RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Fri Feb 06, 2004 8:25 am

So the mice have started this new thing where they bury the igloo. At first they were just putting stuff on top of it, such as bulky food, strips of paper, or the litter pellets. That proved sort of frustrating as Nick would take one pellet at a time and set them on the top until he had a layer, then he'd try to pack them down with his front feet, which simply pushed them all off the back. He then had to reach over and pull them all back up. Eventually he'd get enough up there and give up.
A few days ago I switched to the hemp litter and they are still putting food on the roof, but now they are following that by shoving all the litter to that end of the aquarium and covering the whole thing. They don't even leave an entrance hole, choosing instead to just plow through to enter and exit. They don't actually take any into the nest though. They just use shredded paper for that. I can only guess that they don't like the vent holes on top and are blocking those. Truthfully I didn't think mice could reason well enough to realize that blocking the outside will affect the inside.
BTW, at this point I do really like this hemp litter. It is soft , looks nice, and the mice enjoy digging in it. Plus the cage smells much better than with carefresh or the hardwood pellets (like cell sorb.) Either that or Nick's neuter is kicking in.

Fri Feb 06, 2004 9:07 am

With rats, they say to wait either 6 weeks or 3 months (I forget which!) after a neuter, to make sure all the baby-making juice is gone. Dunno about mice.

As for the litter escapades, mine do that too, esp Crazy (as you've seen from the pix of the Devil's Mountain she built). They also bury their food dishes so deeply that I have to search for them.

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Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Sat Feb 07, 2004 12:32 am

my mice bury their food dish, it's soooo annoying becasue then I can't see how much they have eaten

Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:22 am

	Ratz wrote:
	my mice bury their food dish

So do Abita's girls. We call it "reverse stashing."

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Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:30 am

Mine never bury the food dish, but it is away from the igloo and it must be more important to cover.

About the neuter. UhOh. Fortunately I've not seen any hanky panky and his agressiveness is way down, so hopefully the smaller size and higher metabolism helped get the, uh, juices gone. The incision was completey unnoticeable after 48 hrs.

Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:37 am

	Kate wrote:
	With rats, they say to wait either 6 weeks or 3 months (I forget which!) after a neuter, to make sure all the baby-making juice is gone. Dunno about mice.

Generally it's 2 - 3 weeks for rats. Two usually, but three to be safe. I dunno about mice though.

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Christy
RP Admin
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Frodo, Zorro, Erzulie, Maeve, Clara, Molly & Emily

Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:21 am

Doesn't matter now, Nick's already in the nick! wink

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Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:23 am

Yeah, well...now you know for future reference. wink

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Christy
RP Admin
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Frodo, Zorro, Erzulie, Maeve, Clara, Molly & Emily

Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:24 am

Right, like I'll remember! Rolling Eyes

I can't even remember my own birthday. LOL

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous