Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got three female mice about 2 months ago. One, Speckle, has been squeaking a lot since the day I got her. At first I thought this was normal, but then I started to wonder if it's not really squeaking, but rather sneezing or wheezing. Is there any way to tell? Also, I have a feeling she is blind, but I am not sure. She does not react to me at all if I approach the cage or wave my hand in front of her, unlike the other two, and at times, it almost seems as though she is lost in the cage. Could the squeaking be a type of echolocation, or is it possible that the sound is from her extra sniffing to find her way around? I'm afraid she may be sick, because her fur is thin in places and about a month ago, she had lots of red discharge on her face. I took her to the vet, but the vet couldn't examine her because she was too jumpy, literally. (She jumped out of the cage when the vet tried to pick her up and proceded to run up the vet's arm and onto her head!) The vet gave me some antibiotics for her, but they didn't seem to help. It might be something viral, but Annie and Cinnamon seem fine, and they've been her cage mates since the pet store. Speckle is still very active, and she eats and drinks just fine, but she just doesn't look or sound well. If anyone has any info, comments, suggestions, thoughts, etc., I would be very greatful. Thanks!

it sounds like she may have Myco. i don't think there is a reliable treatment for it. My best advice is to seperate her from the others, they may be fine now but you don't want to take the chance of them getting sick too. then i would either have her put down by the vet or give her to a friend who has a snake. I had a mouse that sounds just like her description and she never got better. just worse and worse and i felt bad that i prolonged her suffering. Sorry

I tried separating her from the other two for a few days when I first took her to the vet, but she seemed to get worse. She kept running around and around the ISO tank and trying to climb the smooth plastic walls, and she wouldn't sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time. (Believe me, I know. I sat up with her for two days and nights straight.) I put her back with the others and she immediately calmed down. I figured that the stress of being alone would probably kill her faster than any illness would, plus, since they've been cage mates since the pet store, I would think the other two would already be infected with anything they were going to get, even if they haven't started showing any symptoms.

Is it possible that this could be an allergy to the bedding they're kept on, since it's only affecting the one? I use Carefresh bedding, which I've heard shouldn't cause much in the way of allergy problems, but people and animals can be allergic to some strange stuff. (For example, I'm highly allergic to all birds!) The pet store kept them on aspen shavings, and I watched all the mice for a half hour or so before I purchased them, and Speckle seemed fine then. Do you think this is worth investigating. I'm just not sure I'm ready to have my little Speck put down yet. Thanks.

putting her on aspen shavings certainly is worth a try. Or, if you don't want to buy a bag of aspen, put her and one of her cage mates in the ISO bin with newspaper or paper towel as the substrate. Leave them alone for a few hours or so, see if there is any improvement.

I use aspen for my mouse cages. it is great and i hve never had an allergy problem. I used to use carefrech but it was too dusty and didn't have very much odor control. try it and let us know how it goes