My new career as a mouse house maker did not start with mice. It started with a visit to our wonderful local thrift shop.
While browsing, I found a lovely little cabinet I thought would be a great for displaying house plants . It was made of pine, had a nice wide top and two storages spaces with matching pine doors. It was charming and rustic and in very good condition. (And the price was right.) So I happily made my purchase, loaded it into my Volkswagen hatch-back and off I went with visions of lovely ferns and flowers dancing in my head.
The next day my friend stopped by and asked where I got the nice aquarium stand. I was a bit surprised that she would think my lovely new plant stand would hold an aquarium. It did. She 'just happened' to have one she wasn't using. She brought it over the next day. We tried it for size. Sure enough, it was a perfect fit!
My friend likes fish. I do not. However, now that I was the official owner of an aquarium AND and an aquarium stand, I found myself being charily transmogrified from a horticulturalist wannabe into a reluctant aquarist. Fish are not my thing, But hey, if you have an aquarium stand and an aquarium, you should also have some fish. Right? So off I went to do my duty and buy some fish.
However, as I wandered about the pet store trying to avoid the fish, what did my wandering eyes behold but a nice aquarium with tiny baby mice happily scampering about in it. They were so cute. I was so gullible. Not long afterwards, four darling little mice were happily exploring their new aquarium home in what was now my plant-stand impaired home.
Mice are so much more fun than fish. Cuter, too! I had fun making a home and playground for them. Mice like to be entertained, it seems.
I gradually learned how to arrange things in the aquarium so that it was both easy to clean and fun for the mice to explore and work on their various demolition projects. My husband was coerced (he is a patient man) into making a nice screen top for the aquarium. We were now proud (and doting) mouse grand-parents.
The white one is Blanche. The brown one is Brownie. Mouse grand-parents can be sooooo creative in their choice of mouse names. (Or perhaps not?) The black and white one is Brenda, and the black one is Beverly. They are busy busy busy wee critters! At night that is. They sleep all day unless they sense a treat is coming their way! If so, they wake up, gobble up the treat and go back to bed. Mice are very conscientious about getting their beauty sleep. I should take lessons!
Here's their first home.
While browsing, I found a lovely little cabinet I thought would be a great for displaying house plants . It was made of pine, had a nice wide top and two storages spaces with matching pine doors. It was charming and rustic and in very good condition. (And the price was right.) So I happily made my purchase, loaded it into my Volkswagen hatch-back and off I went with visions of lovely ferns and flowers dancing in my head.
The next day my friend stopped by and asked where I got the nice aquarium stand. I was a bit surprised that she would think my lovely new plant stand would hold an aquarium. It did. She 'just happened' to have one she wasn't using. She brought it over the next day. We tried it for size. Sure enough, it was a perfect fit!
My friend likes fish. I do not. However, now that I was the official owner of an aquarium AND and an aquarium stand, I found myself being charily transmogrified from a horticulturalist wannabe into a reluctant aquarist. Fish are not my thing, But hey, if you have an aquarium stand and an aquarium, you should also have some fish. Right? So off I went to do my duty and buy some fish.
However, as I wandered about the pet store trying to avoid the fish, what did my wandering eyes behold but a nice aquarium with tiny baby mice happily scampering about in it. They were so cute. I was so gullible. Not long afterwards, four darling little mice were happily exploring their new aquarium home in what was now my plant-stand impaired home.
Mice are so much more fun than fish. Cuter, too! I had fun making a home and playground for them. Mice like to be entertained, it seems.
I gradually learned how to arrange things in the aquarium so that it was both easy to clean and fun for the mice to explore and work on their various demolition projects. My husband was coerced (he is a patient man) into making a nice screen top for the aquarium. We were now proud (and doting) mouse grand-parents.
The white one is Blanche. The brown one is Brownie. Mouse grand-parents can be sooooo creative in their choice of mouse names. (Or perhaps not?) The black and white one is Brenda, and the black one is Beverly. They are busy busy busy wee critters! At night that is. They sleep all day unless they sense a treat is coming their way! If so, they wake up, gobble up the treat and go back to bed. Mice are very conscientious about getting their beauty sleep. I should take lessons!
Here's their first home.
For several months the ladies have been very happy in their glass castle. However, as they matured they grew bigger than we anticipated, so we decided to enlarge their kingdom. I bought a large plastic tote box on sale and adapted it to make a nice new palace for them. It holds more 'stuff' and they now have lots more room to run around and play.
Their new container is about 1'4" wide and 2'6" long and 12.5' high. They love it! And so do I as it is much easier to clean and much easier to arrange with their assorted toys and what-nots.
Their new container is about 1'4" wide and 2'6" long and 12.5' high. They love it! And so do I as it is much easier to clean and much easier to arrange with their assorted toys and what-nots.
Happy Diggy Box Day
Diggy box day is actually diggy box night the night before I do a complete clean-out of the mouse house. I put some well-packed black earth into a cardboard or plastic container and the girls just love it. In the 'morning after' I put them in their 'cottage' which is a smaller plastic container and they sleep there all day. I move their nesting-box, food and water and one wheel into the cottage and they usually poke around a bit then go into their nesting box and sleep until about 9:00 p.m. When they are up and about I put them back into their nice clean condo. The plastic box is much easier to clean than the aquarium, though both make for good homes for these little gals.
More videos coming soon.
