# What is the ideal temperature for mice?



## Lizzle

I thought I had read something in a journal article about mice liking the temperature of their environments to be in the upper 70s or higher, but I can't remember now.

I took an extra dose of my Concerta today, which makes me sweat and get hot easily, and I think I have warmed my room up to a lovely 81 degrees.. :shock:

Does anyone know specifically?


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## WNTMousery

Mice deal with cold much better than they deal with heat. Very low 70's would be as hot as I would ever allow my mice to get. You have to take into consideration that the temperature within a glass aquarium or plastic bin type cage is going to be higher than the ambient air (much like a car).

Mice do quite well in temperatures as low as the mid 40's if there are no drafts or dampness. I believe the mid 60's is an ideal range for mice.


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## moustress

Seventy to seventy five degrees is what aim for when cooling or heating the mousery. Theylike temps similar to that of humans. Just think of the name 'house mouse', which is what they are. I am amazed that English meeces do as well as they do with situations where they kept with no heat or AC.

Some folks only heat to around sixty-five, but then you need to wear a sweater, warm socks, and long pants. Meeces body temp is about 5-7 degrees higher than ours, so the difference means that their relatively comfort level is about the same as us humans. When the weather gets arctic and the air is dry from heating, I put in a humidifier too.


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## Lizzle

Gotcha.  I'll aim for 70 - 75 in here, though it's tough as the A/C is in the other room and doesn't work all that well. At the moment it's around 77, best I can do.. However, I tried giving each tub cage an ice cube in a little cup/shallow food dish. A couple of them seem to really like licking them, which is both adorable and worrying at the same time (I have to wonder if they are that desperate for cold?).


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## WNTMousery

If you would use some type of thermometer inside the cages, you'd likely be surprised as to how high the temps actually are.


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## WNTMousery

Just found this study:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1377898

It says that house mice have raised litters in temperatures as low as -3 degrees Celsius.

The overall conclusion of the study states that (the studied) mice grow more rapidly in hot temperatures, however, this would be contraindicated when you are trying to lengthen life spans. The slower they grow, the longer they will live.


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## Lizzle

Oh how interesting! It says I would have to buy the article to view beyond the first page, so I didn't see that last part about contraindication pertaining to trying to lengthen lifespan.

As far as I could see, the study was done on pre-weaned mice only, so I do wonder where they got that information about the slower the growth, the longer the whole life. For some reason it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me since there was no mention of measuring life spans in the abstract.. 

Also, I would think there are a ton of other things to take into consideration, such as humidity (as the article mentioned) or food supply, etc.


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## WillowDragon

I have lost mice due to tempreture, but only heat.

A few weeks ago we had a day of 30 degree C (dunno what that is in F lol) and I lost a mum and a litter of rumpwhites. All of my PEWs and Chams and Lilacs were fine though. When it is hot, I give them frozen veggies.

This past winter, the lowest temp it got at night was -15 C I believe... and I lost none. But during the winter I give them so much bedding you can't see the floor of the cages. I also try and always have girls in with bucks and keep girlies pregnant and nursing. Because girls that are pregnant or lactating have a slightly higher body temp than those that are not.
Babies born in cold temps are also a bit bigger and get their fur quicker i have noticed.

W xx


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## Lizzle

Aww, I'm sorry that happened to the rumpwhites. That's an interesting idea, giving them frozen veggies. Perhaps I should try that too. 

Edit: Today my poor lovies had to withstand 86 - 87 degree weather inside here while I was installing the A/C.  I feel so awful - I made sure they all had icecubes and lots of water, and they were all fine, phew!


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