Why do Pet Mice Sleep All Day Long?

If your pet mouse sleeps all day long, then we have good news for you: You have a happy and healthy mouse! For them, it is absolutely normal to sleep all day long and start doing stuff at night. This means that they have a healthy sleeping schedule that should be maintained.

Although this is part of their nature, it also comes with some downsides. First off, they make a lot of noise at night which might prevent you, the owner, from sleeping well. If you don’t want to keep your pet in a different room, then we have some other solutions right here for you.

We are going to talk about the sleeping habits of pet mice and how to adjust their sleeping schedule to fit yours. It is not going to be easy, but you can certainly do it with consistent effort. But first, let’s see how many hours do mice sleep on a typical day.

How Much do Mice Usually Sleep?

The exact sleeping hours a living being needs mainly depend on its size and metabolic rate. Pet mice are rather small and they need to sleep a lot, which is about 14 hours per day. Smaller animals usually need to sleep more, while bigger ones sleep less.

For example, elephants sleep only 3-4 hours per day and they are ready to go. For mice, all the rest of the 10 hours of activity happens during the night. In those hours, they make a lot of noise. It would be pretty good if your pet mouse would sleep for 14 hours at night, right?

Next up, we are going to show you exactly how to make them do that.

How to Teach Your Mouse to Sleep at Night?

Since pet mice are nocturnal by their nature, it is not going to be easy to train them to sleep at night. In order to succeed, you need to be very patient. First off, you need to have a strong bond established, which means that your pet considers you as his caretaker and is accustomed to your presence.

Then, you can start waking him up every time he falls asleep during the day. Reward him with a treat for waking up and for being active as well. After several days, your pet mouse is going to wake up more and more during the day.

Consequently, he will be more tired at night as well. That is when you need to make sure your mouse sleeps undisturbedly. When he wakes up, give him a treat again, rewarding him that he slept at night. It is all about keeping him active throughout the day and letting him rest at night.

Sooner or later, the sleep schedule of your pet mouse will be completely changed and he will adapt to it. You can also encourage him to sleep at night by switching a light on in the cage. Also, make sure he is in a dark room during the day.

Adjust feeding times accordingly and be consistent about it. After all, you don’t want to confuse your mouse because that can make the whole method ineffective. It is important not to give up and to spend some time on this every day because it really takes time.

Is it OK to Wake Up Your Pet Mouse?

It is not particularly bad to wake up your pet mouse. Either way, they wake up occasionally to eat something or drink some water. However, don’t expect your mouse to be in a playful mood when you wake him up. His energy levels are still somewhat depleted and he is not going to be enthusiastic about it.

If you want to play with your mouse, then it is better to do it at night when he is full of energy. Or do the method that we mentioned above and your mouse will sleep at night just like you. Just make sure that you don’t wake your mouse up too often because it can mess up his sleeping schedule.

A healthy sleeping schedule is just as important for mice as it is for us. They need a solid 12-14 hours of rest every day in order to thrive. When they are full of energy, you can play with them and even teach them tricks as much as you want to.

Is Your Mouse Sleeping, Hibernating or Dead?

Mice can’t hibernate so you should be worried if you find your pet mouse laying in the cage long after sleepy time is over. Wild mice are basically survival machines and they keep going even during the winter. Although they can’t hibernate, they are pretty good at finding warm places.

If they don’t find any, they build a nest and sleep close to each other to warm it up. A dead mouse is pretty cold compared to one that is alive so checking its temperature can answer the question. Hibernating is completely out of the question anyway so there is no need to think about that.

Pet mice sleep up to 14 hours so they should wake up after that period of time. If your mouse is laying around during the day, it only means that he is sleeping. As we mentioned, mice are nocturnal rodents and they are active at night.

Wrapping Up

We can conclude that pet mice sleep all day because it is just what they usually do. It is in their nature to sleep during the day and stay awake at night. You can change this if you follow the tips that we mentioned above. Although it is contrary to their nature, they certainly can sleep at night if you want them to.

However, before you do it, make sure that you have time for it every single day. It will require consistent effort and patience to change the sleeping habits of your pet mouse. If you succeed, you are going to end up with a mouse that sleeps well every single night and plays a lot during the day.