# Why do my mice keep dying?



## Number1Sticky

I was hoping someone could help me out with a problem I'm having. The past few years I've had so many mice die at a young age. I've had two mice die at four months old, one at 10 months, one at 11 months, one at a year and 2 months and one at 1 ½ year. I know mice don't live long, but they were all too young.

I thought I was taking care of them good, I feel like I'm doing everything right.

I feed them "Native Earth 18% Protein 4018 Rodent Diet." Which I've been told is the best food I can feed them. I don't feed them anything else because the last two I had were brindle (and my current one) and I didn't want them to get fat. Their bedding is eco-bedding. I clean their cage out regularly. They always have water.

Most of them looked healthy right before they died. It was a total shock when I found them dead.

The first batch of mice (4 mice) I had all lived about 2 years, one even lived almost 3 years. And back then I didn't feed them properly (I thought I was but found out later I wasn't).

Does anyone have any idea what I'm doing? I LOVE mice, but I feel like I'm cursed with mice.

Thanks for any help!!!!


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## Laigaie

12 mos - 18 mos is not unusual for pet shop mice as a natural lifespan. I'm terribly sorry to hear about your losses, but it sounds like your food is definitely not the issue. Where are they coming from? Longevity I think is very directly tied to the health of the line overall, as some lines are more prone to tumors or are generally more delicate.


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## Shadowrunner

I agree. In fact, it's a surprise to me that you have had some last 2 years.
The pet shops around here are awful. My first mice were considered old at 8 months.
Simply because they were so fragile. A lot of them wandered around in circles..
They didn't seem too bright in general, they would have seizures and died if the wind blew the wrong way. Thank goodness they were only pets. You might have more luck with getting a pet from a established breeder, but I don't know many that give pets out easily.


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## Number1Sticky

I've gotten them from different places. One of the ones that died at 4 months and the one that died at 11 months I got from Petco at the same time. And the other one that died at 4 months and the one that died at 10 months came from a mouse breeder. She mainly bred them for feeders, but she told me they were pet quality. And everything I've ever read about her was good. And everyone recommended her.


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## Number1Sticky

Also I forgot to mention. It seems like the last three I got were dwarf (one died at 4 months, one died at 11 months and I still have one). They were about half the size of my other mouse. Even when they were full grown they seemed tiny. I'm not sure if any of that matters, but I thought I'd mention it.

Here are some pictures. Sorry they aren't that great. The gray one with the white spot on her back is the regular sized one.


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## moustress

Bedding can affect a mousies's health; never use pine or cedar. Make sure there is sufficient ventilation for ammonia to evaporate between cleanings. Avoid exposing the mousie to too much loud noise, drafts, sunshine, and general commotion.

Even large scale long time show breeders go through periods where meeces seem to have runs of problems that are not attributable to any specific cause, often when there's an abrupt weather change.

Have you been observing any quarantine protocols when adding in new meeces to you population? Do you check them for mites or other parasites?

While I was composing this your latest post showed up...your meeces look generally all right, but a little out of condition. You should be aware that brindle meeces are going to be fat regardless, and you should not restrict the amount of food you give them as it will result in loss of condition and make them more prone to health problems. Your mousies have rough looking coats, not too bad, but they need to be able to eat on demand.

Youa lso might want to loook at the composition of your food. If it has a lot of sugar (molasses or other sugar, corn ingredients, etc.) that could contribute to lack of longevity. None of your mousies look dwarfed to me. Pet mousies vary greatly in size depending more or less on who bred them and whether and how recently they descended from show stock.


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## Number1Sticky

moustress said:


> Have you been observing any quarantine protocols when adding in new meeces to you population? Do you check them for mites or other parasites?


I have. The last three I got at the same time and I had one other mouse at the time, which I did quarantine for about 3 weeks.



moustress said:


> While I was composing this your latest post showed up...your meeces look generally all right, but a little out of condition. You should be aware that brindle meeces are going to be fat regardless, and you should not restrict the amount of food you give them as it will result in loss of condition and make them more prone to health problems. Your mousies have rough looking coats, not too bad, but they need to be able to eat on demand.


None of my brindle mice have ever been fat. They have always been a pretty normal weight. I do not restrict their food. They always have food in their cage. But I only feed them food blocks. And once in a while a cheerio.



moustress said:


> Youa lso might want to loook at the composition of your food. If it has a lot of sugar (molasses or other sugar, corn ingredients, etc.) that could contribute to lack of longevity. None of your mousies look dwarfed to me. Pet mousies vary greatly in size depending more or less on who bred them and whether and how recently they descended from show stock.


I posted a thread on this website site about 10 months ago and was told that Native Earth was the best food available for mice. There is no molasses, sugar etc. in it. But there is corn.

Here in the ingredients list: Ground wheat, ground corn, wheat middlings, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, soybean oil, calcium carbonate, dried brewers yeast, dicalcium phosphate, iodized salt, L-lysine, DL-methionine, choline chloride, niacin, vitamin A acetate, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride,thiamine mononitrate, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), vitamin E supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, calcium pantothenate, ferrous sulfate, magnesium oxide, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, chromium potassium sulfate.
Crude Fiber (maximum)5.00%
Calcium1.01%
Phosphorus0.61%
Crude Protein (minimum)18.90%
Crude Fat (minimum)5.00%


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