The 9 Best Toys for Mice—Some That Are Even Better Than Toilet Paper Rolls

Best Running Wheel

Niteangel Niteangel Super-Silent Exercise Wheel

$32 At Amazon View On Niteangelpet.com

Mice need an exercise wheel with a solid running surface—wires, mesh, or other spaced-out footing can lead to an infected paw condition called bumblefoot—no cross bar (which can cause injuries), and enough space that their spines don't bend the wrong way. Generally, a running wheel with a diameter of eight inches or more should suffice, but the best way to tell is to watch your mouse's tail—if it follows behind them they have enough space, but if their tail curls up and back toward them, look for something larger.

The Niteangel Super-Silent Hamster Exercise Wheel fits all the conditions, and the smallest of its four available sizes has a diameter of 8.2 inches. It's also got a dual ball bearing system that's quiet enough that it won't drive you nuts either. And while it's available in multiple colors, we like the maximum visibility afforded by the clear version. The height is adjustable too, so you can position the wheel between one and four inches off the ground.

_{Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 11.8 inches (small size, set to its maximum height) | Wheel Diameter: 8.2 inches | Materials: Plastic, acrylic base | Colors: Transparent, white, purple, pink, mint green, light blue, lemon yellow, dark green, brown}

Best Toilet Paper Tube Alternative

Niteangel Niteangel Cardboard Tunnel Set

$26 At Amazon View On Niteangelpet.com

Sooner or later it will be time to admit that your mouse prefers toilet paper rolls to any toy you might buy him or her. The Niteangel Cardboard Paper Tunnel Set is like a super-charged toilet paper roll, providing multiple pieces that can be easily slotted together into fun tunnel combinations. It's made from chewable cellulose cardboard, so it's unlikely to last forever, but this tunnel set is a fantastic way to create paths that wind their way underneath your aspen, hemp, or timothy hay substrate.

The full tunnel set includes five different pieces, so you can put in bends, multiple paths, and peekaboo lookouts. Your mice will absolutely love it, at least until they chew the cellulose cardboard to pieces. You can always switch to toilet paper rolls next time.

_{Dimensions: Variable, including 8.2-inch tunnel segments and a 5.3 x 6.1 inch bend | Openings: 2.3-inch diameter openings | Materials: Cellulose cardboard}

Best Hide

Niteangel Niteangel Multi-Chamber House

$26 At Amazon

The Niteangel Multi-Chamber Hamster House Maze comes in several different configurations, so you'll likely be able to find one that fits your mouse's environment perfectly. We like the small, 3-room configuration, which has two rooms that will be completely dark most of the time—excellent for daytime napping. It's made from engineered wood and birch, with a roof that lifts off easily and wooden pegs to help you guide it back on once you're done cleaning or dropping in a snack.

Designed for dwarf hamsters, the 1.9-inch entrance is a little larger than a mouse might need, but they're unlikely to complain once they have such a fancy home all to themselves.

_{Dimensions: 9.2 x 9.2 x 3.4 inches | Entrance Size: 1.9 inches | Materials: Engineered wood, birch}

Best Tunnel

Niteangel Natural Wooden Tunnel Tube Toy

$9 At Amazon

Mice are naturally curious creatures who like to explore tunnels and small openings. The Niteangel Natural Wooden Tunnel Tube Toy is a great way to encourage your mice’s natural sense of curiosity without worrying about an escape. This natural wood tube allows your mice to weave in and out of nine different holes drilled in the log.

You can fill the tube with treats for an interactive game or watch as your mice use bedding to create a secret hideout. Because it’s made from 100 percent natural fir wood (certified by the Forest Stewardship Council to have come from responsibly managed forests), it also functions as a great chew toy to help maintain always-growing teeth. 

The Niteangel Tunnel provides hours of play and helps encourage small animals’ natural burrowing instinct. The opening is about 1.4 inches, so it’s perfect for most small mice to run in and out of, but could be a tight fit for larger rodents.

_{Dimensions: 7.9 x 2.8 x 2.8 inches | Opening Size: 1.4 inches | Materials: Fir wood}

Best Hanging Enrichment Toy

Oxbow Play Wall

$17 At Amazon $17 At Chewy $13 At PETCO

Mice love climbing and the Oxbow Enriched Life Play Wall provides a lot of opportunities. In addition to its cargo net construction, the Play Wall includes strands of dangling toys, with wood blocks, knotted hyacinth, balls, hay, and other fun shapes to chew on. It uses untreated wood and other natural, chew-safe materials, but we still wish that Oxbow listed all of the components somewhere on the packaging.

Even the small version of the Enriched Life Play Wall is 10.5 inches high, which means this toy can take up a lot of space on your cage wall—worth it!

_{Dimensions: 2.76 x 7.87 x 11.75 inches | Materials: Untreated wood, unlisted natural materials}

Best Bridge

Niteangel Small Animal Suspension Bridge

View On Amazon

This miniature suspension bridge is a top-notch climbing toy for mice, with a bendable wire frame that holds it shape, allowing you to use the Niteangel bridge in a variety of ways: climbing ladder, wavy walkway, even as a fence. The hardwood slats in the bridge are made from hardwood sticks, and the wood is harvested from well-managed forests, as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The slats are flush, and close enough together, that it's tricky for rodents to nibble at it too effectively.

The Niteangel Small Animal Suspension Bridge is available in four different sizes, with largest walkway more than 25.5 inches long and three inches wide. There are two rounded hooks on each end, making it easy to dangle the bridge off the side of a cage, or other flexible attachment points.

_{Dimensions: 21.8 x 2.8 inches; 25.6 x 2.8 inches; 25.6 x 3 inches; 25.6 x 3.15 inches | Materials: FSC-certified hardwood, wire with metal loop hooks}

Best Foraging Toy

Oxbow Enriched Life Treasure Barrel

$10 At Amazon $10 At Chewy View On Oxbowanimalhealth.com

This hanging toy is assembled from all chewable components—even the hook you use to dangle it from a cage is made from untreated wood. The treasure barrel itself is a corrugated cardboard tube, with round wooden plugs on each end. You can either thread through long objects (like timothy hay or apple wood sticks) or stuff it with treats and plug both sides. Your mouse will figure out the rest.

_{Dimensions: 12 x 2.76 x 2.8 inches | Materials: Untreated wood, cardboard, other natural materials}

Best Ball

Niteangel Small Animal Activity Balls

$9 At Amazon View On Sears.com

This trio of balls is made of chew-friendly, all-natural materials, so your mouse can roll them around and nibble on them, and you won't need to worry about the materials being safe to ingest. Each ball is hand-woven, so there's no glue involved.

The balls are on the bigger side, measuring 2.6 inches each, but your mice are almost certainly up for the challenge. The variety pack is especially useful for pets who are easily bored since it provides plenty of textures to choose between, with an included water hyacinth, seagrass, and rattan ball.

_{Dimensions: 2.6-inch diameter | Materials: Water hyacinth, seagrass, rattan}

Best Variety Pack

Wepets Small Animals Chew and Play Toys

$15 At Amazon

There are a lot of variety packs on Amazon that offer a handful of wooden toys for small animals at an impulse buy price point, but too many of these bundles advertised as for mice feature big toys more appropriate for rabbits, guinea pigs, and chinchillas. We like the toy bundle from Wepets because its toys are more mouse and hamster-sized.

There are two applewood dumbbells, a hanging forage toy, corn husk swing, birch flower chew, a wooden mushroom, and a wooden acorn. The wood is soft birch, and there are no wires or anything—just jute rope. The only metal is in the carabiners that come with the hanging toys. Wepets also offers five other variety packs of a similar size and quality.

Dimensions: Variable | Materials: Birch, applewood, jute