PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 79 



(if you can) upon the intrusion of common or domestic 

 mice. If not they will damage and probably enter the 

 cages of the Fancy varieties. Some erect shelves round 

 the walls of the room, others have a table on which to 

 stand the cages. Either will do. But of one thing be 

 certain. Unless you keep them scrupulously clean y$u 

 will know all over the house that mice are in it. There- 

 fore give plenty of ventilation, and see that the open 

 window is sufficiently protected to keep out marauders, #* 

 such as cats. If you place some half-inch mesh netting 

 across the opening that will be effectual. Take care 

 that you disinfect your mousery and your cages often, 

 and thus guard against the creation of disease. On 

 this subject, Mr. W. R. Hamlin, of Epsom, a most 

 successful breeder and exhibitor of fancy mice, writes: 

 " If you have not much room at command in which to 

 keep your pets, then make up your mind only to keep 

 a few. It is no pleasure to you to see them yourself, or 

 show them to others, if you have a lot kept cramped up 

 in a small space. Besides, it is not healthy for the mice. 

 Half the disease in any live stock comes from keeping 

 them in an overcrowded state. I have never 

 experienced any difficulty in keeping my stock. They 

 are always healthy, and always in good condition. The 

 best cages to use, to my mind, are the ' Maxey ' breed- 

 ing cages. They are flat ones, 12 inches long, 7J 

 inches wide, and 4} inches high, wired on top, with the 

 nesting part 4^ inches by 7J inches. The hole for the 

 mice to enter the nesting compartments should be two 

 inches across, and there should be a hole about i J inches 

 across in the top of the nesting compartment door. 

 This hole should be filled in with perforated zinc. The 

 fronts of the cages open outwards, and make it very 

 easy to clean them out, feed the mice, etc. There are 

 a number of different pattern breeding cages, but the 

 one I have described is the one I like best of any. Some 

 of the best mice have been bred in Fry's chocolate boxes ; 

 but these do not give sufficient room for the mice 

 to my mind." Mice are called vermin, but for all that 

 they are eminently clean animals, and need to be kept 

 scrupulously clean. You can, of course, use any kind 

 of cage you please in which to house your mice. Some 

 use the revolving wheel cage, and have it made sensibly 

 large. But it is not advisable to keep mice always in 



