# Eating Aspen?



## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

So I noticed one of my mice, Jazz constantly eating his Aspen bedding...he will pick up a shaving & eat around the edges, then put it back. He never eats the whole thing.Is this normal? Safe?


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

He's probably not eating it' just chewing on it. My boys do the same thing. I think it's easier for them to chew than the toilet paper rolls I have in there, because it's so much smaller. Does he have any other chew toys?


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Yeh he has wooden chew toys, a flavoured mineral block & toilet paper tubes. Plenty to chew on! He does use the mineral block as it has teeth marks on it.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

Dunno then... maybe mice just like the taste of aspen?


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Lol mice are strange critters! My new baby is a spaz...I've been hand raising him & he's used to me, but now he's opened his eyes when I go to pick him up he jumps a mile high & acts like he's having a seizure lol.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

They sure are jumpy little critters. I can't quite figure mine out. Sometimes they remind me of mice, sometimes they seem more like gerbils, but often they're just... their own. You should get a video of your jumpy lil one! It sounds cute and funny!


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Haha ok I will get one of him having his fits. I put him in with Jazz since he opened his eyes & things are going good he follows Jazz around & he's learning a lot from him, especially when it comes to eating solid food. Jazz is chill as ever! I'm hoping they stay friends...I'm 99% sure Aussie is also a male. I have an extra enclosure set up ready incase they decide to turn on each other. I'm so confused about them being together or not! They are so great together, its hard to imagine them fighting to the death so some people say they do! Yet there are others saying males can be great companions together. You haven't had any issues with your boys?


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Also I found this site super helpful figuring out what colouring my boys were: http://www.thefunmouse.com/varieties/list.cfm if you were curious about yours. Jazz is indeed a brindle & Aussie is merle...I'm wondering if Ariel who passed was also a brindle just didn't have her markings yet as it says they have horrible health issues...will be keeping a close eye on Jazz!


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## ratchet (Sep 27, 2012)

I've never had an issue with my male mice besides them being smelly. They were brothers though! They used to chew up their aspen too and it never seemed to be an issue. Maybe it's a mouse thing? My rats certainly don't do it.


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Hmmm well mine aren't brothers. Do you think they only fight if there's a female around? Jazz isn't mature yet, I hope he doesn't turn aggressive once he matures which should be any day now. Yeh my ratties don't touch the Aspen either except they like to dig in it.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Mice are weird creatures, you have better success if they are brothers or father and son (maybe you can "trick" Jazz into thinking Aussie is his son?), still not 100% guarantee though, just have to watch out. at the first sign of major aggression separate them, in till then, keep them together.

I wouldn't worry about the Aspen, my boys do it sometimes.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

Yeah, my boys are getting along super well so far but I'm an eye on them. I agree, its super confusing. I think the best we can do is keep them together and have a back-up cage ready if needed.


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Yeh I was going to join a mouse forum for more info...but after browsing around I'm not too sure I like the whole 'fancy mouse community' they talk a lot about 'culling the males' as in killing them! Well it seems more towards the males. Like if they have a litter of babies & they get males when they don't want anymore males they cull them...same if theres one with markings they didn't want...I know they are 'only mice' but wow sounds cruel to me! Sure if I'm honest I was disappointed that Jazz was a male due to the smell...but I'm not going to kill him!!! Not his fault poor guy!
What if breeders did this with our beloved ratties? I know we'd all be having fits!!


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

That's very common.

Mice tend to be, well, probably one of the world's worse mothers, they often eat their own young. They also breed for show, and unlike rats, runt babies never get to the size of their siblings and almost always are sick (while runt rats will get up to their sibling size and be perfectly healthy most of the time). Males are also Extremely hard to adopt out, and since most mice breeders don't adopt out since well, no one wants mice and those who do rarely seek out a breeder, that's what happens since male mice have to live alone and they just don't have room for a lot of males. 

It's hard to explain since I'm not a mouse fancy person. Why don't you just go on to one of the forums (I'm guessing you were on Fancymicebreeders forum, I love that forum to be honest, most of them are nice, and most other mice forums are extremely snobby) and ask them? they can probably explain this more then I can.


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Hmmm...well of course I am totally open to hearing an explanation...suppose it just seemed a bit extreme to me. I guess seeing how my mouse who died suffered with her illness, if a baby is born & guaranteed to get that sick then it would be more humane to put it down. Bit sad about the males tho...


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Or how about how some mice are kept? I've seen mice on craigslist in cages so small they can barely move on pine or cedar, almost all of them have been males. (not sure if that's relevant).

On that forum I mentioned, a lot of times after culling the runts, they try to see if people are interested in the males since there is nothing wrong with them, just that no one wants them. 

Also from reading male mice from babies are more dominant so the females don't get as much milk (which in rats, is fine, in mice it's bad). Guess it's better to ask them though if your curious.


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