African pygmy mouse

Ten kinds live south of the Sahara in Africa. Locally kept mice are from the region of South Africa, over Zimbabwe to Mozambique. As many mice were probably imported from Swaziland, you can orientate to the conditions of this region when keeping your pet. This region consists of tropics with savannas which are normally damp in summer. So the typical vegetation is a mixture of trees and grassland.
The dry season in winter lasts 3 to 7 months, depending on the region. During the rainy season the vegetation flourishes very quickly and lives off the water, which the widespread clay soil keeps, for a long time. Depending on the region, the precipitation varies between 500 mm in the eastern lowlands and 2000 mm in the western highlands. The average temperature is 16 to 22°C.
The existence of the pygmy mouse is always linked with the existence of water. Besides you never - or very rarely - find pygmy mice in regions without any vegetation. They also like to seek the vicinity of areas of cultivation and human settlements where they cause crop failures.
Pygmy mice build their nests directly below or in turf and normally live there in big groups and family units. But permanent nests have also been found in hollow trees near the ground. The extension of underground passages often depends on the size of the family unit.

With a head - trunk length of 3 to 4 cm, a tail of 4 to 5 cm and a weight of 5 to 6 g the pygmy mouse is one of the smallest mammals in the world.
Females are slightly bigger than males. In their original form the pygmy mouse is reddish brown on the top and white on the underside. But in the meantime there are also so-called blue pygmy mice which have a darker coloration on the top.
The relatively big eyes mark them as nocturnal rodents.

Pygmy mice (like almost all mice) must not be kept alone! For being perfectly well they need to be at least a dozen individuals. Therefore, it is the best solution to keep them in family groups. These groups can grow up to about 50 individuals and then stop growing and become self-regulating. That ist the best, but not the easiest solution to keep them.
In addition, pygmy mice hardly smell.

But the nocturnal rodents are exclusively for observation and only in few cases food-tame. They don`t like being touched at all.
Therefore an owner who likes to fit out the compound and who only wants to observe his pets will be the happiest.
Pygmy mice are not suitable pets for children!

Pygmy mice are no cuddly toys. You should avoid touching them at all when handling. Because of their small size you can easily cause them internal injuries when treating them improperly.
For moving them catch the mice with a small box. For sex determination it is the best to put the mice in a transparent box and watch them from below.
Because of their small size, handling them at the veterinarian is very difficult. For accurate examinations you should hold them in the neck. This, however, needs to be trained to avoid injuries. Avoid touching the animals if not absolutely necessary and use a transparent box for observations of the animals in the surgery.
Escaped mice are caught with a fishing net or a proper trap.

The twilight-active and nocturnal, mostly timid rodents are very social animals. Therefore you should keep at least a dozen of them. The optimum are self-regulationg groups consisting of about 50 individuals.
These groups tend also to be more stable than smaller ones consisting only of one sex. With a large family group you also will avoid the sometimes really challenging problem of introducing new mice into a group. When buying new animals aggressive behaviour can be observed in mono-sexed groups as well as in a new Family group, as you normally don`t take a whole group, but a part of it over. This destroys the current hierarchy and the mice fight for a new one. Also the death of a higher mouse can lead to problems within a group. Groups with only one sex are noticeably more endangered than mixed family groups. Pygmy mice can be kept in groups of the same sex, this is possible with male and female. However, male groups are said to be a bit more restless than female groups.
If you have an unstable group, you should never change the whole bedding. Remove only a part of it. In that way you can keep the smell of the group in their territory and avoid quarrels. What a quarrel among pygmy mice might look like you can see here in pictures.
The best time to observe pygmy mice is after nightfall. An infrared or moonlight lamp is useful here. So you don`t disturb the animals. But many animals aren`t disturbed by a normal room lamp either after a while.

Selfmade cage

Because they are really small animals, many people think that pygmy mice don`t need much space. Some sources state a minimum cage size of 30 x 30 x 40 cm to 60 x 30 x 30 cm for 2 to 5 animals. However, this is far too small for these nimble and agile rodents. For 5 mice or more, the size of a compound should be at least 80 x 50 x 50 cm. Bigger groups feel comfortable at a size of at least 100 x 50 x 50 cm. The large family groups do need at least about 1,5m² of floor space.
An aquarium, terrarium or selfmade compound is suitable for keeping pygmy mice. If you construct a compound yourself, you should take care not to leave any holes through which the pygmy mice could escape. You can use wire nettings of a size of 0,6 cm. A terrarium has the advantage that you don`t have to fetch the mice from above, as their enemies would do.

But you cannot put the bedding very high. Here an aquarium fits but you have to fetch the animals from above, which is very stressful.
The temperature in the compound should be 20 to 25°C. If necessary, you can put a small heat pad (e.g. 7 wattage) under an aquarium or terrarium. It is not necessary to lower the temperature at night but supports the natural rhythm. Please make sure that the size of the heat pad matches the size of the compound, to avoid any overheating. Hay, wood chips or other beddings in which the animals are able to build underground passages should be piled up between 10 and 20 cm, so that the mice can construct passages and nests, for these animals like to dig, although some sources state something else.
When equipping your compound, you can give free rein to your imagination. For hiding places, all sorts of natural materials can be used, e.g. cork, flower pots or coconuts. A sand bathing place is also taken, albeit as a toilet.
If you offer your pets branches or cork tunnels, they now and then climb more enthusiastically than they are said to be.
Besides, at least two bowls, one for each sort of food, as well as a water bowl and/or a well-functioning water bottle are part of the basic equipment. If you like to offer a water bottle, you should use a glass bottle as the one with metal balls cannot be used by the pygmy mice, - the balls are too heavy. Please check regularly if the water is flowing correctly to avoid a lack of water and its consequences, like for example cannibalism in order to take liquids in.
If you want, you can grow plants in your compound. If you want permanent plants in it, the compound should be very big and you should keep only few mice for the rodents would otherwise destroy the vegetation quickly. An alternative could be hydroponic plants. Here you should put a grid in the pot, otherwise the mice would build their nests between the roots. In addition, pot plants have the advantage that you can remove them from the compound from time to time to let them recover. Please notice: If you buy a new plant it can be treated with pesticides, so you have to clean them before putting into the compound.
Suitable plants are for example spider plant, hibiscus, reed, oats and other cereals, common mugwort or common grasses.
If you keep your pets in a terrarium, make sure that there is sufficient ventilation near the plants. Otherwise water and carbon dioxide would accumulate in the compound. This problem does not exist in aviaries and selfmade compounds with big grids.

The smaller the animal, the higher its energy requirement compared to its body mass. The consequence for pygmy mice is that they can starve quickly. Therefore you always have to provide enough food. Even short phases of lack of food can have fatal consequences.
Food basics are a mixture of exotic bird food (a mixture of different millets and other fine seeds), weed seeds, grass seeds, wild seeds and other fine seeds. To this basis you can also add few herbs, dried vegetables or bigger seeds like pumpkin seeds or bigger cereals. However, you have to make sure that you don`t feed too many seeds with a high fat content. Otherwise the rodents could become fat, which can lead to the death of the pets before very long.
You can also make your pet work for its food by offering millet cobs, millet panicles or seedhaeds of grasses. These are taken with pleasure.
Hay and dried grasses are mostly used for building nests but small amounts are also eaten by the mice. You should offer them in any case because of their high fibre content.
Most pygmy mice don`t really like green vegetables. You can offer it nevertheless, for the food habits of the animals are subject to seasonal fluctuations and their preferences can sometimes change radically.
Protein food is also absolutely indispensable, here you can give insects (alive or dried). Suitable are for example mealworms, different crickets or roaches. If your feeding does not contain any protein food or if you feed too little of it, the consequences would be a lack of protein which manifests itself in the pygmy mice eating their ears or tails or eating whole young mice.
The animals have to have permanent access to water for their metabolism is so quick that even a short period of lack of water would cause a physical damage. Furthermore, pygmy mice tend to kill other mice in order to take the vital liquids.

Three or four times a year after a pregnancy of 19 to 21 days, African pygmy mice give birth to 2 to 8, mostly 4 to 5, naked and blind babies, which have a birth weight of nearly 1g. Skin pigmentation beginns on the fifth day, on the seventh day the tiny teeth come through. Also the fur starte to grow between day 6 and 8. At the age of 12 to 14 days the little pygmy mice start to open their eyes. Between day 14 and 18 the grey youngster fur is fully grown. From the 17th day on the babies are slowly weaned off their mother`s milk. Pygmy mice are sexually mature at an age of 5 to 7 weeks.
The average life expectancy of the tiny rodents is about 2 years.
You should keep separated groups of only male or female mice as they can breed very quickly if kept together and the compounds would soon be too small for them.

Although the pygmy mouse as an exotic animal is quite robust regarding health, you should take good care of your pets for the animals are quite delicate to stress or disturbance. This can manifest itself in a bad general condition, in eating young mice or similar things and can be prevented best by consistent quiet for the animals.
Due to the quick metabolism, even short periods of few hours of hunger or thirst can cause serious physical damage. You should therefore make sure that that the pets always have access to enough food and water.
If you let a group of both sexes reproduce too long without bringing any new blood in, inbreeding symptoms will soon be seen. These manifest themselves in shaggy fur with bold patches and a hunchbacked posture.
And also if pygmy mice are rather seldom ill when kept and fed well, we would recommend putting aside about € 100 in case of emergencies.

As introduction of young mice is quite easy, it can get difficult with adults. The best way is to begin with changing the bedding of the groups for a period of about 7 days. After a week they should meet each other in a small Aquarium or something like this in the size of a normal sheet of paper. If they don´t argue or fight you can give them 2 or three houses one after another. When the mice keep their peaceful behaviour can you put them in steps with their houses in steps in bigger cages until they can move to their final habitat.
The socialization of males is more problematic than that of females. An even if the box where socialization starts is too small, it can cause problems among the mice. So, if you can choose, socialize males only if you have enough experience with pygmy mice or get help from someone who has.

If you have decided that pygmy mice are the right pets for you after having read the information above, you have several possibilities where to buy them.
Maybe you can find them in animal homes. But sometimes they are kept in private pounds. If you can`t find any there, your next option is to go to a reputable breeder.
You can also find the small rodents at several exhibitions. You should look carefully if the animals offered are healthy for especially at fairs there are often slippery „breeders“.
In pet shops you can find them too. In general it is not recommendable to buy pets in a shop. It is likely that you will receive ill or pregnant animals or animals that are full of parasites. Also the sexual determination is in the so-called specialist shop not as sure as at a breeder`s.
Depending on which compound and which kind of equipment you choose, a first equipment for pigmy mice (compound, bedding, fittings, transport box) can cost more than €100. Monthly costs for bedding, green food, dry food and protein food you should keep in mind. They depend on the size of the group.

Translation
Christine Fletcher

Sources
rodent-info.net
Zwergmaus.ag.vu