Dried flowers and grasses for mice: a natural enclosure to forage in

In the wild, mice live among grasses, seed stalks, moss and flowers. They climb up stems, gnaw seeds out of ears and drag soft plant parts to their nest. With dried flowers and grasses, you bring a bit of that environment into the enclosure. It looks lovely, but more important is what your mice do with it: sniffing, searching, nibbling, dragging and building.

These dried flowers, grasses and mosses all come from Zooply, our own premium brand. Zooply came about because the products that worked best for our own animals were not always available from other brands. We use these dried flowers and grasses ourselves when furnishing enclosures in our shop and at our breeding facility.

In short

• ✓ Dried flowers and grasses are enrichment and decoration, not food; mouse food remains the foundation.
• ✓ Grasses with seed ears, such as oats, wheat and millet grass, give your mice something to search for and gnaw on.
• ✓ Push stems upright into a thick layer of bedding for a little natural landscape.
• ✓ Keep everything dry and remove wet or mouldy material straight away.
• ✓ Vary in colour and type, so the enclosure always has something new to discover.

What will you find in the Dried flowers & grasses category?

Grasses and ears

Zooply Oats, Wheat, Millet Grass, Canary Grass and Foxtail Grass are dried grasses, most with seed ears attached. Oats and wheat are explicitly mentioned as gnawable in the product information. For mice, these may well be the most fun products in the category: they climb up the stalks, bend them over and gnaw the seeds out. Zooply Bunny Tails, with their soft plumes, and Zooply Bulrushes, a set of 10 stems, give the enclosure height and structure. Zooply Flax Plant (110 grams) and Babala (5 pieces) complement that.

Moss

Zooply Stone Moss (75 grams) and Zooply Rodent Moss (250 grams) are dried moss with a loose structure. You use it as a natural finishing touch between the bedding or as a soft layer in a corner. Mice also love to drag bits of it to their nest.

Strawflowers, amaranth and statice

For colour there are Zooply Strawflowers in white, light pink, pink, red and yellow, Zooply Amaranth in red, orange and green, and Zooply Statice and Limonium in white, pink, yellow and dark violet, among others. Zooply Sea Lavender Pink, Daisy White and Pink and Yarrow also belong to this group. They are light and papery in texture and keep their colour for a long time. Most bags contain 70 grams.

Bouquets

If you don't want to combine things yourself, the Zooply bouquets are handy. The Zooply Summer Bouquet, Spring Bouquet and Meadow Grass Bouquet each contain 100 grams of dried flowers and grasses in a ready-made mix. You can put a bouquet down whole or divide it into small tufts across the enclosure. The product information for the Meadow Grass Bouquet states that it is sugar-free, stimulates natural behaviour and is suitable as enrichment.

Cotton bolls on the branch

Zooply Cotton Bolls on the branch (80 grams) are soft, white bolls on a branch. According to the product information, besides decoration they are also suitable as nesting material. Mice pluck the soft fibres off and take them to their nest.

Why flowers and grasses are good for mice

Mice are active all evening and night and want something to do then. In a bare enclosure with just a bowl of food, a bottle of water and a house, there is little going on. Dried flowers and grasses change that. New routes, hiding places and things to investigate appear. A mouse that can scurry about between tall stalks also feels safer, because it can easily get out of sight.

Nesting behaviour benefits too. Mice use soft grasses, moss and petals to line their nest. That is real activity: they are often busy with it for a long time.

How to use dried flowers and grasses

Upright in the bedding. Push stems of oats, wheat or millet grass upright into the bedding. With a layer of about 10 to 15 cm, as the product information for the Zooply bedding for mice recommends, they stay upright well. That creates a little field your mice can walk through.

Scattered over the bedding. Pick loose flowers and leaves off the stems and scatter them over the top layer. You could hide a few pellets of mouse food among them, and it immediately becomes a treasure hunt.

By the nest. Put a tuft of moss, bunny tails or cotton bolls by the house. Your mice will take it inside themselves.

In a furnished enclosure. With mouse scaping, you furnish the enclosure like a piece of nature, with cork, branches, moss and dried flowers. Use moss as a finishing touch around houses and tunnels, put tall grasses at the back and colourful flowers at the front. That way you keep an overview and it stays looking nice.

How much and how often?

Start small. A few stems of grass and a handful of flowers are enough for an average mouse enclosure. Too much material at once makes the enclosure messy, and anything that ends up in a wee corner will start to smell. It is better to top up a little regularly, for example during the weekly clean. Then there is always something new to discover, and that is exactly what makes it valuable.

Keeping dry and cleaning

Dried plants must stay dry. Don't put them under the water bottle or in the corner where your mice wee. If a bunch gets wet or you see mould, remove it straight away. Store the bags closed in a dry, dark place, so the colour and quality stay good.

When cleaning, remove dirty and wet parts. Clean stems that are still firm can safely be left standing. Mice love a familiar environment; by not replacing everything at once, the enclosure stays recognisable.

Pick your own or ready-made?

It seems easy to pick grasses and flowers from the garden or the roadside yourself and dry them. Still, we advise against it. Along roads and fields, plants may have come into contact with exhaust fumes, pesticides or urine from dogs and wild animals. On top of that, many plants look alike, and not everything that grows on the roadside is suitable for rodents. When drying them yourself, it is also tricky to make sure no moisture remains, which can cause mould in the enclosure.

Ready-made dried flowers and grasses have been dried and packed, so you know what you are putting in the enclosure. If in doubt, mainly choose the grasses, ears and moss: they come closest to what mice also use in the wild.

Useful combinations

Flowers and grasses come into their own best in a well-furnished enclosure. These categories go with them:

• Bedding: a thick layer of Zooply bedding in which stems stay upright.
• Mouse scaping: cork, branches and roots to create a natural enclosure together with dried flowers.
• Nesting material: soft material for the nest, supplemented with moss and grasses.
• Dried herbs: Zooply herbs to hide among the flowers.
• Snacks: the Zooply Field range and millet spray as an edible addition.

Frequently asked questions about dried flowers and grasses for mice

Can mice eat the flowers and grasses?

Mice nibble on them, especially seed ears such as oats, wheat and millet grass; these are also mentioned as gnawable in the product information. Still, these products are mainly enrichment and decoration, not food. Make sure your mice also simply get their daily portion of mouse food, and with a new variety, watch how they respond during the first few days.

Which products are the most fun for mice?

Grasses with ears, such as Zooply Oats, Wheat and Millet Grass, give mice the most to do: climbing, bending and searching for seeds. Moss and bunny tails are favourites as nesting material. Strawflowers, amaranth and statice mainly add colour. A combination of these three groups makes the enclosure both beautiful and interesting.

Can I fill the whole enclosure with them?

Preferably not. Too much material makes it difficult to find wet spots and keep things clean. A few accents with grasses and flowers, supplemented with moss around the houses, is enough. It is better to top up some regularly than a lot in one go.

How long do dried flowers last in the enclosure?

That depends on your mice. Grasses with seeds are often gnawed bare within a few days, while strawflowers and moss stay looking nice for a long time. Replace anything that is wet, dirty or broken, and leave the rest in peace.

Are cotton bolls safe as nesting material?

According to the product information, Zooply Cotton Bolls on the branch are suitable as nesting material. Cotton is a natural fibre. Give the bolls to mice in small amounts and check during the first few days that no long threads are wrapped around their little legs. For the nest itself, you can also use dedicated nesting material.

Why do my mice drag everything into one corner?

That is normal nesting behaviour: mice collect soft material in their favourite spot. Make sure that spot is dry and not under the water bottle. You could give smaller amounts, so the nest doesn't get too full.

Buying dried flowers and grasses at Knaagplaza

At Knaagplaza, the webshop of 't Knaagplein, you will find a wide choice of dried flowers, grasses and moss from Zooply, our own premium brand, which we use ourselves when furnishing our enclosures. Combine grasses to climb in, moss for the nest and a few splashes of colour, and your mice will have an enclosure that not only looks beautiful, but also offers something to discover every evening.