The Spangled Mouse

07/09/2025

Yesterday at the pet expo, I had one of those quiet realizations that sneak up on you. To be able to start where I’m starting from is the biggest gift. Not just how many I started with but being able to see and follow someone else’s direction and dedication. In short, I have enough of the right mice to see tiny differences and know where to go next.

At the expo, I wasn’t sure how to display them (and I don’t know if I’ll do something like this again). But my real takeaway was the clarity that came from pausing long enough to look. Having each mouse showcased in what I lovingly called a ‘sushi box’ gave me the chance to really pause and have no other focus but to notice those details.

The best mice don’t just represent progress in breeding. They push me to refine and create something that excites other people too. Because when someone sees one of these mice and says, “I didn’t know they could look like that,” is the phrase I want to hear over and over again.

28/08/2025

📍 MADISON + MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin | September 6-7
If you've been looking for a midwest place to meet us, here's your chance. If you're nowhere near there, just enjoy this handsome buck.

02/08/2025

Hi everyone,

As some of you saw in Jessica’s recent post, The Spangled Mouse is now under new management—that’s me. 👋 I’m Al (she/her), and I’m both honored and honestly a bit giddy to be carrying on her beautiful lines of texel, dominant hairless, and show-type mice.

Jessica painstakingly built something really thoughtful here, and I don’t take that lightly. She trusted me with her entire colony and breeding plans, and I’ll be continuing her work with the same level of care and attention while slowly putting my own stamp on things.

So, who am I?

I’ve been in all the animal worlds. Pet. Rescue. Breeding. Livestock. From 2000 to 2008, I ran a guinea pig rescue and worked on several large-scale hoarding cases—think 300+ animals at a time, some living in bathtubs. That kind of chaos taught me a lot about animal management, triage, and keeping a level head.

These days, I breed cashmere goats (that also came from acquiring a whole herd in Oregon– either this is my thing or I should just move to Oregon). I’ve imported genetics from New Zealand, bred Kooikerhondjes (a rare Dutch dog breed), and clearly I am the kind of person who travels across the country for an animal I think is worth it. I also travel to Europe at least once a year through my day job which conveniently lets me keep an eye on some amazing breeding programs overseas.

So no, I’m not new to this. And yes, I’ve heard every eyebrow-raising comment from friends and family about my “extreme pet decisions.” But people who know me will tell you I’m reasonable, research the hell out of everything, and at minimum I can be pretty funny in the DMs.

I’m based about an hour from Minneapolis (Minnesota/Wisconsin). Mice will still be available to folks across the country, as transport allows. I'm already super enamored with Mel's Transport.

I’m really looking forward to connecting with you all and continuing what Jessica so carefully began.

—Al
The Spangled Mouse

01/08/2025

Important Announcement:

Dear mouse breeding community,

I would like to introduce you all to the new owner of The Spangled Mouse, Al Sorensen of Whisker Lines in Wisconsin. She made the long trip here to NW Oregon, to acquire my entire mousery. That means she has my entire texel line, dominant hairless line, and entire show type line.

Going forward, she has big plans to both uphold the quality my mice are known for, and to continue selecting for the best. I will also give her guidance when requested, but I have the highest faith in her abilities to provide excellent quality mice for years to come, using my bloodlines as her foundation.

She will be available to work with reputable cross country transports so that the mouse community will still have access to these bloodlines (and over time she will shape the lines to her preferences as well).

Both the instagram page and the facebook business page, for The Spangled Mouse, have been transferred to Al as well, so that she can update them when she has especially beautiful mice to show off, and for her availability posts, and so she can answer messages from hopeful buyers. When you message those pages, the messages will be going to her now.

I would be so grateful for the mouse breeding community to embrace her as you have done for me over the years.

While I am sad to say goodbye to the legacy I have created over many years, and especially to my very favorite individual mice of each of my 3 varieties, I am at peace with the decision to hand over the reins to The Spangled Mouse to a person who has the same passion and drive that have helped me shape my bloodlines.

Thank you guys so much for your many years of friendship and camaraderie. I have made many close friends within the mouse breeding community, and I hope that even though I will no longer have mice, our friendships will persist.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Jessica Lundgren

03/07/2025

I need to share some difficult news:

All of my mice at The Spangled Mouse are for sale. Due to a personal health issue, I have had to make the disappointing decision to stop breeding mice.

I know that my texel bloodline is well loved by many people, and so I would like to make sure that good breeders have access to buying my mice so that my texel bloodline can continue to flourish for other people.

The complication is that Mel's next cross country transport that includes my area (near Portland Oregon) isn’t happening until September, and it would be best for me to have sold all my mice before then. If anyone would be interested in making the trip here in order to take the majority of my mice, either for yourself or to further disperse them among other breeders, please let me know, so that we can arrange the specifics.

In addition to all of my texels being available, I also have some show type and some dominant hairless mice available as well.

My goal is to send as many of my mice to as few breeders as I can for now. I am not able to sell just a couple mice at a time, as I need to reduce my numbers quickly in an effort to disperse all of my mice as quickly as possible to other good breeders.

It has been such an awesome experience to create living art through these mice, and to send them to loving homes.

If you would like me to help guide you as to which texel pups to keep for breeding from your early litters, to continue to select them for the highest quality coats, I am available to help coach you.

www.facebook.com/TheSpangledMouse

Fancy mouse breeder in Minnesota/Wisconsin. Specializing in texels, show type, and dominant hairless.

20/06/2025

Sadly I don’t have time today to take the high quality light box photos, but I still wanted to share this spectacular black pied texel buck. I think he is so beautiful. Not available.

15/06/2025

One of my blue pied texel stud bucks: he is a fully mature adult breeding buck, fully finished withh his adolescent fur molt that all texels go through as they become an adult.

I do focus primarily on achieving the absolute best texel coats I can, which will always be their juvenile coat prior to their adult molt, as texels are a mouse variety that is shown during their best coat phase, as pups under 12 weeks old. That said, I also select my breeding texels based on their final adult coats as well. I do this because most people who want a texel mouse as a pet, want this variety because of their cool curly long haired coat. Unfortunately, without long term careful selection, the majority of texels in the majority of texel bloodlines, will lose almost all their curls and long fur as they reach adulthood. Most end up looking nearly as short haired and straight haired as the typical standard mouse that isn’t a texel. To do my best to produce texel mice that will keep as much of their coat quality as I can achieve, I only keep texel does in my breeding program, if they retain a good amount of curls and fur length after their molt. Bucks are trickier (in my line at least) and although my best texel bucks have the most extravagant coats as youngsters, for some reason, most of them lose more of their coat quality than my best does do. It is something I am working on, but genetic selection can be a slow process, especially when selecting for multiple attributes (health and a hand-tame temperament first, then the best quality coats I can produce when they are the age to be shown at mouse shows (under 12 weeks old) and finally, the best quality coats I can keep, on fully adult texels after their molt.

All this to say, my adult texel does normally keep much better coats after molting, than my best bucks do. This is one of my current fully adult texel breeding bucks, and for me, he has retained a really great quality of coat, for where I am at in the selection process. Sorry for the long post, I tend to write way too much. 🙂

***this is one of my breeding bucks, he is not available

07/06/2025

Just showing off one of my current fav young show type does

07/06/2025

Attention to those wanting to get mice from me via cross country transport:

I don’t control the transports, I only offer my mice for sale to people who are on the transport routes. I recommend you join Mel’s group, and send me a message when you see her post an upcoming run that includes my area (Portland Oregon) prior to your area, wherever you live. I will also need you to answer the following questions before I can send mice to you:

What is your nearest major city and state? Are you looking for pets-only, or for breeding mice? Do you currently own mice, and if so, how many and what sex(es)? What size cage do you plan to house your mice in, for how many mice? What type of food do you plan to feed? What type of shavings do you plan to use? If you will be breeding, please describe your litter culling policies and procedures.


My mice are $30 each, which includes the food they need during transport (Mazuri 6F lab block), hydration (cucumbers), and me driving 2 hours round trip to meet with the transporter, in Portland Oregon. Additionally, there is a cost for the transport cage: $24 for a medium KK which can hold 1-4 mice, or $42 for a large Reptile Ranch KK, which can hold up to 11 mice, including up to 2 bucks divided into 2 compartments. Alternatively you can buy your own KKs of appropriate size online, and have the mailed directly to me, well in advance of the transport date, so that if they never arrive, or arrive broken, replacement KKs can be purchased. Transport is a separate charge, paid directly to the transporter, and usually costs around $100 per cage of mice. However, to get an accurate estimate of transport costs, you will need to contact the transporter directly.

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Here is the link to Mel’s transport group:

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1HSew3x8Lu/?mibextid=wwXIfr

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Thanks!