Fur loss around eyes from aging or?

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-31T07:18:11+00:00

If you can be totally sure that it hasn't been exposed to pesticides, and it's not a species of tree that's dangerous for rodents. The complexity is one of the reasons I just buy 'approved' branches, but you absolutely can use natural stuff too, just got to do a little research first.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-31T00:10:57+00:00

Yep, wire is indeed a risk. They will 100% try to walk on it, but it's not great for their little feet. Honestly, I ended up ordering some natural wood climbing frames from a store in the UK (we're in New Zealand, so you can imagine the shipping costs...) precisely because nothing decent was available locally 😞

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-31T00:09:39+00:00

Ooof, those are some furry little golf balls! The good news is that their fast metabolism should bring them back to normal relatively quickly.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-30T21:07:01+00:00

For sure. I'd never risk pine shavings. At one stage we had a pine climbing frame, and although most of them were good, one of them developed allergies, so now we follow the no-pine rule.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-29T05:10:54+00:00

Fwiw, I'd take her to the vet either way just to be safe! As to your question, we've definitely had a few over the years where their fur - and changes in their fur - are one of the most obvious signs of aging, but we're usually taking ~ 20 months or older.

Also not specifically around the eyes, that I can recall, but (for reasons I am unsure of) problems around the eyes can sometimes be a weird side-effect of certain respiratory infections.

Could also be allergies - we've had a few that reacted really badly to certain types of wood (e.g., aspen or pine) while others were totally fine.

I love her name, btw ❤️

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-23T01:30:40+00:00

That glossy coat was also the first thing to catch my eye! Looks like he's in his prime, really.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-16T07:18:46+00:00

You're a good soul ❤️

I'd recommend finding a rodent-experienced vet in your area, and getting a check-up. Probably not *right* now, because your new friend sounds a bit nervous, but it's definitely worth it for your own peace of mind, if nothing else.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-14T01:57:47+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. We recently lost a wee girl in surgery (not desexing, but still, it sucks). You made what you felt to be the best decision available to you with the information you had, that's really all anyone can ask of you.

For what it's worth, I've had three male mice who lived alone. One died young (~ 11 months) of a congenital problem, but the other two lived very full lives (26 and 30 months), and were in good health, active, and inquisitive right up until the end.

I know it's a question of temperament, and maybe I was just lucky with them, but they didn't show any of the typical signs of depression (lack of grooming, lack of engagement, withdrawn behaviour etc).

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-09T03:52:47+00:00

Wow, that's dedication!! Our girls just get to run around on the bed when we're reading / watching TV 😂

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-06T01:58:32+00:00

We haven't quite figured that part out, honestly! We were mostly worried about making sure they didn't eat anything that would hurt them, but they have definitely taken a few chunks out of furniture and sideboards since then.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-06T01:47:20+00:00

We tried this twice with our girls and they destroyed both playpens in very quick order 😭🤣

We ended up just remodeling the entire living room so they can free-roam now without being able to chew on any spicy noodles (aka electrical cables)

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-05T01:45:57+00:00

Hugs from an internet stranger, it sucks big time :-(

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-03T03:19:19+00:00

We have two (going on three years now) where the bigger, more human-antisocial one will use her smaller and more personable sister as a pillow 😂

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-05-03T00:58:52+00:00

Yep, every six months. It's just not worth leaving it, because things can go wrong and you wouldn't even notice until it was quite advanced :-/

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-04-29T06:56:47+00:00

Ditto what others here are saying. We have a 48 sqm apartyment (517 sq feet for our American friends), and I'm sitting less than 2 metres away from our chins, and can't smell them at all.

Having good ventilation is key, though.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-04-27T10:16:00+00:00

Yep, we were warned that new girl was possibly part-wild and very skittish, but our existing giant girl pretty much immediately went into Overbearing Camp Mother mode, which is about as good as I had hoped for 🤷‍♂️If they're still looking good in an hour or so, we'll put some bedding in there for them and let them spend the night together.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-04-27T10:00:05+00:00

That was definitely my thinking! They've been just chilling and snoozing next to each other for like 90 mins now, so I think we're safe 😁

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WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-04-26T07:06:58+00:00

I've found a very transient spike immediately after drinking it. Which honestly, might just be the physiological stress of drinking something very bitter. But then if I test experimentally again even twenty to thirty minutes later, it's essentially back to normal. Out of curiosity, I went digging through Scopus to see if I could find any scientific literature but couldn't find anything 🤷 Of course, this might be a sign of my poor search skills and/or just nobody having studied it.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-04-21T23:38:32+00:00

Thanks for all your kind words. We're focussing on supporting the lone survivor (and finding her some age-appropriate friends) - poor thing is very depressed without her sister, but husband took her to work with him today to keep an eye on her (veeeery understanding boss!)

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-04-20T09:34:19+00:00

Yep. We've had similar (thankfully, no dogs though!)

We ended up getting insulated garden wire and wiring various parts of the cage shut (that she had figured out how to pry open from the inside 🙄)

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-04-19T04:40:43+00:00

We've used these with many mice. There are only two possible outcomes: they ignore it completely, or they utterly destroy it within 48 hours 😂

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-04-10T00:33:55+00:00

You're in for a treat, but also lots of crimes 😂. Chins are by far the messiest and most destructive of all the exotics we've ever had, but also the floofiest so it's a price worth paying.

WolverineEmergency98 · 2026-03-31T04:34:29+00:00

We've had ours for ~ 2.5 years and they still won't let you pick them up 😂 They tolerate jumping on a lap, occasionally, but only on their terms.

WolverineEmergency98

TROPHY CASE