Brock Richardson, age 7, of Muncie, Indiana, for his question:
Why do mice love their treadmill?
You love to swing on a swing and slide down a chute. It's fun to run on and on through the grass and pedal your bike around and around the block ding dinging the bell and keeping the wheels on the sidewalk. So you know how your merry little mice feel when they trudge around and around on their merry little treadmill.
Small animals often have more pep than big ones. A little mouse can walk almost as fast as a whopping elephant, but think of all the extra steps the little fella must take to travel the same distance from here to there. For his size, he uses up far more peppy energy. And for his size, he needs more food to keep him going. Big Jumbo eats great loads of food every day and of course little Mr. Mouse does not eat that much. But the food he eats every day weighs almost as much as he does tail and all.
When your bright eyed little pets enjoy themselves on their treadmill, you know that all is well with them. It is natural for them to spend their healthy pep frisking around. If they pout in a corner and refuse to play, then they are not acting like healthy little mice should act. Our pets, of course, deserve the best possible care and naturally you want to give them the very best.
We all agree that a pet owner must think of his pets. But he also must remember to think of other human beings. This is why the owner of pet mice keeps them in a pro¬per cage. Their mouse house should be a box about two feet square. One or more of the walls may be made of wire netting to let in the light and air. But remember one important thing. The holes in the wire must be so tiny that even a tiny mouse cannot squeeze his way through. Those cute little pets must not, absolutely must not be allowed to escape and multiply with mice that may happen to be in the neighborhood.
The floor of the mouse house has a layer of torn paper or maybe that shaggy stuff called excelsior. Once every week you take out the carpeting, wash the floor and put down a clean, fresh layer. The mice, of course, are nibblers and you can feed them several meals each day. They enjoy bread crumbs and crumbled dog biscuit, sunflower seeds and grains of uncooked rice. They also love cracked corn. For treats, you may give them bits of munchy apples and carrots. Most people think that cheese is good for mice perhaps because they like it. But according to the experts, this is not so. It is also a good idea to skip salt and sugary treats. The proper diet keeps them healthy and healthy mice are full of pep, always ready to enjoy a round of exercise on the merry treadmill.
Mice are bright enough to learn to know you and be friendly. When you love them they love you in return. And they are bright enough to learn a few tricks. If you think that their treadmill exercise is dull, maybe it's time to try something new. Hang a mouse size trapese in their house. They will show you what fun it is to perform acrobatics in the air. And a bit of branching wood in the cage gives them a chance to show you some interesting climbing stunts.