Pet One Mouse Cage 1 Level

The Pet One Mouse Cage is too small for a mouse, and its doors are too small – I purchased this mouse cage for my first mouse, when I didn't yet know much about mice care. Pretty much everything is wrong with it. To start with, it is way too small for a mouse. Mice are very active and interactive little creatures (and most active at night when the owner likely sleeps). They need abundant exercise and stimulation, and therefore it is crucial to provide an environment with lots to do and plenty of enrichment features like hammocks, boxes, ropes, bridges, tunnels etc (all easily made DIY). Very few things can be fitted into this cage, because it is so small and crammed.

A mouse cage for 1 - 3 mice should have a minimum size of at least 40X60cm, and while levels are fine, floorspace is what counts. This cage is around 34x28cm.

The doors are small, which makes it hard to fit and replace things in the cage, like aforementioned hammocks etc, and also to clean and replace things on the shelves. Worse yet, the door on the side is a "fall down door", which can't stay safely open by itself. If you hold it open for your mouse and your fingers slip, your mouse may get guillotined! This actually happened to my mouse (he didn't die).

Wire shelves are bad for mice' feet, as they can give bumblefood. The wire is OK for the shelf, as long as it is covered with e.g. newspaper or cloth (can be secured with paper foldback clips), but the bottom wire floor is purely harmful, and needs to be removed. The wheel is too small. Running in a wheel that's too small can give back problems for a mouse. When I bought the cage, the wheel was positioned too close to the bars, so the mouse got squeezed between the wheel and the bar when he tried to climb on top of it (easy to fix just by moving the wheel, but if I hadn't been there and seen it, he might have got injured... and because I was a novice, I hadn't thought of it).

The only good feature is the little door in the top. If you put the shelf and house right under it, the mouse can use it to get in and out.

PS. Mice should be kept in groups, since they are very social. Males do need to be kept alone due to hormonal aggression towards other males, but not in such a miserably small cage.

I also have the same cage with one more level (so, taller). While it has a bit more vertical space, it is also too small (significantly so), and all the above mentioned downsides apply just the same.