# Mice and Cold Weather



## Bella

I remember several of you talking about keeping your mice outside in England. I know you get some cold temperatures there...

I need to temporarily move the mice from the room they are currently in due to company coming. I was thinking about moving them to our garage. It isn't insulated however we are having a very mild winter with temps barely falling below freezing at night.

Is it sufficient to simply give them more bedding? Will they be okay? They would be against an inside all, farthest from the outside door...


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## sys15

more bedding, several mice to a cage, fatty foods.

if you have a chance to acclimate them gradually, that would be great. mice can do fine at near freezing, but i've never tried (and would be nervous about) shifting a mouse from 70 F to 40 F overnight.


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## Frizzle

Also place them according to whichever side of the shed takes the brunt of your winds; my location gets north westerly winds, so I wouldn't place them along that wall. I am going to assume you meant inside "wall," that sounds like a good idea. Also, you could take a rug or one of those fancy door jams to help as a wind block. I shifted my mice from a 70F to 45F, and they did just fine. I did move them back up to my room though, simply put, I can be forgetful, and wasn't checking on the mice enough. So yeah, they did fine for the threeish weeks I had them down there, though keep in mind these were all young/adults with all their fur, no new litters.

Also, I would do a couple temperature readings in the night, you can compare against the outside air temp so you can get an idea of how it is going to change depending on the weather. Early morning is the coldest, right before the sun starts to warm up the world.


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## candycorn

You can also pick up an oil based electric heater. They are cheap to run and work great in a small space like a garage!


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## Bella

Cool, thanks guys. 

Like I said, the garage isn't insulated, but it is the type that connects to the house so there are two walls they can be on that are actually against the house, not outside walls. I would put them against one of those, obviously, and can probably rig up a big rug to cover the car door at the other end to help.


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## tinyhartmouseries

I would be prepared to lose a few, but that would indicate they aren't as hardy and unsuitable to breed from anyway. When I moved the mice from the hot upstairs to the cool basement last year, I lost two. It just happens to weak individuals in temp. shifts sometimes.


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## Bella

Quick update - I got chicken and just moved them into the laundry room. A little cooler than the house but much warmer than the garage.


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## Tikmio

I keep my mice outside in the summer/winter. In the winter I provide, Extra, and more comfy
bedding, and I make sure they all have cage mates, and sometimes nannies when raising litters.


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## Shadowrunner

I personally wouldn't shift new litters to a much colder area tikmo.
The power went out on me once, they all stayed in the same room and I still lost a few fuzies. I don't use nannies either because I've had a few fight over the babies to such a degree that the baby in question was injured. Some people do and it works for them, mine just stay in nursery cages. I'd also recommend mealworms before any kind of red meat.

How did the move to the laundry room go bella?
If your doubtful, they have little electrical space heaters in the camping section of sports stores and walmarts. When it gets chilly out I also cover cages with clean towels like I do for the birds. That seems to help too.


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## SarahC

It's minus 7 in England and my water bottles were frozen yesterday.I didn't clean the mice out as it will probably be fatal.Instead I've packed the cages with hay and whole newspaper sheets which they will shred themselves.I've over fed,running out of food will also be fatal . I haven't lost any including newborns but it is vital not to disturb nests no matter how much you want a peek.Fuzzies may scatter and will slow down and die very quickly.Nests vacated by adults may also lose temperature and helpless young will perish.If you feed well,provide lots of bedding and don't interfere they will be fine.


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## Wight Isle Stud

Total agreement with Sarah. I have a very small heater which keeps the water bottles from freezing for that reason only. This may not be an issue to those with just a few bottles to sort out .


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## MGJMouse1989

I was actually planning on moving my mice to a shed, and now I think I will wait until the litters I have are older.

It gets in the hundreds during the summer, but the shed stays really cool due to being in shade, and the sun being blocked from hitting it. And during the winter it doesn't get below 35 here, and I will have the windows covered in the shed, and the door covered, and the cages covered during the night..

But I will definitely wait until they are grown before I move them now, don't want to lose any!


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## Bella

Everything went fine with moving to the laundry room. 

Its been good initiative to keep the cages cleaner, because the room is so much smaller and I certainly don't want me clothes smelling like mice! It takes up SO much less space, too.


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## Tikmio

Humm.


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