# My Daughter's First Mice (Ham and Cheese)



## varuscelli (Jul 17, 2012)

Well, we picked up two mice for my daughter (her first). I've never had mice before, either, so this is new to me. I had guinea pigs as a kid and many, many other animals throughout life...but never mice.

We got two females that my daughter named Ham (which she says is short for "Hamela") and Cheese (short for Cheesecake).

There are just pet shop mice and it looks to me as though they made no distinction between pets and feeder mice as they sold them...but they did ask when purchased if they were to be kept as pets. Hmmm. We couldn't find anyone locally who sold mice outside of pure feeder mice, so we went the pet shop route.

The white one (Cheese) is really hyper. She doesn't bite but will test fingers by nibbling with her teeth (just a single nibble when she does it). She'll climb onto our hands but seemingly only to see if she can go higher.

The sort of tan and white one is very social and really seems to like human attention. She'll readily crawl up onto our hands and stay there, make noises and even settle down for a nap in hand.

We initially borrowed a cage from a neighbor (their empty hamster cage), but we found out pretty quickly that the tan mouse could easily escape through the bars. I've set them up in a 10-gallon aquarium for the time being. The plastic accessories in the cage are from our neighbor. I'm sure we'll slowly accumulate and/or build a few extra things for shelter and play.

Here are some pics.


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## varuscelli (Jul 17, 2012)

By the way, can anyone help me with identifying the proper name for the color or variety of this mouse?


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Cute mice!

As for ID, she's pied. Is she black eyed or am I seeing a dark ruby?


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## varuscelli (Jul 17, 2012)

Thanks, Frizzle. She definitely seems to have black eyes. I know photos can often be deceptive with reflections and camera white balance issues (etc.), but when I look closely at her (and shine a bit of extra light toward her) her eye look black to me.


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

What comes to mind is recessive yellow (though she looks so... rusty colored?) and next is undermarked brindle. Does she have any striping or blotching that the camera didn't pick up?


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## varuscelli (Jul 17, 2012)

Here are a couple of more pics from another angle. The color might be a bit deceptive in the photos. In taking these shots, I have strange room lighting that is caused by the colored walls which affects the way the colors come out in the digital photos, although I try to adjust them after the fact to bring out a more accurate color rendition.


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## besty74 (May 26, 2012)

love the pic of them sleeping!
mice are great pets for kids, my 9 year old daughter loves all mine and has a few of her own, how old is your daughter?


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## varuscelli (Jul 17, 2012)

Yeah, I like that pic of them sleeping side by side, too. 

My daughter is 10 years old. I think this experience will be good for her on several levels. When I was her age, I had just gotten started in keeping and raising pigeons, and my daughter hasn't yet had any similar experiences except for helping with our dog. I'm hoping she'll get both enjoyment and positive experiences from the extra responsibilities. Time will tell whether her level of enthusiasm stays up.


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## Daphne (Jul 8, 2012)

I have no idea what colour she is, but they're both gorgeous! My girlfriend has had mice since she was very little, and still has them now. She says her life wouldn't be the same without them, so hopefully your daughter ends up the same!


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## varuscelli (Jul 17, 2012)

Daphne: Not really knowing too much about how mice color are classified, I was guessing either tan or fawn. Except for the white (which I guess changes the designation a bit in terms of mixed colors), the tannish yellow with maybe a slight hint of red in it looks to me like what folks tend to call "fawn" in some other animals.

Hey, I hope you're right in that this ends up being something my daughter takes an long-term interest in. It wouldn't bother me at all...unless we eventually end up with millions of mice.  I'm going to keep males out of the equation until I see how she does with these for a time.


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## varuscelli (Jul 17, 2012)

It's funny -- when I asked my daughter what she was going to name the darker mouse, she said, "Ham"

I told her that I thought Ham sounded more like a boy's name than a girl's name.

Then she told me it was short for Hamela...so I had to give her points for creativity.


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## besty74 (May 26, 2012)

my daughter names all my mice, i can't believe how well she remembers all the names i never can!


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

If the colors aren't showing true, move her near a window for a photoshoot, natural light should help get a clearer shot. Some members like to use upsideown wine glasses, it limits the area the mouse can move in and helps you out getting one that isn't blurry. Though your pics have all been really cute so far. : D


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