutralize odor to an extent, and very low dust. Aspen is the best for mice. Do not use pine or cedar -- the oils are very bad for mouse respiratory systems. I used aspen shavings at first for my mice, but I switched to paper bedding after one mouse developed a tumor and I learned that there is a school of thought that wood shavings can be carcinogenic to mice. (Not everyone agrees on this.) The most popular brand of paper bedding is Carefresh, but there are several out there. Unless the urine smell is truly intolerable (you live in a one-room apartment or you have a roommate that is barely on board with a mouse companion anyway), I advise against scented bedding. Mice like to smell their own urine -- it tells them that this is their home. If you clean the cage at least once a week, it will do double duty of keeping him healthy and keeping the urine smell from building up. When you clean, throw away the old bedding. Wipe or rinse the cage and most or all of his toys. I like to leave one or two unrinsed each week so their scent stays on them, but that's just a me thing. Some mousekeepers recommend scattering some of the old bedding over the fresh bedding to maintain the scent, but I just chafe against doing that because I feel like it's /so/ dirty...

As a side note, please don't use a cage with wire floors or shelves with rodents. (wire sides and top is of course fine.) His little feet can easily get caught in a wire floor and cause serious injury :(

Taming depends on personality -- each mouse really does have their own tiny personality. It's helped me to keep in mind that mice are prey animals and have a natural instinct to run away from fast movements, things coming at them from above, and anything unfamiliar. I generally take time to rest my hand in the cage, often holding a treat or a bit of peanut butter. Some people will put the cage next to them and watch Netflix with their hand in there. This helps the mouse get used to your scent. My Lyra was climbing all over my hand in just a couple days, while my newest adoptee, Rey, is still pretty skittish -- she'll take the peanut butter, and sometimes she'll put a curious paw on my hand, but she's still figuring out that I'm not going to hurt her if she climbs all the way on. Regardless, let the mouse explore your hand in his own time. You can gently and slowly move it closer to him if he's skeptical, so he has to keep thinking about it. Once he's climbing on, try lifting him up a bit. Once he's OK with being lifted, you can take him out and hold him or let him run around on your arms. Even when she enjoyed being taken out, Lyra took a very long time to be ok with sitting in my hand but immediately loved sitting on my shoulder and running on my arms. Be aware that mice can't control when they poop -- they just go when they need to -- and you WILL at some point get pooped on. Their poop is contained little pellets, very easy to shake off into the trash, not like baby or cat poop that gets everywhere. As the other poster said, patience, love, slow movements, and food! I have heard of people haveing "tub time" with their mice when they put the cage in the dry tub, stop the drain (!!!), open the cage, and get in the dry tub with the mouse. This lets the mouse explore on their own terms while keeping them from escaping. My apartment doesn't have a tub, just a shower, so I don't have any personal experience there. A mousekeeper I follow on Instagram swears by it for shy mice though.

I'm procrastinating about cleaning my apartment so I kind of wrote a novel... I hope it isn't too much haha :) good luck to you and your new friend! As far as I understand it, pet snakes are FAR more delicate and finnicky than pet mice, so if you have successful experience as a snake owner you should be totally fine.

Love her color makes her look like a teeny Syrian! She’s a dwarf so I don’t think I need to say anything about a wheel just don’t go super tiny. Make sure she has a proper size cage. Big cages are the best make sure its atleast 24” length 12” width and 12” height. Clear bins are good for you too see her I’d recommend! Cut holes in her lit so she can breath and can’t escape, either cut 60+ half an inch holes or cut a big square off the lid (if you have a cat or curious dog do the hole lid) do not use pine or cedar bedding. Any paper bedding is good I recommend carefresh (Cheaper on Amazon) do not use mesh wheels!!! Your ham will get hurt and get bumble feet not good. No bathing in water. It’s not necessary but it’s highly recommend to get sand for your hamster to bathe in, she’ll either roll around in it herself or you can hold her and give her a sand bath. I like most plastic wheels, wouldn’t recommend wooden wheels for a dwarf since my friend has a wooden wheel for her ham and he can’t even move it so she had to pay for a plastic one. Chews are good for her teeth so they don’t grow too long. Clip her nails if you can, if you can’t go to a vet when you notice them getting long. Plastic tubes and empty paper tubes are good boredom breakers. Clean the cage fully once a month with a one part water one part vinegar solution and change the bedding monthly. Lastly a hideout so she can scurry away. I’ll leave some links, good luck!


hamster care video

bin cage tutorial

If she’s not tame here’s a taming vid

hamster dont’s

bedding

chews


sand

hideout

boredom breaker/hideout

wheel

bin for bin cage

mesh top for bin cage

zip ties for bin cage

tube