Can I use a glass fish tank to keep rats and mice?

The glass tank is large (about 1 metre in length). I've kept goldfishes and other similar fishes in it before. Can I use it to keep rats or mice? What do I have to do the the tank before placing them in? Other suggestions on keeping mice and rats for a beginner would be extremely helpful, thanks!Can I use a glass fish tank to keep rats and mice?
They are little escape artists. I had two mice in a cage as a kid, and both of them eventually escaped to freedom by squeezing through the bars that could not have been more than 1/4 inch apart.





I suppose you could keep them in glass tank, but they can leap and they will surely test the defenses of whatever you use for the lid. Rats can leap pretty far -- certainly up to the top of the tank, and they'll try to escape that way. Not sure how high the mice can leap. My brother had hamsters and they also escaped from time to time, even from his custom Habitrail home for them.





Just keep in mind that they can squeeze through openings that seem much smaller than their body will fit through. So you'll need a tight fighting lid that prevents them from getting out but still allows them air to breathe.





The other bad thing about rats and mice is that they pee and poop wherever they are. They make no effort to contain the mess to one area. You will have to clean the cage out once a week. How will that work? Will you take the glass tank and turn it upside down to get out all the droppings? That seems impractical.





I used to make my mice little custom houses every week out of shoeboxes and such. (These were houses that were kept inside their cage.) I'd cut holes for doors and tape a couple of different boxes together and surprise them with a new home every week. By the end of one week, the old cardboard homes had to go anyway because they started to smell from mouse pee.





When we had a rat infestation in our home, I started out a softie but quickly lost my love for rats. They multiply very rapidly and we were overun for a while. During that experience, I found out that house rats carry mites. When the rats were killed, these tiny mites -- almost invisible to the naked eye except on a white wall if you look very closely -- started walking all over the house looking for another blood meal. They actually found us in bed and bit us. They especially like to bite women and chlidren. Even the profesisional exterminator didn't put 2 and 2 together for a while, but I figured out that they were rat mites (the exterminator finally agreed) and we had our home sprayed for about $50 (a guy with a hose walks through the house and you stay away a couple of hours). That solved the problem.





I bring this up for two reasons. One: If you feel like something is crawling on you and biting you and you can't find the reason, suspect mites. Two: In the process of learning about rat mites I stumbled across websites for folks who own rats and mice as pets. I learned that mites can really torment the little rodents and possibly even threaten their health. So it's something to look out for. Go to Google and look for websites where people who own rats and mice share their ideas, pictures etc.





Now let me tell you my scariest mouse story. I was cleaning the mice's cage one week and had my mouse in a tall box on my front lawn while I cleaned his cage. Suddenly I heard my mouse squeaking and looked up, and he was in the neighbor cat's mouth! It was horrifying. The cat ran across the street to a bush and I could still hear my mouse squeaking. I was very lucky that the cat was middle-aged and tame and let me get close enough to retrieve my mouse from his mouth. The mouse was fine. A miracle.





One more downside to rat/mice/hamster ownership. They do have a limited life expectancy. Even assuming they don't escape, they do have a tendency to die on you after a couple of years or so. So get attached, but not too much. If that's possible. And have fun!





Oh -- one more thing to add: Having two mice or rats together may or may not work out. My mice seemed to get along fine, but my brother had two hamsters together and one of them chewed the other one's leg off one night (sorry for all these horrifying stories, but better to hear it from me, I guess . . . ) Anyway, when we had rats in our house I also heard them practically screaming at each other sometimes, so you could tell than one of them was tormenting the other. I guess I'd recommend getting just one or only buying mice or rats that are already living happily together when you get them. Even that is no guarantee -- they can be fine for a while and then snap -- but it helps.Can I use a glass fish tank to keep rats and mice?
Rats and mice should not be kept *together* in the same habitat. But they can be kept in aquariums, yes.





However, my personal preference for rats is that you keep them in a cage that is ';rat-friendly'; with multiple tiers for them to climb around on. But you can easily build tiers within an aquarium too. Just be sure that if you get more than one rat, that you have enough space or they may fight. Also, in response to your other question about smell - female rats are less stinky than males.





Rats are great pets to have - they are very intelligent and inquisitive. You should interract with them on a daily basis by taking them out and letting them run around. Rats, unlike mice, will always return to their cage when they get hungry (unless they find some other food source in your house.) My rats even came to me when I called them by name, or rattled their snack box. But they should not be left out unsupervised - so you have to make sure that the top of your aquarium is escape proof.





I can go on and on about rats, but I'll just leave you with this link


http://www.afrma.org/rmindex.htm





Also, if you buy a rat, make sure it's bred to be a pet and not just a ';feeder rat';. feeder rats are kept in bad conditions so unless you are willing to deal with illnesses, then I wouldn't get one. Get one that is fairly young so you can enjoy them for many years. They don't live very long.
should be no problem. clean tank, make sure they have plenty to eat and drink. clean potty area daily if not more. have a wheel or some kind of exercise equipment. talk to them too. dr doolittle said talk to the animals!
Drain the water...lol! Mice and rats enjoy a deep bed of shavings from pine or oak. They reproduce rather quickly, too. I did not like the odor. I moved mine outside to a former rabbit hutch. They found a way out...and I no longer have any. However, I will share a few insights with you.





1. The small wire exercise wheel was enjoyed greatly.





2. They move their food to 'secret hiding places'.





3. Their young are tiny and practically 'furless' at birth.





4. A water bottle should be provided instead of a bowl due to their tendency to protect the young by filling the bowl with pine chips.





5. They are not herbivors...unlike rabbits and guinea pigs, they will eat meat...they are omnivourous.





6. Tubing in the tank may be appreciated ... same as that used for hamsters.





7. They are less friendly if there are more than one of them; yet, they are social and prefer their own kind as companions.





8. Stay away from friends who own snakes...lol.





9. Do not keep mice if you happen to live with 'cat' people or already own a pet cat.





10. Put a salt shaker with baking soda in the tank to help absorb odors...they 'mark' their territory with urine...so it really builds up a stink rather quickly.
Yes, you can
Rats and Mice are prone to get respitory illnesses so if you do use a fish tank to house them make sure it is in a well-ventilated (but not drafty) area. You can find more information on the link I included in the sources section.





Rats cannot be kept with mice, and in many cases, mice cannot be kept with other mice. It will depend on the temperment of the mice in question, however rats tend to do quite well with each other once they have been introduced. Male mice seem to be a bit more territorial than female mice, though male rodents seem (imho) to be a bit more laid back than female mice. Be careful not to mix males and females, a litter will only seem 'cute' until you have 12-15 mice running around. And too many rats is even worse as they take alot of cages to contain and are harder (at least for me when this mistake was made) to socialize when there are many of them.





For toys you can use paper tubes and boxes fairly well, or some of the Habitrail-like tubes and pipes are dishwasher safe (read the boxes) so they can be easily sanitized. And be sure to use a paper-based bedding (such as Carefresh), pine shavings contain toxins and are bad for small animals regardless of their popularity.
yes you can
Yes! Thats perfect! Just make sure air can get in though. Dont put rats and mice in the tank together. Rats eat mice.
Just clean the tank with soapy water.


Set it up, and put your pet mice in.


Simple as that.


But, don't forget to feed them.
A fish tank makes a great cage for them.The only problem that usually arises is how the corners of the tank are put together.They will chew the silicon seal.This won't hurt them but may create the tank to leak if you ever decide to use it for fish again.They also need pieces of wood put in there so they have something to chew on.This keeps their teeth from growing to long.you will need a food dish and water bottle.An exercising wheel wouldn't hurt either though grease the spindle with petroleum jelly.It will keep it from squeaking petroleum jelly wont hurt them if they lick it.Put cedar shaving in the bottom for bedding,Change the bedding and clean the cage once every 2 weeks,depending on how many animals you have in there.