I've been rescuing mice from the glue traps at my school, but it's getting too cold to set them free outdoors, so I brought one home a few weeks ago. My lady friend has named her Milo. Very cute mouse hehe, but on with my question. Does anybody here know how mice react to eachother when confined to small spaces? Do they become agressive?
Usually you can have several females but too many males will fight. We kept mice in high school and I helped take care of them, was kinda fun... Most of the time we could have a few males in one cage, however there were also a few who just were pretty aggro and we had to keep seperated from the other males. Wwe also put a few wild mice in there we caught, and some even bred.. the youngsters were fine but the ones we caught never got calm enough to pick up or anything. Mice can stand really cold temperatures, btw! Heard of one case where a nest of young ones was found in a freezer. And when you do put them outside, now or later, be sure to put them a mile out from the school or so... sometimes people just put them right outside the door and they'll go straight back inside.
Props to you for rescuing them I think they will be fine if you let them go....they will make a nest for themself somewhere. I came upon one the other day, I found a little nest on the ground and as I came closer to it, a little mouse scurried out...so cute.
I had been letting them go into the wild, but theres just too much snow on the ground, I would worry too much. And I've become quite attached to the one I've kept, at first she was very skittish, but now she'll even let me pet her I'm a sucker for cute animals.
Mice get really stressed when confined and overcroweded. They will bite each other and you. Also, it is very hard to tell the sex of a mouse, if a male and female are put together, she will immediately go into heat and they will start making little mice. Cute, but males have been known to eat the babies, if they are not separated after the birth, and that can be very upsetting. Whether she will survive if you let her go is unknown. If she spent all of most of her life in the school, she is a "house mouse" and used to being sheltered and having ready access to food. It might be very difficult or impossible for her to live and find food outside. My dd's mouse died on Christmas morning. We were all very sad.
Very true on the overcrowding; any time we had too many of 'm, they *all* started fighting, females too... but with just a few there shouldn't be a problem really... I disagree on the last comment; We took care of the mice for several years at school and bred them all the time, and I've never seen a male eat the babies with mice... with rabbits yes... but with the mice it was the *mom* eating them if there was overcrowding... and one or two who were just bad moms and ate them even if there weren't that many in the cage Sure, sometimes the other mice would join in and eat the bits that were left but it was *always* the mom starting it.
Haha, I had a friend who would commend you for what you did, she had pet mice herself. She was all into animal rights and everything...she was vegetarian as well...just like I am now. Blessings Francine
Ask and ye shall receive: I've got another mouse now :\ I'm hoping they're both males.... As much as I enjoy their cuteness and company I still feel bad keeping them in their aquarium. I might relase them into the woods come spring....
Ohhhhwww... how cute! And amazing that my request was granted! Now... post pics of yourself in the nude!
Haha, they ARE cute. I think I would have done the same thing if I were in your position! Namaste Francine
We had a mouse in our outdoor Guinea Pig cage last winter. It must have got in through the tiny gap under part of the door, and had made a little nest in the corner .
