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keeping mice outside

S

scottrussell

New member
now this MAY sound really stupid but...

i was wondering if could keep a small colony of breeder mice outside in my shed so they will stay out of the way and keep the stink out of my house. i live in Maryland so temps right now range from 30-50. mice are mammals....and they manage to live and breed just fine living under our house (as pests, not food); is it stupid to assume that since mice live out in the wild fine, i should be able to put them outside in cold temperature with lots of bedding and things to nest with?
 
I would still make sure they had heat and make sure other critter's can't get to them :D Might go out on day and find a new snake for your collection....lol
 
nope, no snakes found in the suburbs in baltimore...but my sister did once find a box turtle in my yard! she took it somewhere else and let it go before i had a chance to keep it!
 
Is your shed insulated? If not can you put a space heater out in the shed? 30-50 seems a bit low, but mice do better in cooler situations than they do with extreme heat.

This is a terrible story which I should be embarrassed to type here.. but I will for the sake of your question. I once moved a mouse tank outside to my porch because I thought I'd removed all the mice from it, it was taking up space, and I wanted to deal with it later. (My apartment's porch is kind of the "deal with it later" place) I went out there maybe 3 or 4 days later to clean up and put away the tank.. well to my surprise a male mouse was in there! He was in the Kleenex box and was.. totally fine..
This was during winter as well. Although sometimes mice seem fragile (at least to me) I think they can be pretty resilient.
 
but still, is there any hard information anywhere that has specific temp requirements for mice? i mean obviously inside a heated house is best but would keeping them in cold conditions kill them?
 
I keep my mice on an enclosed back porch right now - its like an addition to the house, but the heating/ac system does not get out there much. I use a space heater and it went out on me one cold night (I live in Florida, so cold temp extremes are not considered a primary problem.) I can tell you that cold temps WILL kill mice. It is best to keept them in the high 60's to low 80's if you want them to thrive and even reproduce. They can temporarily tolerate more extreme temps, but if the temps drop to the 30-40 range (or the opposite end of the spectrum of high 90's) you are likely going to lose some. I am sure that some wild mice in cold areas will die, in spite of their efforts to find warm shelter, but the fancy mice that we breed for pets and feeders are not nearly as hardy as a wild mouse nor are fancy mice able to relocate to warmer, hidden areas (a hide is not enough.)

I am sure that there is info online about the highest and lowest temp tolerance of fancy mice, and how long they can survive those temps, but I don't have the exact figures in front of me right now. I am sharing mostly my personal experience, and reports from other breeders that I have spoken with. Also, I assume that you are not just looking for the mice to survive, but to also reproduce, and I can tell you that if conditions are not within an optimal range of tolerance then the mice will not breed well and might lose any babies that they do have if they are expending so much energy on simple survival.

As others have mentioned, a space heater might be enough to get the temps in the shed to hold around a tolerable level, and might even be enough to allow the mice to successfully reproduce if you have a really good heater.

charlene
 
I kept a couple of colonies on the balcony and they did just fine. The only reason I stopped was because my fiancé doesn't want to have mice on the balcony at all. They make lovely little nests for themselves and keep quite warm and cozy.
 
One thing I wanted to add: does the shed have a window? Or at least someway for light to get in? Mice need a light cycle. 12/12 is best I think.
 
Scott -- I keep mine in the garage. The temps you are talking about 30 to 50 degree F will not hurt them one bit. I have had mice in a 15 degree F garage with in harm. The key is dry bedding and unthawing the water bottles or water lines(in a rack).

The book I have says, "Mice thrive in a constant normal room temperature of 68 to 72 and a humidity of 50% to 60%." For breeding mice.

Also, the book says, "Mice feel most comfortable in normal room temperature; a temperature of 64 - 68 is best for their health."

However, if you plan on keeping them in the shed in the summer plan on most if not all to die of the heat. Mine in the garage die by 50% in the summer even with a window with a fan in it and the garage door part way up. With you living in Maryland your summer time temps will be allot lower than mine. So you may not have the die off that I do.
 
in the summer in md it can get up the 90's and its super humid so i'm not so sure if they'd make it. but you guys pretty much answered everything i needed to know, thanks.
 
Garage!

VinnyJ and I keep the mice in the garage. It gets in the 40's in there at night and maybe even colder than that and I think he has always kept them in the garage and hasn't lost any due to weather conditions. He may read this and give you some info too! Good luck with whatever you decide!
 
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