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Natural History
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African Pygmy Mouse Breeders

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Natural History:
African pygmy mice are part of the superfamily Muroidea of the order Rodentia. They are often credited as the world's smallest rodent and amongst the world's smallest mammals. Adults can stand in a thimble and words cannot capture the shock of appreciating this species dimunitive size in person. Adults can weigh from 3 to twelve grams. Babies are grey, but turn nutty brown with a lovely white undercoat at maturity. Females are often marginally larger than males. This species is widespread throughout much of subsaharan Africa. Their lifespan can vary between 1 and 3 years. In the wild they are highly social animals, living in small family groups.

Pet Potential:
As long as one understands this is a "hands off" species, the pet potential is very high. Not to say they are aggressive (their tiny mouths can only do negligible damage to human fingers), but they are an extremely flighty species. Combine this with their tiny size and suprising athletic prowess and they are hard to restrain during handling. Cornering them into toilet paper tubes with a hand on each end and other such methods are reccomended for transfering to new enclosures. A small plastic critter keeper is useful for examining specific animals and sexing.

Pygmy mice, however, are very active and entertaining to observe. Although predominately nocturnal, I have been able to enjoy them regularly throughout the day. For those wishing to indulge, their small size lends well to more naturalistic set ups making for aesthetically pleasing decor (similar to reptile terraria). Likewise, they are prolific breeders and some snake keepers have found pinky pygmy mice ideal for the tiniest of hatchlings.

Housing And Care:
Being such active animals, I would keep a trio in no less than a 10 gallon aquarium. Their small size lends to escaping thru cage bars, so an aquarium is preferable. As a matter of aesthetics, I prefer to keep larger colonies in tanks decorated with large driftwood and stones to create a more "natural" feel, but this is purely optional. More spartan and economical means (cardboard boxes, etc) can be used to keep them entertained. They are too tiny to run any sort of wheel, however, so enrichment activities creating terrain are important. Changing this up from time to time helps bring further enrichment. The ideal temperature is slightly warmer than room temperature, but room temperature is acceptable.

Feeding is similar to most rodents. A staple of rodent block and seed mixes are ideal. Supplement this with various bits of vegetable matter (citrus fruits are to be avoided and iceburg lettuce has no nutritional value). They seem to require slightly more animal protein than some rodents. This can be supplemented with small rodents or dry cat food a couple times a week. It has been suggested canniablism can happen within groups if their need for extra protein is not met.

Water should be available at all times, this is not an arid species. Some keepers have found their animals to have trouble displacing the metal bead in the spout of water bottles. Others have utilized water bottles with no consequence. Certainly the smaller the metal bead the better or water bottles without metal beads can be used (although I have always experienced leakage problems with those types). If your mice have trouble with the water bottle a bowl can be used, but its important to change the water daily because it will be soiled. A small stone to help the mice escape the bowl can be helpful to keep the mice from drowning.

Breeding:
In my experience, pygmy mice are extremely prolific breeders. Females can breed at 4-6 weeks, producing litters of 1-6 young every 19-20 days. By 16-18 days the young start emerging from the nest and once eating solid food should be seperate by gender to prevent inbreeding. Pygmy mice can be kept in trios or small colonies, always with more females than males with little fighting as long as space is adequate.

Other Considerations:
Despite the "furry fish" scenario pygmy mice present, I have found them a pleasure to keep. They are agile, athletic, acrobatic animals. Their darting, explorations, cleaning and antics can be a joy to observe especially in a naturalistic environ. They novelty of their size only increases their appeal. I am unaware of their status in Europe, but they are becoming incresingly rare in the United States and Canada. I hope more people will be charmed by this species before bloodlines have a chance to die out and weaken from inbreeding.