Hey scales! I just want to pass my concerns about plastic things in cages for mice, gerbils and more. They're toxic and you can't controls if they will chew on it or not. Its really not good. Its better to stay to natural toys like wood and hay and more. And maybe you should also tell people that it isnt good to keep mice alone :( A herd of 4 mice is the minimum... Males can be neutered (but not after 3 months, risk of dying is high then) I'm a mice keeper myself :3 I love them.
Oh, another thing; these plastic balls you can put them in (also hamsters and more) seem fun and like they enjoy it but really, it isnt. Its a lot of stress for them. They can barely see anything, they see with their little wiskers and with their ears. Putting them in those balls really isn't a good idea for their heart ._.
Thank you for your concern! However, I think you're a bit misinformed.
Gerbils are by far more intense chewers than mice. Hamsters as well, though gerbils chew the most out of the three. So I would never ever put plastic in a gerbils cage, preferably not in a hamsters, but mice are fine. I have never observed my mice or mice at work chew on plastic. The gerbils on the other hand I have seen destroy plastic bowls and hides. Not good!
And I've been over this before but male mice cannot always be mixed with other mice. Females should ALWAYS be kept together! And male mice, when raised with others, will usually get along just fine (as evidenced by my two siblings who get along swell, Grinder and Porkchop) but they were literally attacking Moo Cow, the male who is separate. I got them second hand, and even though he had been introduced a while ago they would bite him all the time. I was freaking out when I first got them and built my bin cage as SOON as I could to separate them! At first I tried putting them all together but Grinder drew Moo Cows blood so I was like fuck that.
I've worked with mice at work a lot. If you have a cage of mice that have all been doing well (mixed gender) and throw in a male- they'll attack 90% of the time. Like, full on blood bath attack. So care should be taken to always get males who have been raised together but if you try to throw in another male into the cage of one who has lived alone- chances are he'll attack the new male.
As for the hamster ball, I can see them being a danger if unattended but being in one for 20-30 minutes once a week really isn't stressing them out at all. In fact, my recently deceased mouse Hamsteak would crawl into his ball 100% of the time. Even if he wasn't going to voluntarily walk into my hand, as soon as he knew the mouse ball was near he would jump right in and run around! I would assume that if the ball caused him stress he would be reluctant to enter it.
Porkchop doesn't like going in them though and just sits there, so I'm going to just put him in a kritter keeper while I clean the cage. But my other two guys love theirs!
But some people should not use them. Especially if you live in a house with others, or have heating vents on the floor, etc. Care should also be taken to not forget about them and be mindful of where they are!
Like I said, you bring up some valid points (especially about mice being social) but there were a few things I felt should be clarified!
