# Preparing for mouse shows??



## Tinkers Mousery (Feb 20, 2011)

Hi all, just hought id start a post on how everyone prepares their mice for the mouse shows in their own way. Do you have a special grooming reigime?? also do you think some types take more preparing than others???


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## webzdebs (Mar 29, 2010)

I've never been to any mouse shows as yet but as for rat shows I've been to the regime the night before was sorting out transport tubs and display tanks (if I wasn't getting them at the show already). Nails clipped that needed done and any baths - then in the morning I'd give them a groom and get going 

I miss showing


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

When I choose my entries I stick labels on the cages so I can find them again come show day. The night before the show I put the substrate (Aubiose in my case), bedding and dry food in the Maxeys and get any travelling boxes out. Then on the morning of the show I add cucumber to the Maxeys and of course the mice, and stick labels underneath the Maxeys so I know who came from which cage. I also add labels to the top telling me which class the mouse has been entered in to help me add the right pen labels quickly when I get to the show.


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## Tinkers Mousery (Feb 20, 2011)

ahh cool. i read somewhere that you can bathe mice??? is this something that is commonly done or not??


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

Not for showing, no. It can be done to get rid of mites though (but spraying is easier and also effective).


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## Tinkers Mousery (Feb 20, 2011)

ahh ok


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## Wight Isle Stud (May 19, 2010)

old tips are to polish the mouse with a piece of smooth material, for a week or so up to the show a pinch of linseed in the feed wil put a nice sheen on the coat, you can also pack the breeding box with bedding material as they will polish their own coats. However it is really all unnecessary as a well reared and kept mouse will need none of this. As cait says, no excuse for mite on the mice though and the judge will throw them off the table.I personally would use powder to treat mite bfore a show (at least a week though so no powder remains in the coat) as opposed to spray as it can ever so slightly discolour heir coats fo.r a few days. Your mice should be mite free anyway but you never know if a few are lurking and waiting to jump out and frighten the judge. Most importantly there is a lot of mite out there at the moment. Judges are in the habit of using shaving brushes to level the coat of a mouse at judging at the moment and i am sure this transfers mite to other mice. So certainly spray on returning from the show.


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## Tinkers Mousery (Feb 20, 2011)

What powder do you use for mites then as i have only ever used spot on?? its effective but the coat goes all wet ect a powder would be easier


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

My show prep starts when I get home from a show. I empty the Maxeys, clean them, and put clean shavings and hay in them. Then, at about 10pm the night before a show I put the entrants in the Maxeys along with food and a big bit of cucumber. I stick a bit of masking tape with the pen number on to each Maxey. Then I sleep on the sofa (because I have a nasty habit of oversleeping if I sleep in my bed!), have nightmares all night long about my mice being rubbish, or the judge finding dead mice from the last show still in there, or the mice eating themselves on the way to the show :shock: get up, down a cup of coffee, get washed and pack the car! Tratallen and I always have to leave half an hour earlier than need to so we can have McDonald's breakfast on the way :lol:

Sarah xxx


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## Matt Haslam (Mar 13, 2010)

SarahY said:


> My show prep starts when I get home from a show. I empty the Maxeys, clean them, and put clean shavings and hay in them. Then, at about 10pm the night before a show I put the entrants in the Maxeys along with food and a big bit of cucumber. I stick a bit of masking tape with the pen number on to each Maxey. Then I sleep on the sofa (because I have a nasty habit of oversleeping if I sleep in my bed!), have nightmares all night long about my mice being rubbish, or the judge finding dead mice from the last show still in there, or the mice eating themselves on the way to the show :shock: get up, down a cup of coffee, get washed and pack the car! Tratallen and I always have to leave half an hour earlier than need to so we can have McDonald's breakfast on the way :lol:
> 
> Sarah xxx


The McDonalds breakfast sounds excellent show prep!

I put my mice in the Maxey's the night before too, even for my local show, i think they get settled in.

I also don't sleep too well the night before a show.


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## laoshu (Sep 16, 2009)

I dont know about bad dreams the night before the show... more like the week before lol...
The open show next weekend I am already having bad dreams about! two nights ago I drempt I got there and started to unpack only to find I left all the mice at home 

The week before the show I am constantly checking mice to see who is moulting, looking good, or growing (for the under 8) and working out who might be booked in and back ups incase they look bad on the day.
The night before the show I get all the maxis ready with shavings, hay, dry food, stickers (to tell me who goes in what box) then in the morning add mice and cucumber.


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

Madhouse Stud said:


> The McDonalds breakfast sounds excellent show prep!


It's imperative! 
Sausage, Pancakes and Syrup, so wrong yet so right


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## Seawatch Stud (Feb 8, 2009)

Sausage AND syrup? Coronary artery disease on a plate! It's only wrong, nothing right about it at all. Do you eat steak and strawberry jam too?


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## Seawatch Stud (Feb 8, 2009)

As for show prep, I usually phone in an entry, then spend the day before the show actually looking at the mice to see if I can fill it! I then chuck some mice in maxeys after the briefest inspection. This is NOT a method I would suggest others use. Chaos theory in action.


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## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

My show prep was always pick EXACTLY which mice I was going to take because they were my best and gorgeous and lovely, phone up to enter, then on the morning of the show, scrabble around desperately trying to find other mice to fill my entries because all the ones i picked have start to molt, or don't look 'right' anymore, or have a hole in thier ear that wasnt there the day before...etc etc... LOL

My best result was a Best u8 satin, with a boy I had arranged to give away! lol The person who wanted him was showing too though, so it wasnt so bad for them to wait until the show was done!

P.S You're not by any chance in the cavy fancy are you Tinkers? I am just not starting to get in stock I hope to breed to show one day... and the prep you have to do for Pigs!! WOW! :shock:


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## nuedaimice (May 26, 2010)

Bad dreams before shows! I had a nightmare one time that I went to a rodent event and the people there said if I wanted to fit in, then I had to eat a rat. I did, and then everyone was mad at me for eating it!

Nice to know I'm not the only one who has bad dreams about shows and rodent-related events!


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## The Village Mousery (Aug 1, 2010)

I had a dream last night that because i was to busy chatting to Gary B i forgot to put my mice on the table. I only noticed after 2 pm in the afternoon was aweful... I blame you gary!!!

On topic though on the monday before the show i have a look at the showable mice and choose the ones i'm entering and call them in... about 10 days before show day i start giving alittle oil.. and the week of the show i change the bedding 3 times in the box's the mice for show are in.


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## Seawatch Stud (Feb 8, 2009)

If you have a dream that features Bayldon, it must be, by definition, a nightmare!! :lol:


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## Tinkers Mousery (Feb 20, 2011)

as it happens i do like caveys lol. but i dont show just keep for pets lol


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