# Harvest Mice



## champagneannie (Jan 15, 2009)

Hello,

I'm really not trying to start an big debate or anything... please don't shoot me down for considering keeping these  (in my oppinion it's no differant to owning another 'exotic' kind of small animal e.g. Chins, Degus, Sugar Gliders - but I know others see them as wild animals. The ones i'm considering are bred in captivity by a very knowledgeable and experianced HM owner)

Can anyone tell me anything, give me some advice on Harvest Mice? I have nothing but good things about them! I'd love to do some research and maybe get some.

Any info is welcome. Thank you


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

I've heard that they are really entertaining but not hands on pets - very much just one that you sit and watch. Try the allaboutmice.com website. It has a little information about all the different types of mice.


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## MerlinsMum (Aug 2, 2009)

I've had them - I had two colonies about 3 years ago. They were in glass tanks with a very secure lid - being so small they escape very easily. Inside the tank I had sand & pebbles on the floor, and made something out of wire mesh so that I could stick dried branches and plants in so they stood upright. I had a desk lamp shining into the tank at night - it lit it up beautifully so you could see them, and they loved its warmth - they all sunbathed on the branch nearest the light!

They bred quite a few times making the most gorgeous tennis-ball sized nest out of hay and woven dried grass. I collected seed heads of various plants for them, plus any berries I found in the hedgerows that I knew weren't poisonous such as hawthorn and snowberry which they ate. Their main food was small seed of the types given to finches - niger, millet, grass seed etc plus I also bought 'robin food' from the pet shop which was mixed chopped seeds & nuts with dried mealworms added. I found it difficult to give them water though as they were too small to drink from a small bottle, and ended up using a budgie water tube but it did need cleaning every day, which wasn't great as they really don't like too much disturbance.

I had them for about six months then I really don't know what happened - every time I looked there were one or two less - not escaped, but died and (sorry!) eaten by the others which is normal for most mice & rats. On the subject of escaping I did lose one occasionally but one of those plastic humane TripTraps caught it again. I'm afraid my colonies just dwindled and died, and sadly you can't do much about that with an animal that can't be caught or handled or stressed, and which vets would know very little about. It's possible they caught a bug from my hamsters or rats - but who really knows? They are very short-lived anyway.

But I loved having them and would one day have them again if I could, and hopefully have better luck. They are incredibly gorgeous and a whole lot better to watch than the TV!


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## harvest_mice_lovers (Apr 18, 2010)

Myself and the other half have just brought 3 very cute little harvest mice. I can highly recommend them, they are so funny to watch! We have had them for a week and have tried to start taming them so they don't get stressed out when cleaning them out, and after a week, they have started running across my hand and when the other half held one in his hand, they all enjoyed having a finger stroke! They have lots of twigs and climbing things in their tank and a couple of thin ropes to climb along and although its expensive(ish) to set up in the first place, they are relatively cheap to look after as they eat bird seed. I would highly recommend them as they are great to watch and are getting tamer every day x


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## MerlinsMum (Aug 2, 2009)

They are very lovely but do bear in mind they have a very short natural lifespan... a year maximum.


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## lolabloob (Mar 30, 2010)

the short life span is definitely why I could never have harvest mice! I get so upset if anything happens to my babies! The short life span of the chinese hammies, rats and gerbils upset me so i just try not to think about it hehe xx


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