DEC 03Meet Nya and Spaz!
This is Nya, a BEW (black eyed white) baby of about 4-5 months old. She arrived with her cage mate Spaz on Nov 27 and has been in isolation to make sure that they are well. Nya is a very active, friendly and outgoing mouse, she LOVES to run in her wheel and is big on digging in her corn cob bedding. Here she is on top of her and Spaz's cube house where they build a nest for sleeping.
Nya is very good at drinking from her water bottle.. I just though she was too cute with her HUGE beedy black eyes.. she made a big mound of corncod bedding so the shot isn't as good as I would have liked.. but you can see her big ebony eyes!
[right]Cute little Nya sits atop her cube house and takes a bath.. isn't she just aborable?
Our Nya peeking out of her tubes.. she likes these too but not half as much as Meeka who is queen of tubes!
Spaz with her tail up!! You can see she is missing then end, she used to belong to a child before she come to the rescue group and lost her tail end there. She has 2 spots on her rump on one side and other wise is totaly white, her fur is also longer then normal as well. Spaz is untrusting of people right now so needs some work on sociolizing. She is about 1 year (just under we suspect) so is older then Nya and likely closer to Meeka in age.
Spaz on top of her cube house you can see her sopts and tail here and her cute face!! Her eyes are not as big as Nya's but still bigger then Meeka's little pink eyes. Spaz and Meeka meet briefly and Meeka misbehaved badly (no one got hurt!), she has taken a dislike to her... we will try intoduction again some other day.
Spaz likes to dig too, but her love is making nests.. here she is building on in the cube house!
Here is her cute liitle face as she moves around bits of paper the chewed up for the nest.. this paper used to line the bottom of the cage to make it easier to clean but all 3 girls have other ideas and are not tidy like Jersey was... oh well!! They have fun!
Still prefecting that nest, Spaz (showing her white side) busy at work!
[right] Nya and Spaz in the wheel having a little race!
Nya (back) and Spaz (front) love to run in whe wheel together!! Only problem is that Nya is MUCH faster then Spaz so it's hard for them to pass together.. they still enjoy this. They also groom eachother and sleep together in thier nest.
MEEKA has moved to her smaller cage tempoarly, she and Spaz has a fight, she's taken a dislike to her.. Meeka seems to like Nya though oddly enough. Meeka and the other 2 where all in the nest together alseep so I thought all was well, but when I moved them from the small tank to the big one Meeka started to attack Spaz, I removed her right away even though no blood was drawn.. I will try again another day when I am home all day to monitor them. Hoepfuly all 3 will be together again soon and happy!
Meeka the day after she gave birth (very tried and ungroomed looking!) unfortunitaly Meeka didn't keep her babies, we suspect she might have eaten them.. it was a sad day for us all. She is felling much better now though.
[right] Meeka, tube queen!! As you can see is about to drop out of the pink tube.. not a good shot but it was hard to get as mice DO move very fast!!
For my birthday in Sept I got a x10 cam so I set it up to be able to watch Meeka on TV while I was out of the room.. the photo was taken with my digital camera of the TV so it's hard to see.. but it was great fun to see what she got up too!! Doni, Marian and a few other cats also enjoyed wating Meeka larger then life...it held all our attention to see her busy at work and play!
NOV 27
Meeka is starting to look round and most likely will have babies in about 6-9 days from now.. I'll update as soon as I have news!
I have put her brown house back in as it's darker and more ideal for raising mice pups then the other one which let in more light.
Here is Meeka's current cage set-up, lots of tubes and things for here to play with, she seems to really like this! But right now is getting ready to have babies.. We are keeping her food well stocked and lots of freash water for her.... I will update as soon as there is any new.
More pictures of Meeka
NOV 25
Here is Meeka's third tank set-up, she is busy picking out her favorite bits of food here. As you can see she is now on corn cob and learning to use a water bottle to drink out of! Meeka's next step is to move into her 33 galong tank where she'll have lots of tubes and toys!
Meeka arrived home on pine shaving, since these are not good for small animals (and I am allergic to it anyways) I switched her to corn cob as soon as she was settled enough to be comfortable with me. As you can see she had lots of changes to the small tank to make her isolation in the small tank as enjoyable as possible!!
Here she is trying to take a little nap in her bed. She sleep most of the day and comes out late evening when she normaly stays up all night and into the wee hours of the morning. She is up when I get up as well which is normaly about 5-6 am and then later goes to bed in her hut.
Meeka LOVES to play in her tubes, popping in and out of them, hiding teasty treats and storeing bedding to use later. Isn't she cute peeking out???
Here is Meeka's second tank set-up before she was moved of pine shaving. As you can see her sleeping hut was changed to give her more room, a tube has added for her to play with.. (if you look closly you can see her in the tube in the second tank shot!
NOV 15 Meet Meeka
Meeka is a little PEW (pink eyed white) fancy mouse, her age is unknown although she is likely under a year and is full grown. Right now she is in isolation for 2 weeks in her small 10" X 16" plastic tank where she'll stay till I am sure she is well. It's very important to isolate any new mice for 2 weeks to make sure they do not have any illness they can pass on to other mice.
We are still learing about her, she tried ses-a-me soy nut snacks (made by Sun Feed - Sunthing Special), Strawberry Yogurt chips (by kaybee) and whole grain bread as treats..we'll find something she really likes soon!!
She is not big one the blocks but likes the NUTRIPHASE seed/grain/vedgie mix alot! She is a bit messy but that ok :)! She has a water bowl right now but will be switching to a water bottle soon as they are easier to keep clean (mice tend to do lots of digging in thier bedding and get stuff in the water!) and clean freash water is important!!
You can see her original set-up in the photo but I changed that already, she now has a different sleeping box (the one they sell to be a litterbox for small animals, she has tissue paper in that for bedding) this made more room to add in a platic tube for playing with.. She is being taken off pine shaving and put onto cordcob. Pine shaving are not good for mice (or most other small animals) as it has some dust no matter what type you use and can cause serious resperatory problems. Also the corncob is better for oder control and makes the tank easy to clean.
she will move into the large tank after the isolation time is up.
Jersey saw the vet today and as it was the best and only options was humanely put to sleep
NOV 14 SICK JERSEY
Jersey is not at all well, besides the fact her tumor is larger and a second lump has come up on her back, she walks hunched up has discharge from her eyes and is sneezing up a red/brown discharge, she is lethargic and eats/drinks very little now she was not that interested in her favourt treats at all and beairly touched them. Her fur is unkept and she looks like she is suffering, I am taking her to see the vet tomorow but I am not hopeful and I think the only option at this point is to humanely euthanise her.
Please see the following information I got on her current condition, this as well as other sites I have visted and my vets diagnouses have all been taken into acount.
The following it taken from: http://www.rmca.org/Resources/mouse-faq.txt
6.5 My mouse is sneezing and/or wheezing; what should I do?
Respiratory illness in mice has two main causes. Either it is similar to
asthma, and is caused by allergies or reactions to bedding etc., or it is
caused by a contagious virus or bacteria. The former case is not serious,but unfortunately the latter is.
If the mouse is suffering from asthma then normally only one in a cage will
be affected, and it will not seem ill apart from its sneezing. Try a different
bedding, and in particular avoid sawdust, shavings or hay. Shredded paper
or CareFresh, or a similar safe bedding, is the best option.
In the case of contagious diseases, often the mouse will show other symptoms
besides sneezing - for example, it may be hunched up, its eyes may be dull,
its fur rough. Mice can succumb very quickly to life-threatening diseases,
so prompt action is necessary. Separate the affected mice from the healthy
ones. Animals can carry infections for up to a month after symptoms have
disappeared, so do not let any mice which have come into contact with the ill
mice mix with mice from another cage for that period.
The traditional approach to respiratory illness in
mice is to euthanize all affected animals as soon as symptoms appear, so
that infection does not spread to other mice. However, this drastic approach
is not necessary. Veterinary treatment can often cure respiratory illness in
mice; if the vet suspects that the infection is bacterial then you can
give antibiotic medication, either in the water or using a tiny syringe with
no needle attached. This will depend on the sort of antibiotic you use - your
vet will advise.
NOV 13
Here is my current cage set-up, Jersey is in her big tank, Meeka is in the small islaotion tank where she can see Jersey and vise vera. They have come out to see eachother so far and that has gone well. I will update soon!!
Here is our new friend Meeka in her isoaltion tank!
NOV 12
Jersey has become very depressed and was not doing well.. she is on her medication but she is very lonely! Today she got a new friend, Meeka a white girl with red eyes who is friendly.
Meeka is in her own tank isloated from Jersey but they can see eachother and have already come out and took a good look at one another. Hopefuly this will help her out. Meeka is also possibly pregnant although she doesn't look like she is but I will keep everyone up to date on this
Nov 04 Jersey went to see the vet again and is on medication for her sneezing. We just started and she'll be on it for 10-14 days hopefuly this will clear up her URI and she'll be feeling 100%. Of course Jersey doesn't seem to be as consirned about her health as I am, she is still bright, alert and active, enjoying her treats on a regular baises and well.. she gets her medication mixed with a little juice or honey per vet instructions so life is great in her mind!
Oct 31st Here is Jersey having a drink from her watter bottle, as you can see she still has the growth, but is managing well and should have a long time left with us as long as she is able to eat and drink. She is as active as ever!! And still enjoying all her normal mouse activities!!
Oct 28th Jersey is doing very well, the mass is still there but better then it was. She is not sneezing anymore and is bright, alert and active, she is eating and drinking well and seems unfazed but her tumour.
The pregnant mouse never arrived.. my co-worker said she'd pick her up and then never did.. I am assuming she is no longer avaliable and just hope that she went to a home as a pet.
More pictures of Jersey, worlds cutest mouse!!
OCT 25thJersey battles possible tumour
Jersey has not been felling 100%, she was sneezing and has a growth near her neck / thorax. After being seen by a vet, there are to possiblities, one is that it's due to an injury and will go away in time, the other is that it's a tumour or cancer. We are monitoring her right now, she is active, birght and alert, she eats well and drinks well and is happy. The sneezing is better now.. so we are hopeful its not cancer.
Jersey's new friend has not come yet as a result of her being ill but should arrive tomorow and will be ilsoated in a different cage way from Jersey. They might never get to know eachother, but her friend will have a home and if pregnant will be able to raise her babies.