How long do mice live?

[daisy]

What's the average lifespan for pet mice? I'm in the UK if it makes a difference as I've heard European mice are somewhat healthier.

What can I expect to happen as a mouse gets older, in terms of health problems?

I'm planning how to to fit mice in with my current pets (4 gerbils, all about 18 months old) to avoid too many geriatric pets at one time.

[Robin]

Generally, pet shop/feeder mice live for about 12-18 months, and well-bred mice can live for about two years (and, according to this European site, it's pretty similar over there too at about 1.5-2.5yrs).

With age, so far, my 13 month old pet shop mice have only gotten a bit of grey fur around their muzzle and some fur thinning but otherwise they're still doing fine. I've heard reproductive tumors can be common in older age, and URIs are pretty common at any stage of life.

[daisy]

Aug 23, 2020 23:29:14 GMT -2 Robin said:

Generally, pet shop/feeder mice live for about 12-18 months, and well-bred mice can live for about two years (and, according to this European site, it's pretty similar over there too at about 1.5-2.5yrs).

With age, so far, my 13 month old pet shop mice have only gotten a bit of grey fur around their muzzle and some fur thinning but otherwise they're still doing fine. I've heard reproductive tumors can be common in older age, and URIs are pretty common at any stage of life.

Based on this, I think it would be best for me to wait 6-8 months to get young mice. If I got them now, I would have four 3-year-old gerbils and maybe three 18-month-old mice at the same time and I think that might be too much, from a financial and an emotional perspective. Potentially losing 7 pets in a short space of time would be hard. Meanwhile I'll keep a look out for older mice in rescues.