# Mouse-smell / Fancies at Rodent Fest



## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

This is maybe a silly thing to ask about, but it would make me feel a lot better hearing opinions on it.

Most of the mice I have right now, are very simple fancies. I breed them as best I can, and proudly!
The majority, are not pet store mice. And I do have a few really nice quality mice in my 'mousery'
Now my question is...
Well, is it okay to bring simple fancies to rodent fest? Maybe it's just because I have never brought any of my personal mice to a show before, and certainly not one where they'll be surrounded by beautiful show quality mice...

It's probably silly to be embarrassed. All of my mice are happy, healthy, and beautiful in my eyes. 
I dunno. I guess I'm mostly asking if there is a 'standard' at rodent fest, or if it's okay to bring mice of all types, from English, to fancy, to the fest. x)

Another thing that really embarrasses me, is the smell in my rodent room.
It's not nasty, and doesn't stink of ammonia or anything, it just smells like... hay and mouse-smell. I guess I'm mostly embarrassed about that, because my mom tells me all the time that she can smell it when she comes over, and it makes me really self-consious about it. And it made me wonder, because I've never really been in anyone else's 'mouse room', don't they all have a bit of a smell?
I clean my cages out as regularly as possible (only missing a cleaning day, if there is a brand new litter that I don't want to disturb) as soon as I smell any ammonia, or see a large amount of poo in a cage, I clean it ASAP.

I guess I'm just looking for some comfort here, because I don't have any 'experts' at home to share with.

So, how do you guys feel / what do you think?


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Yes, people bring pet-typed mice to Rodent Fest in general, but not generally to ECMA shows. A lot of lesser-typed mice were shown this past show. In fact, generally only two or three people have purebred exhibition mice at Rodent Fests or at ECMA shows. This past time, no one did (a lot of people had mongrels/mixes though, which can indeed be very nice).

If you enter mice in the show they may not place well because their type is lacking, but it's still helpful to get feedback on them, in my opinion. When I first started showing I entered really small, crappy-looking mice on purpose so that I could get the judges' feedback. 

I no longer worry about the smell. In fact, I rather like it.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Haha. Cool. 
I don't think I'll be showing any mice until at least the next spring Rodent Fest. But that's neat that you entered a little pet mouse in, just to see what the judges wanted!

I'd mostly be coming with mice to sell, and mice to trade. I might be vaguely interested in trying to show one, but I'd certainly not get a very good score! 
But it would be neat to enter someone in the show, just for giggles as a first time.

When I was at the spring fest, I didn't see many mice entered either, so maybe some of my more typed mice, would stand a chance. xP

I love the smell of my animal room! It really smells a lot like pellets of lab block. A sort of dusty, hay smell, mixed with a bit of rodent. x)
Very earthy, and I really don't find it offensive. 
Mostly I was asking, because I may have someone coming over in the near future, who has also had a mousery, and I wanted to make sure my place was 'up to standards' before letting any one in... ^^;
The mice honestly smell much nicer than my rat, or my opossum. They both have a very very distinct sour smell to them, and it's all natural, not much you can do about it.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

The smell of male mousies no longer bother me much; the only smell I really hate is the smell of wet bedding from a mousie piling up litter to block the drinking tube and all the water infiltrates into the bedding. Yuck! I notice that the moment I enter the mousery.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Why do your mice do that?


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

My gerbils do that sometimes. But it's on accident, since they just dig so much. x)


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Jack, I think it happens because some meeces see water as a danger, so they try to cover up the source. It's most often females who do it. It happened all the time when I first started with mousies and was using water dishes, they would always fill them up with bedding.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Hmm...that would make sense. I'm lucky that mine don't do that!


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## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

My girls have a habit of making thier nests and giving birth under or next to the water bottle!!


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Haha. I'm a bit OCD, all of my tanks, though they have different furniture (almost 100% popsicle stick custom creations! ) have a very similar layout. Food dish and water bottle on one side, and climbing and nesting areas on the other.

The only acception, is one or two tanks that have towers the mice have to climb to get to their food or water.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Yeah, mine tend to nest under the water bottle but I've never had any to flood their cages from it.


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## The secret garden (May 13, 2010)

I love the smell of my mousery, i am lucky i have them in a 8X6ft shed at the back of the garden. I used to have them in my front room in my days of being Hampshire Mousery. To help with the smell i broughts a ironizer, it sucks in the air and cleans it and it really really helps.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Ionizer? Good idea!


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