| Spiny mice Illness and Cures |
| Spiny mice are really hardey little critters. They don't have many health problems. the only ones I can think of that are common are tail wounds, obesety, and mental disorders. TAIL WOUNDS Spiny mice have really fragile tails. Thus if you or some one else attempts to pick them up in this mannor their tails will rip right off. If they have been over crowded they also might turn on eachother's tails biting and injuring and sometimes eating them. All these problems are very easily avoided. Just don't pick them up by the tail and don't overcrowd them! Oh and one other tip- if you give them a wheel make sure it's solid like a Wodent wheel other wise their tail could get caught in the spokes. OBESITY: Spiny mice are exotic little creatures that haven't been kept as long in captivity as say a rat or fancy mouse. Thus we don't know terribly much about the proper diet of one of these critters. Lab blocks are fattening and so are seeds and that's what makes their diet up so just give them exercise and read the label on your food to check the calories, otherwise you'll have some plump little mice! MENTAL DISORDERS: When a spiny mouse is born it is born literally running much like a deer or bison. This does not mean they don't need their mother however! They need their mother's milk and nourashment until they are a full four weeks of age where you can seperate them and put them in a seperate tank with other mice. If you take them away from mom too young and don't let them socialize with other mice for those 2 weeks after weaning then you can run into some problems. These problems are mental, these mice do not know how to cope with their own kind and will spend countless hours flipping and climbing the top of their cage and chasing away prospective cagemates. This is why it's so important to get them young and in pairs or groups from a good breeder, fully weaned. If you do this you should have no problems! |