# mus minutoides



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

I am getting some _Mus minutoides_ later today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Pygmy_Mouse

Anyone here ever keep these?


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

I looked after 2 does for a while (I collected them on behalf of someone else) and they were fascinating. Very tiny with lovely big eyes. I have considered getting some but went for harvest mice instead. I'll have a look for some pics I took of them (apologies but these are about 5 years old and through the plastic tank they were in).


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Aww! That's what these look like. I would love to obtain some harvest mice but as far as I've been able to tell there are exactly 0 in the US.


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## julieszoo (May 27, 2009)

Aww, those are very cute


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

Jack Garcia said:


> Aww! That's what these look like. I would love to obtain some harvest mice but as far as I've been able to tell there are exactly 0 in the US.


If only it were cheaper to export Jack, you'd be welcome to some harvest mice (and rumpwhites).


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Hehe...thank you, Cait. 

When I win the lottery (or when I earn enough to do so) I might be able to afford all the costs myself. Would you be able to do it if I could pre-pay it all? You are actually one of the few people I'd trust to do it. 

These pygmies are so tiny. They're in the seed bowl digging around, throwing seeds everywhere. They're the most adorable little things ever, like little buttons with legs!


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

look at the eyes on those :shock:


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## julieszoo (May 27, 2009)

Do the mouse clubs in the US not get involved with import/export then? The NFRS organised an export to the US a few years ago of ivory, cream, black eyed siamese and burmese rats, that was arranged between clubs. It took a fair bit of planning to ensure all the breeders involved had kittens ready for the same time. Years back they also imported chinchilla rats, that was expensive because of the 6 month quarrantine needed at this end.

Those pygmy mice remind me a little of pygmy gerbils


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

Thanks Jack  I have arranged an export once (from this end anyway) as I think you already know. It was a royal pain in the arse but worth it. There was a company at this end who collected the mice and got them onto the plane, I had to provide them with a headed letter to state what the mice were for (ha ha) and arrange and collect all the varieties wanted at this end. If I breed them myself (or SarahC does) it would be so much easier! For a few days my hedgehog room looked like a mouse-bomb had hit it, there were cages of mice everywhere as I wanted to keep them separate from my own mice until they left in case of cross contamination of any of the stock (not that either had anything wrong with them, but I didn't want to introduce 'new shed syndrome').


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Haha, yeah their eyes are HUGE compared to the mice we're all used to. And they are somewhat like gerbils -- they're desert animals and they pee very, very little so you don't have to clean their cage but around once a month (I have a trio in a 10gallon tank).

I'm trying hard not to disturb them but I will try to get pictures (through the glass, they're too tiny to handle much) later this week. One gentleman I spoke with said the newborn pinkies are only the size of large ants and that if you disturb them they will die within a minute because they lose their body heat so rapidly. :shock:

Julieszoo, the AFRMA (on the west coast) has arranged shipments to and from various places in the UK and Europe for at least 30 years, as far as I'm aware. The ECMA (on the east coast) hasn't done it as much. But I'm going to be up for a position in the ECMA soon. I don't know how it is in the UK but all the club positions (President, Vice President, Trustees, etc) in the US are volunteer (ie unpaid) so sometimes it's hard to keep people at their duties and the same two or three people end up doing everything there is to do, so arranging a shipment is usually the least of our worries. 

If I were to get a shipment it would probably be just to me as an individual, not as a representative of the ECMA (although of course I am that, too).

My good friend Jenny (WNT) has genes that are rare in Europe like recessive red, splashed and merle that I could also probably arrange to ship to the UK with sufficient time and funds. I know that both our countries governments want to be very careful as to what animals come into and out of the country, but sometimes I wish they'd just lighten up and not make it so difficult on us!


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## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

*ears perk up*

Did I hear the S word and the M word? 

Willow xx


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