I cleaned his tank and put fresh bedding in and rearranged while he was napping in his house, and when I got done he stuck his nose out to see what I was up to and was very curious about the treehouse. He had to examine it from all angles before he went in, but once he decided it wasn't going to eat him, he explored it thoroughly. I had to dismantle his latest project and I felt bad about that, but his tank had to be cleaned. He'd torn up his newspaper and humped it up to make a cave out of it. It took up darned near the whole tank and was quite impressive, but there wasn't any room left for him to move around. I bought him some mouse bedding -- I'd just been using regular newspaper -- but when he tore it up like that I thought maybe he'd be happier with actual bedding material. If he doesn't like it, I can go back to newspaper.
There was a girl in the store, maybe college age, staring longingly at a mouse for sale and she said to me that he was SO cute and she wanted him very much, but she didn't know if you could keep a mouse in an apartment. Of all apartment pets (apart from fish, maybe), I would think a mouse would be the most qualified. Except for the wheel, which you can put cooking oil on to make it quiet, mice don't make any noise at all. And his mess is all contained in his tank. I told her that. However, the mouse she was looking at, though he was cute, didn't look well to me. Henry's coat is smooth and shiny and his eyes are bright and his nose is pink, and this mouse's ears weren't standing up straight and his coat was kind of nappy and he was sleeping in his wheel instead of his igloo (that in itself is nothing -- Henry takes naps in his wheel, too). The ears and the coat is what worried me. A droopy-eared mouse who has let himself get unkempt is sick.
but where's the pictures 