# Do your mice have a shed?



## Jack Garcia

Another thread has made me curious about this question.

If you feel comfortable doing so, feel free to post pictures of your sheds! :dance


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## Oakelm

Mine are in a shed, which has now extended to two sheds :shock:

Anyway here is a pic from last year when I was just getting into the bigger show mice, changed a little bit since, has another shelf of the larger tubs, all the junk for other critters no longer in there so all tidy finally, really must get some up to date piccies. Purely a mouse shed if a small one, have a second shed but brick built to this one literally now next door to it that has some mice in but lots of empty tubs yet to be filled and was my old rat and gerbil shed. But im a mainly mice these days.


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## Jack Garcia

I have shed-envy!


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## SarahY

I'm the only who keeps my indoors in the UK so far on this poll! It's terrible, being a serious fancier and keeping a stud of mice indoors  I could keep them outdoors, but I just hate the cold so much! I spend many happy hours in my mouse room with my comfy armchair and central heating but if I had a shed I really wouldn't fancy trudging out there in the winter. I'd do it, but I wouldn't be happy about it. I do clean out at least twice a week though so the room only ever smells of hay and fresh woodshavings, which is nice. Well, I think so anyway :lol:

Sarah xxx


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## Maplewood Stud

mine are indoors too sarah x


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## SarahY

Huzzah! I think you're the only other show breeder I know of who keeps their mice indoors. We can start an exclusive little club 

Sarah xxx


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## Seawatch Stud

My stock have a brick outbuilding. The benefits of this are many, but the biggest advantage over a wooden shed is temperature control. Its always pretty much the same temp winter or summer. I also have large windows on two sides giving lots of natural light. There is no stigma attatched to keeping mice in a spare room in your house. Frank Hawley did and he was one of the best fanciers to ever breed mice. I know a fancier who has eighty boxes of mice in her bedroom!!! Yes you read that right in HER bedroom, not the spare room.


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## Maplewood Stud

mine are in my bedroom too, altho its technically not my room nemore as the mice stole it x when im at home i sleep on the sofa lol x


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## bethmccallister

I'm fortunate enough to have a 5 bedroom house so one room is dedicated entirely to the mice...another to other family hobbies such as musical instruments and shelves of books for quiet reading. I still need to put up shelves in the mousery and eventually I want to replace the carpet with linoleum. I've thought about the shed idea too, could make it "Green" energy friendly heating and cooling as a way to practise for when we build my dream house that's completely off the grid.


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## Stina

My mice are in an alcove in our living room right now (along with the majority of our non-dog/cat pets). We hope when we leave this house to get a slightly larger one with at least one more bedroom or a fully functional basement that doesn't flood...and we will keep most everything in their own room(s) with the exception of a couple "favorites" I would keep in our regular living spaces. I don't think I would ever keep any pets in a "shed/barn" with the exception of farm type animals. I consider all my animals my pets (though I do cull) and I Just don't see the point to having them if they can't be enjoyed as part of my everyday life and if I had to go out of my way to see and interact with them.


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## Jack Garcia

Hehe! I think the results so far have been in line with what I would have thought: a couple UK breeders keep their mice indoors (Sarah, the pics I've seen of yours are by far the most wonderful, well-lit, organized indoor mouse room I've seen!) but the majority do not and vice-versa for US breeders.


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## Wight Isle Stud

I nearly had a shed.


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## Jack Garcia

:lol:


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## Stina

hahaha!


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## WillowDragon

*dies laughing*

Oh lord...


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## SarahY

:lol: :lol: :lol:



> Sarah, the pics I've seen of yours are by far the most wonderful, well-lit, organized indoor mouse room I've seen!


Why, thank you! 

Sarah xxx


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## WillowDragon

I get to see Sarah's mouse room next weekend!! I feel so blessed!!


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## Rhasputin

My parents would like me to have a shed. :| 
I fear it's going to make me not want mice, because it would be irritating to have to trudge through the snow in the winter to get to them and feed them, and irritating (and not to mention probably deadly to a lot of my mice) to deal with 100+ degree weather in the summers.


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## shadowmouse

Ours are indoors. However, ours are pets and it's just more fun to have them inside.


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## kerryann

my mice are in my bedroom too  they have completely took over :lol: every night i go up and get them al out for cuddles  if they were outside i couldnt imagine doing it every night


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## SarahC

yes and now winter is coming,first frost yesterday, they have wrapped up warm


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## tom95

Sarah, what's the material ?
Where did you get it from?


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## The Village Mousery

funny sarah mine have done the same, and i keep mine indoors. Just seems the last 2 to 3 days they have all started building nests. they where very lazy before and never put any effort into it but now they all have huge nests its wierd.


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## SarahC

They must know summer is gone.I mix it with hay but heres another interesting thing.I usually buy compressed packs of hay from the pet shop.After seeing on the news that hay was of very good quality this year I bought a bale from the farm for £4.50.The mice were impressed,they've eaten most of it.I'm not worried by parasites as I treat routinely .The bedding is for dogs Tom which I find peculiar.


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## laoshu

mine have also started making lovely big piles of nests!
I use that same bedding sarah.. not sure if you buy it the same way I do (great big bales) its lasts forever.. just a little bit in the tank and within a few hours its trippled in size.. by the time they are cleaned out again its nearly taken over the whole cage/tank.
great stuff!


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## SarahC

yes it comes in a big bale.I find it very strange that it's for dogs.I would think there is potential for whelps to get strangled by it :? Good for the mice though.


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## WillowDragon

Thats funny, I heard that the quality of hay was crappy this year, and there isn't enough of it so prices have gone up majorly!


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## SarahC

WillowDragon said:


> Thats funny, I heard that the quality of hay was crappy this year, and there isn't enough of it so prices have gone up majorly!


the price is high yes because of a shortage but weather conditions have made what there is high grade.


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## The Village Mousery

yeah i can second that, been alot of crop lost up here too had some bad rains harvest time, alot of the hay crop ended up getting made into haylage coz of it.


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## WillowDragon

I'm thinking of haylage for my guinea's this winter, but tis a bit of a risk, if its too moist it can encourage fungal infections


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## The Village Mousery

yeah goes off dead fast and saddly as far as i know only comes in massive bales. once opened has to be used fast or it gets mould. My mother in law has dales pony and a stud stallion that are on it and can also make them hyper, as its full of lovely sugars. smells gorgous


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## Wight Isle Stud

I used to keep guineas and Haylage usually does come in big bales, they are usuall in sealed packs and once opened the fermentation process re starts and its trouble. The way I found to use it was to make a fist sized hole in the side of the pack and pull out what I needed, this kept the bale reasonably fresh for longer


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