# Do mice in sheds realy need heating?



## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

Well as i posted a few weeks back i have 3 baby wild mice i rescued living in a palpen in my shed untill they are bigger when i will releace them. Any way its a brick built shed with concreat floor and roof and wodden door with no heating and they seem to be doing perfectly fine out there (dont want to keep them inside in the warm as dont want them getting a shock when let go in a few weeks time). My rabbit and guinea pig use to live in that shed with no problems as well.

So im wondering do mice in sheds realy need heating? And how do you heat a shed?

Asked mum today what would she say if i wanted to change my animal shed into a mousery shed and she said as long as they cant escape and i dont expect her to go in there ever then fine.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

It depends on where you are, how cold it gets in your shed, and how cold-hardy your mice are. I've had coddled indoor mice become ill from temperatures dropping to 50F, and other less-coddled indoor mice handling much cooler temperatures. Recently, I went camping and had to bring along one of my young girls. She was going to be dropped off on the way back home, and spend three nights in a tent (much less insulated than a shed!) with outdoor temps around 40. Suffice to say, she fared much better than we did in the cold.

Another user here has an outdoor rack(s) covered in, I think, a shower curtain? She reported positive results, I thought, but I couldn't find it via search.


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I don't have any heating in my shed.If the whether is very cold,I don't clean the nest area out.It's me that suffers when I'm out for any length of time,especially as it's an all day job to clean.


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## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

My shed had no heating or insulation, temps in there are exactly the same as outdoor temps. If mice are going to suffer outside, its more than often due to hot weather, not cold!

All my mice including when i used to keep exotic species such as Egyptian spiny and Zebra mice have all lived outside for going on 4 years now with no ill effects, that includes my multi's and hairless mice too.

They have a hide in the tank which produces a ton of heat when a group of mice are inside, during the frosty nights they get half of their tank/tub filled with shredded newspaper which they make awesome monster nests out of, and like SarahC i leave the nest alone when i clean out during very cold spells.
The more mice together the better, lone bucks will most likely be given a Multi penpal over winter for warmth.

I probably lose about 2-3 mice to the cold each year, and that is usually at the beginning when we get the first sharp frost, particularly if its unexpected.

The only issue is that bottles and bowls freeze over solid. For this, each morning and evening i take 1 bottle of cold and 1 bottle of hot water down with me, one to defrost and one to refill, works well, just takes a little longer than usual to do them all 

Remember its not so much the temperature that kills mice, but the damp frosts and freezing winds. Inside a shed it may be cold but they are dry and sheltered and therefore will be fine! Just make sure you put them out there during summer so they have time to acclimatise through to winter.


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## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

I heat my garage for them - it's as warm there as it is indoors. Makes it nice for me out there too!


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

Thanks guys, ill have to get it sorted out then with some nice tubs and remove all the old rabbit stuff from in there. The roof is deing fixed et the moment as its been leaking. At the moment my mice all live at my work but as i want to show ill be breeding more and dont think work will be pleased if i fill the mammal room with mice lol. So was thinking about either bring home the showing group or the siamese group, not sure which yet.


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## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

The main thing to remember, whether you heat your shed or not, is that is is draft-free and damp free. To heat or not to heat is purely down to the preference of the breeder, and has no affect on exhibition success.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

Thank you, ill have to go without heating as the eletricts in the sheds seems dodgy latley, (when i turn the light on they flickrer and the switch makes a buzzing noise) and i wouldnt want to risk setting them on fire or something. Do you think now is too late? its been getting down to atound 8'c in the averies at work at night, but the room the mice are in is warm. Or would you suggest waiting untill next summer?


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

How warm is warm? If they've been in a room that's warmer than, oh, 16C, I'd try to slowly lower the temp of that room, since 8C's not that cold yet, really. How long until your first cold snap there?


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

8C not that cold!?! I'm soooo glad I live here.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

It was below 8C in the tent when I was camping. Our Mousekerdoodle did just fine.


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## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

Personally i'd wait until the weather warms up now unless you can find a way of gradually reducing the temperature over a few weeks...

Got below -13 at times here last winter, i freeze my nads off feeding and cleaning and the mice just run around like its all fun and games :roll:


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

no 8'c is warm here lol. The room has been up to 20'c in places due to heat lamps on the hedghogs and heating in a walk in viv. I would say an around the units where they live its an adverage of 15'c in there. Due to the other animjals needing the heat i couldnt trun it down. 
Ill just waite and keep back less siamese babies untill summer and get in some palpens tubs to seperate mums who are due. Had another litter eaten yeasterday, well i asume thats what happened, i didnt think she was pregnent so left her in with the rest and yesterday there was a fair bit of blood around but no injurys on anyone.


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## hlforumhl (Oct 2, 2011)

I keep my mice in the shed, but it gets down to below freezing sometimes, so I put on enough heat to keep it around 55 or 60 degrees F. This seems to work, as long as they're not alone and can snuggle up together.


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## Shadowrunner (Sep 26, 2011)

I keep my mice in my room, but It's tiny and colder than the rest of the house. (even with central heating doing fine for the rest of the house)

I have a small space heater for nights when it gets really low.

I have a few mice in the garage as well, and for hose I just run a extension cord over with another small heater. They do just fine as well. The heater is just for my benefit.


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## mousery_girl (Nov 13, 2011)

temps went down to 10 C on night outside and this stupid male didn't make a nest and nearly died from hypothermia. His ears got frostbite and were eaten off by another mouse later... Mice apparently aren't as hardy as their wild cousins


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## hlforumhl (Oct 2, 2011)

mousery_girl said:


> temps went down to 10 C on night outside and this stupid male didn't make a nest and nearly died from hypothermia. His ears got frostbite and were eaten off by another mouse later... Mice apparently aren't as hardy as their wild cousins


I think it depends on the breeding, too. Because my mice are kept in cold conditions, I don't breed ones that don't handle the cooler temperatures well. I guess, in a way, I'm breeding a line of cold-resistant mice (other than the spinies--they get heat lamps  )


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## mousery_girl (Nov 13, 2011)

i kept mine outside and in 10 C night a silly male didn't make a nest nearly died from hypothermia and lost his ears from frostbite! They do need heating lol


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