Finding the right cage for your mouse is among the most significant aspects of taking care of them. Mice are intelligent creatures and are even capable of complex emotions, such as love. They need an area where they can feel safe, a home inside your home to call their own.
There are all kinds of different layouts, materials, and sizes that your mouse’s cage could be. Sorting through the selection can take time, and even then, you might not end up with a durable, high-quality product.
If you want to give your mouse a comfortable place that they can call home without spending countless hours searching the web, you have come to the right place. We have structured a list of in-depth reviews of the top six products to help you narrow down your options.
A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2024
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Best Overall
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Ferplast Favola Mouse Cage |
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Best Value
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Ware Chew Proof Small Animal Cage |
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Premium Choice
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Prevue Pet Products 528 Small Animal Cage |
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AmazonBasics Small Animal Cage |
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Midwest Critterville Arcade Mouse Cage |
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The 6 Best Mouse Cages
1. Ferplast Favola Mouse Cage — Best Overall
The Ferplast Favola Cage is for all kinds of small furry rodents, including mice and hamsters. The cage functions to give them a fun place to play and a space to relax or hide when they want alone time. The modular cage also can attach to other cages to increase the size of your mouse’s habitat, particularly useful if you have more than one mouse.
This cage from Ferplast is made with a wire netting structure on the top half and a transparent bottom half. That allows you to fill it with sawdust or wood shavings, giving your mouse space to burrow and make little nests, as they tend to do in the wild. The upper and lower areas connect via a ladder so your mouse can have compartmentalized spaces for sleeping and relaxing, and eating and playing.
The cage’s dimensions are 23.62 inches long by 14.37 inches wide and 11.81 inches tall. It weighs only 6.37 pounds, making it easier to move from space to space when needed. To clean the cage, easily open the top door or detach the base from the wire netting.
The cage includes the accessories that you need for them to have a comfortable life. These include a nest, an exercise wheel, a drinking bottle with a steel nozzle, and a feeding bowl. Not all the accessories are made to as high a standard as the cage itself, but we think this is the best overall cage for pet mice this year.
2. Ware Chew Proof Small Animal Cage — Best Value
Ware Chew Proof Small Animal cage comes in a four-story design meant to give your mice the space to crawl up and down, like they are scavenging throughout their habitat. The primary portion of the cage is made from metal netting. The metal is durable and powder-coated to keep it safe from chewing mice.
The bottom inch of the cage is a metal drop pan. This pan easily detaches and attaches to the primary portion of the cage for quick cleanup. Throughout the enclosure, there are various shelves and ramps. You can clip these to the side of the wire cage in different configurations to switch things up for your intrepid explorers.
The design includes two large doors to access the interior of the cage, both on the same side of the cage and about the same size. The entire cage is quite large, standing at 24 inches tall, 17 inches long, and 12.75 inches wide. It is easy to assemble upon delivery, and best of all, we think it is the best cage for pet mice for the money. However, it does not come with any other accessories beyond the ladders and ramps.
- Related Read:Â Hamster vs. Mouse: Which Pet Should You Get? (With Pictures)
3. Prevue Pet Products 528 Small Animal Cage — Premium Choice
Often, rodent owners prefer to have shorter cages for small animals like mice, so you don’t risk them falling from too high. This cage from Prevue Pet Products offers you a large squat space to help keep your mice safe yet still give them plenty of space to run around. The cage’s dimensions are 32.5 inches long by 19 inches wide and 17.5 inches tall. The cage is a bit heavier at 14 pounds because solid and durable materials are used throughout the design.
This cage is split into two halves, with a wire netting on the top and a thick plastic bottom. There is only a ⅜ of an inch between each of the wires so mice cannot squeeze through and escape. The base is 6 ¼ inches tall, capable of being filled with comfortable bedding to give your mice the chance to burrow and make a nest.
There is one ladder and shelf that comes with the cage. Unlike other, cheaper cages, there is no risk of these falling when your mice play on them, since plastic screws are securely attached to the sides of the wire netting. The bottom detaches to allow for a convenient clean, and there are two large entry doors, one on the top of the cage and the other on the side.
4. AmazonBasics Small Animal Cage
Amazon Basics has crafted its own take on a small animal cage based on customer feedback on similar products. This habitat includes several accessories and is built with solid plastic and metal netting. The cage is a great size for your mice at 32 inches long, 18 inches tall, and 22 inches wide.
The cage comes with plenty of habitat accessories as well. They aren’t all extremely high standards, but they supplement the cage and increase its overall value. The accessories include a non-drip water bottle, a hay guard, a securely bolted balcony with a leading access ramp, and a tip-proof food dish. The cage also comes with an Amazon Basics limited 1-year warranty.
There are also two other sizes, depending on how many mice you have or for larger rodents. The size cited here is the Standard size, but it also comes in a Jumbo and a Large. There are two easy ways to access the interior and clean it. The entire top of the cage can open up or smaller doors can be opened in the front.
5. Midwest Critterville Arcade Mouse Cage
The cage from Midwest Critterville is an interesting combination of a secure home space in which your mice can rest and relax and a playtime arcade that they are free to crawl into at any time. The lower part of the cage is made of wire netting and a lower piece of plastic that you can fill with bedding to make it more comfortable.
The upper part of the cage is vertical and slim. There is a tube that your mouse can crawl through to get into that part of the cage, starting their exercising fun. From there, the vertical portion of the cage leads upward, following a series of ramps and balconies. Toward the top, they can access an exercise wheel, and you can watch them get a workout through the transparent plastic. Going up one more ramp takes them to a nesting area that is enclosed except for the entry hole.
Beyond the nesting bed and the exercise wheel, the cage also comes with a food bowl and a non-drip water bottle. The cage can be combined with other cages to enhance their habitat. The entire cage weighs 6.1 pounds, and its dimensions are 18.1 by 11.4 by 21.5 inches. It also comes with MidWest’s quality guarantee and a 1-year manufacturer’s warranty.
6. You & Me Small Animal High Rise Tank Topper
This cage from You & Me is an exciting way that you can maximize your mouse’s habitat. It is a tank topper and isn’t meant to be used on its own. Instead, you set this house-shaped cage on top of a tank, like a fish tank. It then enhances the number of levels and areas for your mouse to call their own.
The cage comes with several ramps and is primarily made from thin wire netting. There is an easy access top door for your entry, although you will have to remove the entire top to clean inside. Unless the cage is perfectly sized for the tank, it can be challenging to get them to fit on top of each other. Some customers recommend using zip ties to get part of the cage to fit together consistently.
The cage is meant to be a simple addition to a gallon tank setup that you already have. It does not come with any of its own accessories except for a small balcony space and a couple of wire ramps so your mice can move between the levels. The wiring can be difficult for some mice to climb on, while others don’t have any troubles.
Buyer’s Guide
Buying a cage for your mouse doesn’t have to be a significant challenge. You can also switch it up if you want them to get a different configuration or a new space to explore. They will typically feel safer when they are in a similar space with similar toys and accessories, though. Choosing one and steadily enhancing it to make it more fun or varied is usually the best way to establish their home.
Cage Size
The cage’s size is important, especially if you don’t have too much time to let them run freely around a larger space in your home. A good rule of thumb is that a single mouse needs at least 10 gallons of tank space. For each mouse after that, you should increase the size by 5 gallons.
Getting the right size cage will keep them healthy and happy together for longer. The more they can mimic their lifestyle in the wild, minus the fear of predators, the better off they will be.
Safety and Security
Part of the purpose of a cage is to give your mouse a safe space that they can call their home. A good cage for a mouse should have areas to nest and burrow into the bedding. You don’t want the bottom tray to be too short. A thin layer of bedding doesn’t allow them to burrow inside and doesn’t serve the overall function that it is meant to.
Even if your cage doesn’t come with a nesting box, you should be able to install one on the side. Cages that come with nesting boxes should get extra attention because they mitigate the need to purchase one. Nesting boxes are especially important if you want to breed your mice.
Materials
Typically, a cage built for rodents is made of two primary materials, including metal netting or wires that form thin rectangles all over the top of the cage and a thick plastic bed. Mice like to chew on things, so you need to make sure that whatever metal or powder coating is used on the outside is safe for them to ingest.
The other consideration is the quality of the cage. Does it come with balconies and a ramp? If so, do they stay in place or fall down or apart every time that a lightweight little mouse begins climbing on them?
Accessories and Modifications
A cage doesn’t always have to be a straightforward piece of metal wiring and a bottom plastic bin. It can include modifications that allow it to get attached to other cages so you enhance your cage’s habitat. It is not always low to the ground either but might extend vertically to give your mouse more space to climb around.
The other consideration should be the accessories that the cage comes with and their quality. High-quality accessories can add quite a bit of value to your mouse’s cage, whereas a cage that costs more but comes with cheap, flimsy accessories isn’t worth the money.
Cheaper accessories can also put your mouse in danger if they get inside them and then they fall apart. Make sure to test them for any weak spots before allowing your mouse to explore the new space further. Common accessories that come with cages include water bottles, food dishes, nesting boxes, and exercise wheels.
Accessibility
Lastly, consider accessibility, both for you and your mouse. To keep them healthy, you need to keep their cage clean. Mice prefer to live in clean spaces and don’t appreciate it when trying to burrow and encountering their own waste. A cage that is difficult to clean makes your daily job harder and less likely that you will continue at the rate that you should.
You should also consider how accessible the other parts of the cage are for your mouse to go to and if they can escape from anywhere. How far apart are the gaps in the wiring, and are there any entryways that are easy for them to escape from?
Conclusion
The best mouse cages are those that give your mouse or mice plenty of space to exercise in, explore, and rest. They should feel totally safe and like they have a space for themselves. If you want them to mate, there are more considerations for how you should lay out the cage, the bedding, and the accessories that you will need.
If you are looking for a good cage that easily fits your mice and gives them a fun place in which to play and live, the Ferplast Favola Mouse Cage is the best choice. It comes with accessories that enhance your mouse’s habitat and gives you the accessibility that you need to make the cage easy to clean or take out your mice.
It can be a challenge to navigate through the hundreds of choices and possibilities regarding the pet industry, but we hope that our reviews of the best mouse cages this year have made this easier.
