How can I convince my parents to let me get a mouse?

I've always had a love for all things small and fuzzy.


My bunny died about a year ago, but we had him for a really long time, and I've had hamsters and birds before - now I have a longhaired chihuahua.


But I really want a little fancy mouse! I don't know how to convince my mom to let me get one, though.


Maybe I'll give her a speech or something on the pros {and not cons} of getting a mouse.


Any ideas? What should I say?How can I convince my parents to let me get a mouse?
ok here are the basics





how many mice: Mice are social creatures and benefit from having a same sex cage mate. However, if you can only have one, then having a lone male is acceptable in the mouse community because male mice have been known to become territorial and kill each other. If you can have more then one, then go with females. They rarely ever have territorial issues.





housing: 5 gals per mouse is a good and solid rule. By not providing your mice enough space based off this rule, you will not be able to show their full personality. Mice are very active little things and giving them space to run around will keep them inquisitive and happy.





food: seed mixes found in pet stores are really unhealthy for mice. The main reason is the preservative called ethoxyquin (you can find more about it here --%26gt;http://petcaretips.net/ethoxyquin.html) Another reason is that seeds can make any animal (including birds) over weight. Mice have a tendency to eat a lot and not stop when they are full, so it is best not give them a lot of seed. Another reason against pet store foods i that they contians dried corn. Dried corn is known to be bad for all animals and humans. Thats why a lot of dog and cat food companies are working to make foods without corn in them. Unfortunately, the companies who make small animal food haven;t gotten the memo yet -_-


here is some more research on what to look out for in pet foods


--%26gt;http://www.api4animals.org/facts.php?p=3鈥?/a>





Some foods to consider are homemade methods


-Suebee's--%26gt;http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html


--this mix is not nutritiously complete without high grade dog food (like Natural Balance Reduced Calorie or Sold Gold holistic dog food) and fresh fruits and veggies.


-or Paul Goodman's home made diet --%26gt;http://mouseranch.com/FYI/diet.html





Some other options are:


-Mazuri- still has dried corn, but it is one of the healthier foods sold in stores (found at Petsmart)


-Oxbrow's Regal Rat- some local feed stores will sale it but most people have to buy it online


-Harlan Lab Blocks- created for lab animals, it is high quality food. Try at local rat/mouse rescue or find a rescue online and see if they sell it.





Wheels: Solid bottom wheels (like the silent spinner or comfort wheel) are an important accessory for mice. They love to exercise! Make sure the wheel is a solid bottom wheel. Open wire or wire mesh wheels can hurt your pet. (at the pet store I work for we have had 2 rats, 1 robo hamster, and 1 dwarf hamster break their legs on open wire and wire mesh wheels)





Bedding: do not use pine or cedar shavings. Cedar has been proven to cause liver cancer. The phenols that cause liver cancer are also found in pine bedding. These phenols have also been known to cause upper respiratory infections, eye infections, and skin irritation (all I have seen personally with animals either returned or abandoned at the pet store I work for)


Total Comfort is crap bedding. It is EXTREMELY dusty and caused a lot of the mice, rats, and guinea pigs at the pet store I work for to have upper respiratory infections. Needless to say, the store stopped using it, but they still stupidly sell it -_- I also have an inhaler because of Total Comfort (I clean the cages)





The best kind of bedding with be Carefresh, Aspen, or Yesterday's News.





Here are some great websites on mice


--%26gt;http://www.rmca.org/Articles/mousefancy.鈥?/a>


--%26gt;http://www.thefunmouse.com/ (I do not agree with 2.5 gal per mouse. 2.5 gal is really small and gives mice absolutely no space to run, especially when you add food dish, water bottle, and wheel on top of other toys)


--%26gt;http://www.fancymice.info/





If you have any questions feel free to email me





Good Luck!How can I convince my parents to let me get a mouse?
A really good way to sell it to your mom is tell her about how caring for a pet will make you more responsible. It's true caring for a pet WILL teach you how to be responsible (you have to feed it etc) and how to think of someone other than yourself (you have to remember to feed your pet etc). Maybe you could borrow a friend's mouse for a few days and show your mom that you're responsible enough to care for it? Good Luck!
You seem an intelligent and caring person and it's to your credit that you care for animals. Those pets you have are quite fancy - how about adopting a pet that would otherwise die rather than a fancy mouse? Plenty of animals die because they don't get adopted by local shelters.
Make sure you plead her to bring you to the nearest pet store,


and show her how responsible you are. Use math, to calculate the prices. Use patience, to care for the mouse. Plan out how you will take care of it, and get a salesperson to agree to buying the mouse. Your mom will fall for it at the end.
Tell her how they don't take alot of space or eat alot of food and they don't smell if make sure to clean the cage, the only cost is a Cage (10-25 dollars in u.s.), food (5-15dollars (u.s.) depending on brand), the mouse (cost varies)...They can even live a happy life outside if they are on a porch that is shadey and cool. I am sorry about your rabbit I have a Rabbit named Easter and I am really attached to her, I am sorry about yours tho...
do lots of research on them and make sure u keep telling ur mom facts about them (like how to care for them) and tell her ull pay, take care of them, do ur chores, clean the house, blah blah blah all that stuff





im tryin to convinse my stubborn evil dad to get 1 too! gooooodd lluuuuccckkkk





oh and say u need a buddy to learn more about animals or somethin
No, she needs to know the cons as well as the pros. Ignoring the cons will only lead to trouble, and you, your mom, and the mouse will all suffer for it.
tell them you will feed it, clean the cage, etc.


be really nice to them
http://www.pets.com.sg/mouse/pros-cons-m鈥?/a>
there are a bunch of ?'s like this search for questions: ';how do i convince my parents to get me a mouse'; or something like that





if you can only get one, get a male, if you can get more than one, get a female, DONT get more than one male or olnly one female, i'd get 2-4 females, i had 7 females and a male dwarf hamster in a cage at once (dont attempt to do this, after a year one of the females wanted to be dominant because there was no dominant MICE in the cage, but the hamster thought hew was dominant so when she showed dominance over him he bit her, it just was a tiny nip, barely drew any blood, but after that he was seperated, before that they got along but it was a rare case and now im aware you should never house different species together) anyway, back to finsihing my sentence! I had 7 female mice and a dwarf hammie in a cage and they stunk WAY less than when i had 2 littermate male mice, which also had to be seperated because they fought.