I can’t understand how anyone could say you’re a bad mouse owner. You are the person I go to about my rat questions. You’re clearly a very loving and dedicated owner. Don’t let people bring you down!
I can’t stand how people don’t do enough research to know that male mice shouldn’t live together. I’m sorry you get those types of comments and that they make you feel bad.
It may not immediately mean that they didn’t do research. In countries like the Netherlands (Where I live) you have to at least try once to co-habit them. They may not know that that’s different in other countries. So em and The Furry Friends, they are not always trying to discomfort you. They just have different ideas. I’m sorry if it upsets you and I hope that this comment will help in any way😊
Where I got my male they said I should get another because "they like being together" fortunately I already knew males fight. This is probably why he has a chunk of his ear missing.
@@pleasefeedmewaxworms well, I got my female mouse a couple friends, asked specifically for female mice but as the beginning mouse owner I didn't knew that I couldn't trust the seller. Big mistake, there was at least one male between them who murdered the other new mice and he got my first mouse pregnant. Due to a chaotic and busy time and because the female is really shy I found it out the night before she popped out 8 babies. 🙈 Mom and her babies are healthy, I got her the right food (dried mealworms for the animal proteins and a higher grade mice food), a Duna cage, a lot of quietness and checked every other day. Just to prevent she got too stressed and abandon or kill her babies. Daddy mouse is rehomed and will move out soon, a couple of the girls will stay with their mom, the others (a couple girls and a boy) are already rehomed and move as soon as they're old enough. 😊
Anyone who gets judgemental about male mice being housed alone has either never owned male mice or hasn't had a lot of experience with them. I adopted a trio of brothers and they fought so badly, the most docile of them ended up severely hurt. We had to seperate them and have three seperate cages, which we weren't prepared for at the time. I was a mouse BREEDER. For NINE YEARS. Male mice are my FAVORITE. But my god. Keeping them seperate and giving them all of tbe attention is so much better then coming home to a bloodied up mouse.
In planning on getting a male mouse alone in my 877 sq inch cage.. but in worried about the smell. How bad is the smell compared to a male Syrian hamster?
@@LittleVidds it depends on the mouse, the room size, cage size and the bedding. With a large cage and a good bedding. I recommend putting wooden cat litter pellets on the bottom of the cage then putting aspen on top of that to minimise smell
Emi: Hey! Let's not chew things! Fig: But iz mouse, mam. As a fellow mouse owner, I can honestly say that from what I've seen, Fig has an incredible home with you. I've heard of success stories of neutered male siblings being able to live with one another, but you're not wrong in saying that's more of an exception than the rule. I hope more people who don't understand the care of mice (males in particular) and/or who have been lucky enough in housing males together, can be more open and understanding. I have had two little boys successfully neutered, but I'm also here in the States and happen to have a vet that not only knows exotics back and front, but has rats and hamsters of her own. So she truly understands rodents and .. I count myself fortunate. And even then, neutering Icarus was scary as hell because even with the *best* vet, sometimes an animal just won't do well under anesthesia. I made the decision to neuter Icarus because I have one female aggressive female mouse who lost her male companion, and I literally can't put her with my little colony of other females. Sorry, I got off on a tangent there, lol. The tl;dr of this is: you're doing great with Fig. I will definitely miss seeing him around when his time comes, but in the meantime, it's very clear you love him and he loves you. At least to me. I'd like to say you have way more of us in your corner that believe that and see that than those who don't.
I just got my first male fancy mouse last month and I really think the cage and house are the major components to the stink problem. I started out with bin cages but the winter temperature and humidity really hit us in the nose. We have a tiny 100 year old house without venalation, as well. I had my male and female in separate bins and they were equally as stinky, even if the male was slightly more urine-y. I’ve since moved them into screen-topped glass enclosures and we are all way happier and less smelly. I actually haven’t gotten the ruin smell yet. Yay. Thank you for your videos. I have learned so much from you.
I have the same problem with my male mouse (also called fig). his wee also smells very strong and makes me feel kinda sick but like you said about yours it doesn't make me love him any less. I also find that he is a very needy little thing haha. also fig is sooo cute 😊
He’s so stinking cute! No pun intended 😬 Watching him play while your talking makes me laugh. He keeps trying to get your attention, and wants to jump on you. What a cutie.
Yeah I underestimated the amount of smell. I did all the research, read all the books, made sure I had everything he needed, and I knew about the smell I did. I underestimated how potent it could truly be.
I agree with every single thing you said. I have female mice (6 in total), I give their cage a deep clean every week and they don't smell at all. I don't use anything made of wood, just disposable cardboard chew toys, plastic, ceramic and fabric. These things can be washed and don't accumulate any smell if they pee on them. Female mice are wonderful, watching them grooming each other and cuddling together is a delight :) Introductions are rather easy compared to other species as long as you do it properly. I can't say enough good things about them, they are just adorable. Fig is super cute and he has a good life. The people who criticise you for housing him alone haven't seen the results of male mice housed together when things go wrong (which is the most common scenario). As for soft furred rats, unfortunately they are sold as snake food here but, although they can get along with mus musculus, they have a tendendy to be quite nippy and they are said to have quite a nasty bite..
I know this is an old video and that Fig is gone now, but I just want to say that Fig seemed really happy, healthy and friendly, so you were obviously treating him right. I think the reason he fought so badly with his brothers is probably because the breeder kept them all in such a tiny cage, but some animals just don't get along, regardless of how much space you give them to share. Also, it's possible that his bad experiences with other mice may have scarred him for life and made him aggressive towards other mice forever and whether or not that's the case is irrelevant anyways because if he was happy the way he was in this video, it wouldn't have been worth putting him through the stress of introducing another mouse when you didn't know how either of them were going to react. If I was getting a male mouse without that history, I would try to get him a friend, but if they couldn't get along, I would be prepared to separate them and give them as much love as I could to stop them from getting lonely, just like you did with Fig. I think you were doing the right thing with this mouse in particular, and as well-intentioned and concerned as other people might be, they go about it the wrong way and shouldn't be so judgemental towards a fellow pet owner who's clearly trying to do their best to cater to their many pets' individual needs. I think you're doing a fantastic job and because of that, you're my go-to person for cage accessory recommendations (although since I have degus, I have to do a little extra research to make sure they're safe for degus) and I just ordered some of the foraging toys you use today and am looking forward to seeing my girls figure out how to use them. You're improving the lives of many rodents through your informative videos, and we all can't thank you enough.
I totally agree about the smell. I love my mouse so much but he does make the upstairs of my house quite smelly. I use aspen bedding but that doesn’t seem to reduce the odor. ☹️
i just stumbled upon your channel and have been having a blast watching your videos! i myself have just recently adopted a male mouse from a breeder and its fascinating to see how different he is from fig! my little striscia (means stripe in italian) doesn't smell very much (though he loves to pee all over me when i pick him up) and is fairly independent while still liking attention from me (especially at night). he will be awake in the morning and will nibble on my fingers, then when i give him food he may nip at me to get me to leave him alone, he'll sleep sporadically during afternoon, and then climb up his toy and beg for my attention. he also seems to have no interest in wheels LOL all this to say that i throw my hat in with those who think it best to house male mice alone and also to say that if you ever find yourself being pulled towards male mice again, just keep in mind that their personalities are so different (much more different than i was expecting certainly!) and mayhaps one day you'd like to try again :D
People use examples of males being successfully housed together as if that entirely excuses the reality of most male mice, or that just because they have a skilled vet to successfully neuter them, it will become a risk-free option for everyone. Even if I personally could source a trusted vet and safely neuter boys, it's still not something I would readily recommend to just anyone, just because people fail to realize that not everyone DOES have that trusted resource. You've done absolutely nothing wrong in housing him alone. Male mice are unfortunately just those animals where nothing is going to be 100% perfect in their care, and all you can do is make decisions in their best interest. As for the other options, I don't think I ever would have recommended you house him with ASFRs. I've known people who've had them as well as bred them, and everyone I've ever spoken to has advised heavily against housing ASFRs with any other species. (generally, housing any two small mammal species together is a huge no-no). ASFRs can be pretty temperamental, with other animals and people, and even if the two species could give each other the interaction and bond they'd need, it has been advised to me as even unsafer than just neutering the male. do you ever plan on getting girls? girls are really fun to watch but in my experiences (and i've had several different groups in the last 7 years) they're no where near as friendly as boys are. Even tame girls don't seem to connect the way a male does, and they're fairly "look-don't-touch" pets imo but very cute! they've been most rewarding to me just for the sake of building enrichment for them and watching them play around.
Yep! I plan on getting a group of females in the future in a detolf. I want to make it as natural as possible and leave them to it if they’re not too bothered about interacting with me, I just want to have a group that I can enjoy watching interact with each other, I have my rats as the interactive pets so I don’t mind if they’re not too fond of being handled 😊
I have never owned males so I can't compare but some of my girls sit on my shoulder and watch tv with me :). I even carry them around cuddling in a scarf around my neck while I do house chores hahaha. I guess it just depends on the personality of each mouse and how socialised they are :)
oh yes they are very look don’t touch! i had a pair of females and taking them in their play pen was the highlight of their day but they did not like it when i got too close lol they were sassy little things! unfortunately they’ve both passed but they are in heaven with the rest of their mousey buddies and i’m now looking into a male!
You are a fantastic mom to sweet Fig! You did what was best for him and he’s having a happy life because of it. I had a male mouse years ago who I’d rescued from a science lab. Sadly he did not live long. I love my two senior rats (just had a small tumor removed on my male last week), but since I am allergic to them, I sadly won’t be getting more. When the next one passes away I will be giving extra time and attention to the remaining rattie. I work at home and can be here for him or her. ❤️ The smell of rats bothers me, so I have to keep up on spot cleaning. Maybe having fleece liners adds to it. I don’t notice any smell with my chinchillas. I will continue to enjoy smart, funny rats vicariously through you in the future. 😁 Btw, I used to live in the UK and know what you mean about the house sizes. I am happy to hear your country doesn’t allow live feeder mice/rats. I wish it would be that way in the US.
I have owned female mice and now have a male mouse and he is honestly the sweetest little thing and I definitely want more in the future, I haven't found that he smells very much, honestly my females smelled worse. He has lived alone since he was 4 weeks old as he was the only male in his litter so couldn't be neutered and bonded as he had no male siblings and that seems to be the only way for there to be a chance it would work, and he seems perfectly content alone as he has a lot of space and lots of things to do, maybe I've just been lucky but ugh he's so good
I bred fancy mice many years ago, and I never had a problem keeping males together......every last one of them got on peacefully together, however, they were all related and daddy mice were allowed to look after their own baby boys once they were weaned. They are wonderful parents and I never saw anything other than love between them. I also like that pungent smell, but maybe I shouldn’t admit it! Still, we are all entitled to our opinion, and I can see that you are a very good and loving pet owner - and that’s all that matters!
I think it also helps if the mice have good genetics, I know of a few breeders who are trying to breed towards good temperament and less male aggression and can house some of their males together. Unfortunately I think it tends to be mice from pet stores or backyard breeders who are just breeding for appearance that have trouble housing boys together, hopefully in the future breeders can improve this trait in male mice to make it easier for them to be housed together 😌
He looks happy, well loved and cared for to me. People are so quick to judge today but you saved him and are giving him a happy life. Thank you for sharing.
I highly recommend neutering male mice so that they can live with females or get re-bonded to their brothers (or both!), an added benefit is that their smell reduces massively. We often have African Soft Furred rats in rescues in the UK, currently Austin's Hamster Haven have lots of them and they transport to new homes themselves. I know you aren't wanting any but anyone else in the comments might have single males that they want to adopt ASFs for :)
Nah, if the vet is skilled it is no problem. I have assisted with surgery on countless of mice with no issues, and that was with injected anaesthesia while gas anaesthesia is generally safer + provides oxygen. It can be done, just most vets have no experience whatsoever. :(
I would guess that it'd be too large for a mouse, I think they're about the size of microchips? I've had ferrets implanted before but they're much bigger. Would be great if there was a small one for a mouse!
I saved an orange mouse from a feeder bin at the pet store. I got him as a baby (brownie) and he was the sweetest little guy ever made it almost 3 years ! He did have a few babies and was such a good father so sweet
You have to arrange a ventilation system so that air is constantly moving toward the cages out piped outside. Leave the fan running 24/7 and you won't have any problems with odors.
@@Emiology No, no. That's not how you do it. You have a large diameter HVAC pipe out the BACK behind the cages and the fan drawing air is inside that tube. The tube leads either outside or to the roof.
@@Emiology - I should probably have mentioned that I used to breed mice and have had thousands of them. With the ventilation that I described here, there is no odor at all.
Don't listen to those people. It's estimated that over 90% of male mice can't live with others and neutering doesn't always help. I've had male mice for years and prefer them to females. I don't have any at the moment, but I will definitely have one again in the future.
I loved this video! I can relate because before I got my rats I had a male mouse and I realized that they smell and they just aren't as happy being handled as other animals.
It's an old video but I just adopted 2 male mice. They were neutered young, before hormonal issues started to rise. The problem that I had was introducing them to a new big cage. I had to start with a much smaller tank to curve down territorial issues, even though they lived together since day one, because one of them wanted it all for himself.
Don't feel guilty that you aren't going to get another male mouse. I recently got a male mouse and have discovered he is the perfect pet for me in my current situation. I absolutely adore him. I do, however, definitely see where you are coming from with all these points. If I had other pets as demanding as him it would get really difficult/impossible to give him the attention he's getting now. I work full time, but my boyfriend works from home. And since mice are awake in the morning and at night and I work 12-8 almost every day Toby gets literally all our attention all the time (when he's awake). The smell is definitely overpowering and I'm trying new things to lessen the smell. But the point if the animal doesn't fit with your home and your comfort level you shouldn't feel guilty.
Ah, what a doll! I think you're too hard on yourself, who cares? I have seen people make ridiculous comments on channels that you can clearly see that they are well cared for. A sarcastic, miserable person is just that! He looks cared for very well, and it's wonderful that you have the emotional capacity to realize your mouse loves you and is needy.He is an absolute doll. I am in love with him and only saw him twice! Maybe just spot cleaning daily, as well as splurging on some real high quality paper bedding just for him is an idea. You could put it in the areas that seem most smelly, as I heard that finacard is cheap but not as absorbent as Carefresh.Great video.
I love owning male mice. I only keep one at a time. Some definitely smell more than others. My first males really smelt bad and toileted everywhere (including on me). My last mouse and my current mouse were both very clean and toileted in particular places in the cage and not on me. My current male really doesnt smell at all, nothing like some of my previous ones so I think this is partly down to the individual. I have heard that male mice that have been kept with other males into adulthood are more territorial so possibly more likely to smell than those that were separated at a younger age. So far I would say this is true of the male mice I have owned. I also love having a male mouse because of how loving they are and how much they bond with you as an owner. All my males except one have been so cuddly and want to be with me all the time. However, their cages are full of things for them to do when I am not around and they tend to get to know my work pattern and sleep/wake accordingly.
Gosh I’ve just come across this video, I got 2 brothers (same litter) was told they NEEDED to be housed together and because they were from the same litter they were very unlikely to fight, so that’s what we did. My god! 1 of them was very dominant and after a few days of being home started attacking the smaller, timid mouse, it was awful! So I made the decision to separate them. To me being separate was much better than coming home to 1 or both of them severely injured or even worse. I joined a group on FB and asked for help regarding nipping (not aggression) and my daughter being worried about scaring him and my god I got ripped to shreds for housing him alone! Ethically it was wrong of me I should be neutering and housing with females as that was going to give him the life he needed. I explained it was never my intention for him to be alone but that wasn’t good enough. Why is the animal community groups online so hateful at times!? I got 1 helpful comment regarding the nipping situation, the rest were just how wrong it was of me to house a lone male, sad really when you are trying to do the very best under the circumstances you are in.
I have 2 brothers in a cage that don’t fight often. It’s usually over special treats, so I just have to make sure they both have a piece at the same time. Or if I take one out of the cage without the other, they’ll fight when I put the other back. Btw that’s not me endorsing putting males together. I took them off a backyard breeder who was also having trouble housing them so I took a chance and this particular situation has worked out and I’m glad it has. And about the smell, I have smelt some cages with males that made me dry reach but luckily my boys are pretty neutral. 2 days before their weekly cage cleaning I can start to smell it build up. So I think it depends on the mouse
to be honest, I have a male mouse called Tae, and he is super sweet! And I am not bothered by the smell that much. Yes, it’s a pretty strong smell, but if you clean the cage regularly then you should be fine. I have a 40 gallon tank for him, with many plants and wooden houses, and he pees all over them and that makes me crazy! Lol. I also have a large room, about the size of a master bedroom, and it’s not that bad... they are very needy and naughty, but they are sweet pets. I have 6 females and they smell a lot worse then males.. just my thought :)
Being a pet parent i know i did some mistakes... By the past i did own some species that were not met to be alone alone... Because i underestated the need they have for a one of their own. Although i did that, when i did start to realize that it was wrong, i did not go running and adopt a new one or rehome mines..... I did realize that inwas not in a financial situation to own new ones just yet, but i could keep providing for the ones that i had. I could not find the heart to rehome them because my home is 0 abandon. This is indiscutable. The only reason for i would rehome would be a major very major reason. They are so many pets out there that need a home, that are homeless, that are gonna get killed in shelters or get mistreated... I just cannot bring my self to think that this would be the go to solution.y pets being kept in so tall and carefully designed environnement, fed, vet, loved... I play with them every day, i would bring them all over the home and pass the entire day while i was there with them. And also the uncertainty of knowing they would be going into caring homes or that it would be their final homes ... I just cannot go for the uncertainty by only cause of i did a mistake... The only thing i could do is to be better in the futur with the information i have now and take cat of the ones i like now.
Aw yay a mouse video I think fig is the most adorable mouse ever. I would really like to have 3 or 4 female mice one day. Could you do a mouse diet video, I would really like to see that if you can. Also how often do you clean out fig? I've also have rabbits and I don't regret a second of it but i don't think I would get more. Sorry I know this comment is long but I have seen people mix in wood cat litter into their usual bedding and that is supposed to help
Hey there! I own mice, and this forum here is an amazing place to get info on mouse care. Diet, bedding, behavior, everything. www.petmousefanciers.com/
This is just a suggestion for your female mice. I have my cage for my 3 male mice (brothers and they dont fight) with potting soil instead of litter. I have another cage connected to it with litter in it. The one with soil i have mealworms in the soil and the mice know they cant cover the dirt smell so they just dont try. If they ever do fight I have a extra cage so they can be seperated. Love you vids. Thnx.
The smell is kinda funky, however if you keep the cage clean its no bigI clean mine every other day, I have lots of blankies I switch out on the regular. Just keep him clean and it's very easy to keep a handle on it.
I currently have four females and I think I'll have a male after them, cuz I like to have my pets around while I watch TV, draw, etc, and it's easier to keep one mouse on my neck than four xD also I love my mice but I wonder how it is to have a 'cuddly' mouse :0 Also males r harder to rehome so I want to help at least one :00
@@stixandcritters4640 try putting a bit away each month in the mean time. My vet does it for 80. But I've seen vets that do it for as low as 50. You just have to price shop at some vets a bit. I neuter all my male mice and rats and I spay all my female rats. It's the bomb
Little Reginald was rescued from probably being eaten by a snake. I am actually trying to hide the fact he exists, which is very hard because of his smell. I had a male mouse as a kid and really don’t remember him smelling as bad, but now that Reggie got comfortable and I got him a bigger cage with better bedding, he smells a lot less! I really wanted to get a couple of girls, but Reggie just climbed on my hand at the pet store. Plain white mouse but he is mine (and currently is sleeping in my shirt pocket)
up late thinking about whether we should get our male mouse neutered!! such a hard decision. Seems like there's a handful of exotic vets, will be calling them tomorrow. our male mouse is extremely happy, but I would love for him to have cuddle buddies and just company 24/7. i got him an air purifier b/c we have bad air quality sometimes - but I think it helps with the smell so much! I highly recommend. I only smell his pee when he actually pees on me, but his cage smells fine :)
I agree the smell is not the best. But it’s so cute that fig has a close bond with u.and I wish the u.s had a law where u can’t feed live animals to snacks❤️ and u should do a room tour
I’ve started fostering mice but in my area not a lot of people want to own mice or I’m not sure anyone would. What are some ways I can reach out to people in order to find my babies good homes?
This video actually makes me feel better. I owned hamsters my entire childhood and never thought they had a scent. I had a single male mouse during college and the smell it produced was horrid. Never again! I’m getting my first ever trio of female rats soon and one of my worries was that they would be like the mouse.
I could be wrong, but from my experience, I would say good genetics combined with allowing the little critters to live life in a similar way to their wild cousins will help them live peacefully. Both male and female parents look after their offspring and by being in a family environment, mine at least, got a good education from their relatives. I think it’s a bit like puppies that have not been given the opportunity to socialise; the problems arise because they were not allowed to grow up in the family unit. I mean, how often did my Mum, my Dad and my big sister give me a good telling off? I’m now a perfectly well behaved woman! LOL
I live in the US i have a male mouse. I never had a interest in owning a mouse. But i had found a baby mouse abandoned by its mother. Its eyes were still closed when I found it so i had to hand feed it baby formula for the first 2 weeks. Now he's part of the family
oh my god, yes. I have a male mouse and their urine / marking does smell sharp and intense. When my mouse pees or scent marks I, sitting across the room, know immediately. It smells like someone with a urinary tract infection peed on a huge bowl of stale plain bran cereal. (TMI and gross, I know but it's an accurate description). I do change his bedding regularly for his comfort and mine. Just to disclose, I was warned, rigorously, about the smell. So I was well aware. I adopted him for the same reason as you adopted Fig: to help the breeder that had an abundance of male babies in a litter and needing to find them homes. Cole is very sweet and makes me smile and laugh often.. I just wish there was something I could do to help minimize his scent marking. Male mice can NOT be kept together, period. They fight and will injure / kill each other, siblings or not. I will continue looking after him and ensure he has a good life, but I won't get another mouse. They are easy to care for, however the males have a powerful punchy odor in their urine that I just can not fathom how something that is literally like 2 drops can smell so strong / bout to knock me over... out of such a little furry boi! Anyone considering a male mouse should definitely handle one and visit an adult male mouse's habitat before making a final decision. It is rare indeed to find any vet that is willing to neuter a mouse. :(
Can definitely understand your point of view with the fact that males are a controversial subject. It shouldn’t matter but having pets is a lot less enjoyable when everyone is saying you are wrong and even more upsetting when they’re saying your opinion is harming your pet. In this case the animal is social but they are also aggressive and can’t be kept safely together, it’s a hard situation but either way you’re going to have this negative feedback and you start to question if you should even have the pet with all the comments saying you’re wrong. Such a shame but opens up new species of animals to care for so it’s not all negativity more of a learning curve 🤗
I get a male mouse tomorrow! He’s already two years old and lived together with 7 other mice but doesn’t like them and they’re fighting a lot so the owners decided to get rid of him, they thought about releasing him in the wild :( I’m so happy I can adopt him! He’s not neutered so I can’t introduce him to my 4 girls and one neutered boy, but I got him an ~860 sq inch cage where he can live his last months in peace without much stress 😁
one of my biggest issues with my pets is that I DO NOT smell pee smell. at the very least it doesn't bother me and at the most it's just a smell in my environment that doesn't bother me. Makes it hard to have people over because it really doesn't bother me? but other people hate the smell of my mouse and rats, even when it's mild
I lost a lot of scent to Covid a few years ago so I have the same issue. I’m like macadamia smells sort of musky/woody but apparently no where near what my family thinks he smells like haha
Mice: Males need to be alone, they'll fight otherwise Rats: Individuals of both sexes need platonic friends of the same sex, loneliness causes stress but being around the opposite sex when it's not mating time means fighting
I have a male mouse. Housed alone as he should be. He’s in and out of his cage several times a day but I do have days where I can’t love on him as much so I completely sympathize with you on the topic of wishing he could be housed with a companion.. but I LOVE him so very much. He’s moderately stinky and enjoys marking his bath house with his scent immediately after I’ve sanitized everything and changed his bath sand. 😑
Hi! Um... I have been owning mice for over 12 years and they have never smelled. Particularly male mice is what she talked about in the video and I have owned 8-9 male mice over the years and none have ever smelled so I am a little confused she is saying they smell
I have two male mice : Panda and Casper. Panda smells like crazy, and Cupid barely gives off an odour. That being said, my girls can be smellier, although we currently have a litter of babies which add to the smell haha. I find mixing the bedding (I use a paper bedding) with cat litter. For the record: my males are in seperate cages and my females share. The only time they share is an overnight ‘date night’ when my older female passed, since it’s almost impossible to find mice locally, and I needed some more females 😘
I have two male mice : Panda and Casper. Panda smells like crazy, and Casper barely gives off an odour. That being said, my girls can be smellier, although we currently have a litter of babies which add to the smell haha. I find mixing the bedding (I use a paper bedding) with cat litter. For the record: my males are in seperate cages and my females share. The only time they share is an overnight ‘date night’ when my older female passed, since it’s almost impossible to find mice locally, and I needed some more females 😘
I have 4 brothers and the lady ( not a pet store) i got them from said they won’t fight bc there brothers yea right ( I was new at having mice and did do my research and google did also say brothers can be housed together) now I have 4 brother mice in 4 separate tanks but I still love them all and they do give me the guilty stair when u take one out and not the other ..... also what toys do I suggest instead of wooden toys?
i was also curious to know, did you have your rats with you during university? i ask because i'm entering my final year of uni and though i will most likely not be getting rats anytime soon, i was curious about leaving them for a bit during classes and how you managed. thank you!
fig is quaking. haha, i definitely agree that females are more social with one another, and literally don’t crave any attention rather than that of their sisters 😂🐁. it’s always so cool to see the way they’re interact with one another and play!!
So cute! I have 2 male mice one of them have they’re tail chopped off, both of them were supposed to be food for snakes but I came to pick them up. Had to spend 200 dollars on each cage.
As someone who DOES have two very bonded male mice, and also a lone male mouse, dont feel bad for taking him away from his brothers if they were fighting ahaha, the two bonded brothers cry when theyre apart meanwhile the lone one is alone for a reason lmao, it definitely depends on the mouse but err on the side of caution and your best bet if you wanted to house two males together its a lot easier if theyre from the same litter and are never housed apart (if they are then they develop different smells and wont recognize the other as their brother anymore) but im looking to possibly neuter the lone male to put with females or maybe look into getting asfs, im not totally sure yet
Great video. I have a group of 5 girls and they are super fun to watch and very friendly. I might try to get a neutered boy in my next group but I'm so undecided....
Fig is too cute 😍 and sweet Imee. I would LOVE to own mice in the future myself 🤗💕. I would just have to wait till I no longer have my 3 hamsters or my dog. They all require a lot of attention and work. So hopefully one day in the future and I will find a good legit breeder in the US😊🤗💕 You're a GREAT pet mom Imee.👍🙏💕
I found myself adopting some “fancy mice” from my local spca. Smelly is right, he lives with his brother and thy don’t fight unless I take one out and not the other. Holding them is the worst because I can’t forget the smell until I shower. I love them so much tho, wouldn’t change jd and Chester got the world
Yeah male mice are definitely a different story from female mice. I’ve owned a male before and he was a mean little bastard. The only way I’d own another male is if I did breeding, which I currently don’t have the space to do.
That's what happened with my mice I could have never imagined how gross they smell my family was complaining about the smell when I first got them I got them a lager cage and use more cat litter wood based and now they barley smell I'm so glad I sorted it out as I don't think I could have lived with it for longer it is so gross
We had two male mice, Basil, who was given to us as a female 🙈 and his son, Cobweb, who arrived because Basil wasn’t a female. 😂 They lived together happily before and after neutering, and really they didn’t really smell any worse than our females. They were kept in my bedroom, which is very small, so I don’t think room size was a factor. Having said that, we would never have another male, unless it was an emergency. They do present extra problems, but if it was a case of taking them or putting them down, we wouldn’t think twice.
My more anxious/submissive mouse is smellier than the other. They don't stink too bad but I did take my dominant mouse to pet smart today and the carrying bag/container I had him in smelt horrible after (still smells better than my guinea pigs though!!!)
We have pretty much the same list of animals that wouldn’t get again. I had many gerbils as a kid and loved them but wouldn’t get them again. My male mice attacked each other and smelled awful. I loved my rabbits but they are a huge commitment and the vet bills can be ridiculously high for a rabbit specialist. Female mice and male rats are the only pets I’d get again.
Thank you so much. I am getting mice in a few days. Their habitat is ready and I am soo excited. Their names will be Peanut and Butterscotch. I will hopefully get females.
My male mouse and I have formed a really good bond but the issue is that he always gives me "the look" when I come into the room and I ho to my female mice and guinea pigs first so then he goes on the highest ledge and just stares at me until I give him a treat 😂😂😂😂
I just got 2 male baby mice...I'm hoping they'll be that 1% exception of 2 males that grow up perfectly fine with eachother, so I won't have to separate them...
I recently got mice and I originally was told they were girls but it turns out they're both boys. They were in the same cage at the pet store so I originally housed them together, but they sorta fight and it makes me anxious. All they've done so far is kinda grab each other and that's it, the grabbed one will squeak and run and that's the end of it. The last time that happened, the one that seems less dominant actually grabbed the other mouses butt and I thought he bit him but there's no blood. I'm kind of very unsure of what to do. Can they play together still? I'm extremely terrified of them getting into a bad fight so I've got two smaller separate cages for them to be alone and a bigger cage with four stories in it (that they unfortunately can escape from so I can't keep them in it unless I'm watching them). I've read a lot about them (I intended to get girls so I wouldn't have to worry about this but now I got too attached to give one back) and some people say they're fine together amd some people say never house boys together. I don't want them to get lonely/depressed
If they’re already fighting like this at this stage it’s only going to escalate so you need to separate them permanently and that means no play time either because once they’re separate they won’t have any bond anymore and the next time they meet could be fatal!
@@Emiology they won't become depressed or lonely? Their cages are next to each other. The one boy is very curious and will not hesitate to let me hold him but the other one is still very cautious and not as eager to be held so if he's in his own cage, his socializing is very limited. I've got a guinea pig who is in his own cage (his cage mate died) and he does fine on his own, he eats and is very happy by himself but I also have two other pigs who are in the same room but separate cage so he can hear them and smell them so that might be part of why he's okay, just having them nearby. Would that work for the mice? Or is the smell/sound of another male mouse nearby going to upset them?
I had two male mice and they were my babies. They seemed to love each other tons. They cuddled and played but then the more dominant one started fighting. I tried to separate him out for a "time out" for around an hour when this happened but then it became extremely fatal. The dominant one bit the others tail and the injured one passed two days after. Please please separate them. Itll only escalate.
I completely understand and respect your feelings about male mice - However, for viewers who do own or want to own a male mouse, I want to share that I have successfully owned two male mice (both during separate time frames) I do keep my mice in glass tanks (which I know is controversial here). I layer with clear plastic refrigerator containers, and keep a glass water bottle hanging with heavy duty velcro on the inside of the tank. I kept my first mouse's tank ON the kitchen counter in my last house (because my kitchen was huge and the most lived in space). And the male mouse I have now is in a tank in the dinning room area of a large open concept kitchen/dining/living room space. I have placed them in these heavily lived in areas so they are never alone. I eat with him, talk to him, play with him, let him visit my chihuahua and pug who love him outside his tank. I also let my mouse visit my english bulldog and cat with his tank between them. He also loves them and runs to them when they are present. :) When my cat sits on top of his metal mesh tank cover, my mouse will climb up and hang from all fours, touching my cat's paws. They are quite friendly. My first mouse lived 25 months in my home, from about 8 weeks old. His death of old age had me undone. And my current mouse is only 5 months old today. I expect and hope he lives a long and full life. I have learned SO much from "Emiology" about how to have even more fun and make his life even better than before! Thanks so much, and enjoy those male mice! (they really do have the best personalities, i think!) :)
I have had 10 mice 7 males 3 females. The girls are easy The boys make you spread them and remove them to keep them alive. It is based on the male mouse personality Males can be housed well in 2s but I have managed to have 5 boys together but it’s still stressful you have to understand who the boss mouse is at the time usually the fattest mouse. If you house them alone they will gain weight you can use this your advantage by making the nicest mouse the boss by seperating him and reintroducing him as the nice fatty boss. They shouldn’t get to fat obviously. If you give them to many house hides they will might more best to only give them one at first and add maybe one more at a time. Wheels cause fighting a lot. With males only the boss mouse will attack the others you can take him out but a new boss will begin. They’re are some mice the boss doesn’t attack but if he attacks any of them his cage rage will make him potentially hit even his friends. Not a vet- consult a vet to know for sure A warmish epsom salt bath soak for 2-up to 5 minutes is needed any time blood is drawn. Unscented dr teals is what I used Also running water on the wound from the tap has worked for like 20 secs but that’s chancey. If they develop lumps it will need to be heat lanced at the vet and given medicine for 2 weeks every 12 hours If you have a bunch the boss can’t attack them in groups, he will only attack when they are off on their own. It can happen if only 2 are together also your mice can die due to stress and depression dehydration if the boss doesn’t let them leave their house. I would purchase boys in 2 at a time if your sure you need multiple. Neutering is scary xc cause anstesia is a big risk. Would get it done before you get attached to the mouse. I combined my males then separated them Into pairs if you have 4 males you’ll need 3 mouse cages so don’t get ambitious Even with 2 boys you’d need 2 cages not travel cages. If they don’t get along. Social grouping them is a strategy but cage rage will play against it. Probably possible to have 3 boys that don’t fight but you’ll have gone through 5-mice which means 3 cages. Putting boy mice next to girl mouse cages gives the solo boys something to do which is nice. The girls like a chubby boy If you do get boys in 2s the 2 you get might not even get along down the line. My 2 that do get along are not from the same litter and the one that he’s friends was the boss and isn’t the boss now. While his brother had to be moved cause he was an aggressive boss. If you introduce a boy into a cage that isn’t new to all the boys involved the fighting is more likely. Blowing air at attackers can stop an attack mouse their tails will wiggle and they lean side ways to begin an attack. My mouse pumpkin does not like any boys at all. He just bites he doesn’t go side ways he does so the tail slap tho. You can use water to spray the mouses to prevent the fight if blowing air doesn’t work but you have to dry them immediately. And that could make them sick. Hypothemia is more problematic for solo males so your room being way colder then 75 is a problem. If the males groom eAch other then it’s likely their friendly. Multiple males multiple problems If you don’t wash a blood draw mouse bite within 12 hours or less of when it’s bit the infection is horrific. I use the mouse balls to check their underbelly and everywhere else for bites. Louder squeaks and continued sqeeking mean their likely fighting one squeak is probably just the mouse being annoyed. If your mouse is cold and wants to be held and is laying it’s paws and face against your hand it’s likely going to die within an hour. The vet probably can’t save it at that point you would need a small animal emergency place with the right equipment. Female mice are easier then males Grouping males is like advanced difficulty If you get females it’s best to get 3. Don’t get multiple males unless your ready for high stress and heart break. Also getting a male nuetered is a risk because they can die from Anastasia cause they may not wake up. You can’t get mad at the boss mouse some males don’t like other males. My Twinkie gets along with all the mouses no matter who it is but they can bully him. Xc boys also spray more if they are the boss. Which is very smelly compared to their regular amount. Cage size helps but will not stop the aggressive behavior. I found taking the boss and putting him in time out in another cage with the boy for 1 day has results but I can’t tell you if it’s long term or short term. Unless you have the time to babysit them rotate their cage mates and do bite cleanings or fight preventions don’t house males together. If a mouse is way fatter then the other mice they are likely to be scared of it. It’s seriously complicated and not worth doing. Maybe testing compatibility and returning the mice that don’t mix is an option but somebody always hates somebody. If your mouse is losing weight and being attacked he can’t stay with the boss mouse. You could house him alone and reintroduce him when he gets fatter then the original boss but he might become a meanie mouse to. From scratch probably get a boy neuter it before you get attached Then get 3 females after he’s healed and do a gradual introduction over time till they are good together. If they don’t mix you can try cage rotations to see what works. Crazy mouses they are literally like kids fighting over toys food and water. Mousu’s are so cute I’m adopting a boy from the shelter today. Having more then 2 boys together is selfish Theirs no good reason to permently house them like that. Maybe if you had a bunch of nuetered males and females together but the girls would probably be stressed out by the nonstop harassment from the boys.
Thank you so much for your videos on rats & mice. I normally watch the rat ones since i have pet rats. Recently i resucued a small white male mouse from a pet shop. He was injured from his cage mate. He's doing good but yes, he stinks lol his urine smells something like shrimp tails lol 🦐🦐🦐🦐🐭
I have a father and son spiny mice in one setup I have two brothers spiny mice in another setup and a mother and her two daughters in another setup my male pairs are living together happily I guess im the only one that can keep males together peacefully lucky me
I wish you could show us the smell over the internet because now I'm curious... I know my rats can be a bit stinky at times but male mouse sounds like a whole new level of odor. My rats are pretty needy and I feel pretty guilty I can't give them more time as it is. I couldn't imagine how guilty I'd feel if they had to rely on me 100% for social. That's rough.
Fig is insulted that you don’t love his signature scent
Victoria Raechel 😂😂😂
Haha I love your channel
Lol
Lollll hi Victoria!
@@jitseput4752 Haha
I can’t understand how anyone could say you’re a bad mouse owner. You are the person I go to about my rat questions. You’re clearly a very loving and dedicated owner. Don’t let people bring you down!
Missi McCarthy agree she is keeping this mouse even tho he is a lot of work tbh most people would just get rid of the animal but not her
Yeah people are just jealous of her
Shes a great pet owner!!
I can’t stand how people don’t do enough research to know that male mice shouldn’t live together. I’m sorry you get those types of comments and that they make you feel bad.
The Furry Friends Alot of male animal's don't get along. Especially in the small animal community.
@@em-wv4qt But for _rats_, which a lot of people get confused with mice, it's _crucial_ to keep at least two of the same sex.
It may not immediately mean that they didn’t do research. In countries like the Netherlands (Where I live) you have to at least try once to co-habit them. They may not know that that’s different in other countries. So em and The Furry Friends, they are not always trying to discomfort you. They just have different ideas. I’m sorry if it upsets you and I hope that this comment will help in any way😊
Where I got my male they said I should get another because "they like being together" fortunately I already knew males fight. This is probably why he has a chunk of his ear missing.
@@pleasefeedmewaxworms well, I got my female mouse a couple friends, asked specifically for female mice but as the beginning mouse owner I didn't knew that I couldn't trust the seller.
Big mistake, there was at least one male between them who murdered the other new mice and he got my first mouse pregnant.
Due to a chaotic and busy time and because the female is really shy I found it out the night before she popped out 8 babies. 🙈
Mom and her babies are healthy, I got her the right food (dried mealworms for the animal proteins and a higher grade mice food), a Duna cage, a lot of quietness and checked every other day.
Just to prevent she got too stressed and abandon or kill her babies.
Daddy mouse is rehomed and will move out soon, a couple of the girls will stay with their mom, the others (a couple girls and a boy) are already rehomed and move as soon as they're old enough. 😊
I really like how Fig is playing around in the back!
Yeah it’s really cute!
Anyone who gets judgemental about male mice being housed alone has either never owned male mice or hasn't had a lot of experience with them. I adopted a trio of brothers and they fought so badly, the most docile of them ended up severely hurt. We had to seperate them and have three seperate cages, which we weren't prepared for at the time.
I was a mouse BREEDER. For NINE YEARS. Male mice are my FAVORITE.
But my god. Keeping them seperate and giving them all of tbe attention is so much better then coming home to a bloodied up mouse.
So can i house a male alone? I want a mouse but not mice.
@@kk-ache-ing Yes. You can house a male alone and as long as you give him enough attention, it's fine. But they do need a good amount of attention.
@@LiminalBookkeeping thanks!
In planning on getting a male mouse alone in my 877 sq inch cage.. but in worried about the smell. How bad is the smell compared to a male Syrian hamster?
@@LittleVidds it depends on the mouse, the room size, cage size and the bedding. With a large cage and a good bedding. I recommend putting wooden cat litter pellets on the bottom of the cage then putting aspen on top of that to minimise smell
Emi: Hey! Let's not chew things!
Fig: But iz mouse, mam.
As a fellow mouse owner, I can honestly say that from what I've seen, Fig has an incredible home with you. I've heard of success stories of neutered male siblings being able to live with one another, but you're not wrong in saying that's more of an exception than the rule. I hope more people who don't understand the care of mice (males in particular) and/or who have been lucky enough in housing males together, can be more open and understanding.
I have had two little boys successfully neutered, but I'm also here in the States and happen to have a vet that not only knows exotics back and front, but has rats and hamsters of her own. So she truly understands rodents and .. I count myself fortunate. And even then, neutering Icarus was scary as hell because even with the *best* vet, sometimes an animal just won't do well under anesthesia. I made the decision to neuter Icarus because I have one female aggressive female mouse who lost her male companion, and I literally can't put her with my little colony of other females.
Sorry, I got off on a tangent there, lol. The tl;dr of this is: you're doing great with Fig. I will definitely miss seeing him around when his time comes, but in the meantime, it's very clear you love him and he loves you. At least to me. I'd like to say you have way more of us in your corner that believe that and see that than those who don't.
I just got my first male fancy mouse last month and I really think the cage and house are the major components to the stink problem. I started out with bin cages but the winter temperature and humidity really hit us in the nose. We have a tiny 100 year old house without venalation, as well. I had my male and female in separate bins and they were equally as stinky, even if the male was slightly more urine-y. I’ve since moved them into screen-topped glass enclosures and we are all way happier and less smelly. I actually haven’t gotten the ruin smell yet. Yay. Thank you for your videos. I have learned so much from you.
I have the same problem with my male mouse (also called fig). his wee also smells very strong and makes me feel kinda sick but like you said about yours it doesn't make me love him any less. I also find that he is a very needy little thing haha. also fig is sooo cute 😊
Well...this sounds like my type of pet! XD
Needy,
smelly,
and always want to cuddle! XD
Mice aren't usually cuddly because they're so high energy
So true haha
He’s so stinking cute! No pun intended 😬
Watching him play while your talking makes me laugh. He keeps trying to get your attention, and wants to jump on you. What a cutie.
Yeah I underestimated the amount of smell. I did all the research, read all the books, made sure I had everything he needed, and I knew about the smell I did. I underestimated how potent it could truly be.
I agree with every single thing you said. I have female mice (6 in total), I give their cage a deep clean every week and they don't smell at all. I don't use anything made of wood, just disposable cardboard chew toys, plastic, ceramic and fabric. These things can be washed and don't accumulate any smell if they pee on them. Female mice are wonderful, watching them grooming each other and cuddling together is a delight :)
Introductions are rather easy compared to other species as long as you do it properly. I can't say enough good things about them, they are just adorable.
Fig is super cute and he has a good life. The people who criticise you for housing him alone haven't seen the results of male mice housed together when things go wrong (which is the most common scenario). As for soft furred rats, unfortunately they are sold as snake food here but, although they can get along with mus musculus, they have a tendendy to be quite nippy and they are said to have quite a nasty bite..
Love how he just walks around in the background lol
Right?!? It's so cute!
I know this is an old video and that Fig is gone now, but I just want to say that Fig seemed really happy, healthy and friendly, so you were obviously treating him right. I think the reason he fought so badly with his brothers is probably because the breeder kept them all in such a tiny cage, but some animals just don't get along, regardless of how much space you give them to share. Also, it's possible that his bad experiences with other mice may have scarred him for life and made him aggressive towards other mice forever and whether or not that's the case is irrelevant anyways because if he was happy the way he was in this video, it wouldn't have been worth putting him through the stress of introducing another mouse when you didn't know how either of them were going to react. If I was getting a male mouse without that history, I would try to get him a friend, but if they couldn't get along, I would be prepared to separate them and give them as much love as I could to stop them from getting lonely, just like you did with Fig. I think you were doing the right thing with this mouse in particular, and as well-intentioned and concerned as other people might be, they go about it the wrong way and shouldn't be so judgemental towards a fellow pet owner who's clearly trying to do their best to cater to their many pets' individual needs. I think you're doing a fantastic job and because of that, you're my go-to person for cage accessory recommendations (although since I have degus, I have to do a little extra research to make sure they're safe for degus) and I just ordered some of the foraging toys you use today and am looking forward to seeing my girls figure out how to use them. You're improving the lives of many rodents through your informative videos, and we all can't thank you enough.
I totally agree about the smell. I love my mouse so much but he does make the upstairs of my house quite smelly. I use aspen bedding but that doesn’t seem to reduce the odor. ☹️
i just stumbled upon your channel and have been having a blast watching your videos! i myself have just recently adopted a male mouse from a breeder and its fascinating to see how different he is from fig! my little striscia (means stripe in italian) doesn't smell very much (though he loves to pee all over me when i pick him up) and is fairly independent while still liking attention from me (especially at night). he will be awake in the morning and will nibble on my fingers, then when i give him food he may nip at me to get me to leave him alone, he'll sleep sporadically during afternoon, and then climb up his toy and beg for my attention. he also seems to have no interest in wheels LOL
all this to say that i throw my hat in with those who think it best to house male mice alone and also to say that if you ever find yourself being pulled towards male mice again, just keep in mind that their personalities are so different (much more different than i was expecting certainly!) and mayhaps one day you'd like to try again :D
People use examples of males being successfully housed together as if that entirely excuses the reality of most male mice, or that just because they have a skilled vet to successfully neuter them, it will become a risk-free option for everyone. Even if I personally could source a trusted vet and safely neuter boys, it's still not something I would readily recommend to just anyone, just because people fail to realize that not everyone DOES have that trusted resource. You've done absolutely nothing wrong in housing him alone. Male mice are unfortunately just those animals where nothing is going to be 100% perfect in their care, and all you can do is make decisions in their best interest.
As for the other options, I don't think I ever would have recommended you house him with ASFRs. I've known people who've had them as well as bred them, and everyone I've ever spoken to has advised heavily against housing ASFRs with any other species. (generally, housing any two small mammal species together is a huge no-no). ASFRs can be pretty temperamental, with other animals and people, and even if the two species could give each other the interaction and bond they'd need, it has been advised to me as even unsafer than just neutering the male.
do you ever plan on getting girls? girls are really fun to watch but in my experiences (and i've had several different groups in the last 7 years) they're no where near as friendly as boys are. Even tame girls don't seem to connect the way a male does, and they're fairly "look-don't-touch" pets imo
but very cute! they've been most rewarding to me just for the sake of building enrichment for them and watching them play around.
Yep! I plan on getting a group of females in the future in a detolf. I want to make it as natural as possible and leave them to it if they’re not too bothered about interacting with me, I just want to have a group that I can enjoy watching interact with each other, I have my rats as the interactive pets so I don’t mind if they’re not too fond of being handled 😊
I have never owned males so I can't compare but some of my girls sit on my shoulder and watch tv with me :). I even carry them around cuddling in a scarf around my neck while I do house chores hahaha. I guess it just depends on the personality of each mouse and how socialised they are :)
oh yes they are very look don’t touch! i had a pair of females and taking them in their play pen was the highlight of their day but they did not like it when i got too close lol they were sassy little things! unfortunately they’ve both passed but they are in heaven with the rest of their mousey buddies and i’m now looking into a male!
I feel this way about my dog. No more dogs for me. It's totally fine to feel this way.
You really care for your animals. Its awesome how much you care.
You are a fantastic mom to sweet Fig! You did what was best for him and he’s having a happy life because of it. I had a male mouse years ago who I’d rescued from a science lab. Sadly he did not live long.
I love my two senior rats (just had a small tumor removed on my male last week), but since I am allergic to them, I sadly won’t be getting more. When the next one passes away I will be giving extra time and attention to the remaining rattie. I work at home and can be here for him or her. ❤️
The smell of rats bothers me, so I have to keep up on spot cleaning. Maybe having fleece liners adds to it. I don’t notice any smell with my chinchillas.
I will continue to enjoy smart, funny rats vicariously through you in the future. 😁
Btw, I used to live in the UK and know what you mean about the house sizes. I am happy to hear your country doesn’t allow live feeder mice/rats. I wish it would be that way in the US.
I have owned female mice and now have a male mouse and he is honestly the sweetest little thing and I definitely want more in the future, I haven't found that he smells very much, honestly my females smelled worse. He has lived alone since he was 4 weeks old as he was the only male in his litter so couldn't be neutered and bonded as he had no male siblings and that seems to be the only way for there to be a chance it would work, and he seems perfectly content alone as he has a lot of space and lots of things to do, maybe I've just been lucky but ugh he's so good
I bred fancy mice many years ago, and I never had a problem keeping males together......every last one of them got on peacefully together, however, they were all related and daddy mice were allowed to look after their own baby boys once they were weaned. They are wonderful parents and I never saw anything other than love between them. I also like that pungent smell, but maybe I shouldn’t admit it! Still, we are all entitled to our opinion, and I can see that you are a very good and loving pet owner - and that’s all that matters!
I think it also helps if the mice have good genetics, I know of a few breeders who are trying to breed towards good temperament and less male aggression and can house some of their males together. Unfortunately I think it tends to be mice from pet stores or backyard breeders who are just breeding for appearance that have trouble housing boys together, hopefully in the future breeders can improve this trait in male mice to make it easier for them to be housed together 😌
He looks happy, well loved and cared for to me. People are so quick to judge today but you saved him and are giving him a happy life. Thank you for sharing.
I highly recommend neutering male mice so that they can live with females or get re-bonded to their brothers (or both!), an added benefit is that their smell reduces massively. We often have African Soft Furred rats in rescues in the UK, currently Austin's Hamster Haven have lots of them and they transport to new homes themselves. I know you aren't wanting any but anyone else in the comments might have single males that they want to adopt ASFs for :)
Nah, if the vet is skilled it is no problem. I have assisted with surgery on countless of mice with no issues, and that was with injected anaesthesia while gas anaesthesia is generally safer + provides oxygen. It can be done, just most vets have no experience whatsoever. :(
Wondering if chemical castration (the implant) could be used for mice.
I would guess that it'd be too large for a mouse, I think they're about the size of microchips? I've had ferrets implanted before but they're much bigger. Would be great if there was a small one for a mouse!
Good point, I know they're ok for rats but those are quite a bit bigger than mice.
I've had so many neutered male mice. They are so much happier.
Aww Fig is adorable😍I hope you feel okay❤good luck in uni Emi✨and don't listen to the people who let you down🐭💕
My son has a male mouse I feel like he smells like caramel. Lol like caramel popcorn haha but he's fun and we love him so much
omg i was just looking at fig in the background the whole time to make sure he didn’t fall lol 😂
I saved an orange mouse from a feeder bin at the pet store. I got him as a baby (brownie) and he was the sweetest little guy ever made it almost 3 years ! He did have a few babies and was such a good father so sweet
You have to arrange a ventilation system so that air is constantly moving toward the cages out piped outside. Leave the fan running 24/7 and you won't have any problems with odors.
Having a fan running and pointing towards a cage can cause respiratory infections
@@Emiology No, no. That's not how you do it. You have a large diameter HVAC pipe out the BACK behind the cages and the fan drawing air is inside that tube. The tube leads either outside or to the roof.
@@Emiology - I should probably have mentioned that I used to breed mice and have had thousands of them. With the ventilation that I described here, there is no odor at all.
Kip was my male mouse and i miss him dearly, but he wanted nothing to do with me except on specific terms so he was the perfect little buddy for me.
Don't listen to those people. It's estimated that over 90% of male mice can't live with others and neutering doesn't always help. I've had male mice for years and prefer them to females. I don't have any at the moment, but I will definitely have one again in the future.
I loved this video! I can relate because before I got my rats I had a male mouse and I realized that they smell and they just aren't as happy being handled as other animals.
A pest control ad came on under the video 😅😂
Omg 😂
@@Emiology ahh you replied i love you so much! my rats have a Instagram too 😊 ratties.mischief
It's an old video but I just adopted 2 male mice. They were neutered young, before hormonal issues started to rise. The problem that I had was introducing them to a new big cage. I had to start with a much smaller tank to curve down territorial issues, even though they lived together since day one, because one of them wanted it all for himself.
Don't feel guilty that you aren't going to get another male mouse. I recently got a male mouse and have discovered he is the perfect pet for me in my current situation. I absolutely adore him. I do, however, definitely see where you are coming from with all these points. If I had other pets as demanding as him it would get really difficult/impossible to give him the attention he's getting now. I work full time, but my boyfriend works from home. And since mice are awake in the morning and at night and I work 12-8 almost every day Toby gets literally all our attention all the time (when he's awake). The smell is definitely overpowering and I'm trying new things to lessen the smell. But the point if the animal doesn't fit with your home and your comfort level you shouldn't feel guilty.
Ah, what a doll! I think you're too hard on yourself, who cares? I have seen people make ridiculous comments on channels that you can clearly see that they are well cared for. A sarcastic, miserable person is just that! He looks cared for very well, and it's wonderful that you have the emotional capacity to realize your mouse loves you and is needy.He is an absolute doll. I am in love with him and only saw him twice! Maybe just spot cleaning daily, as well as splurging on some real high quality paper bedding just for him is an idea. You could put it in the areas that seem most smelly, as I heard that finacard is cheap but not as absorbent as Carefresh.Great video.
I love owning male mice. I only keep one at a time. Some definitely smell more than others. My first males really smelt bad and toileted everywhere (including on me). My last mouse and my current mouse were both very clean and toileted in particular places in the cage and not on me. My current male really doesnt smell at all, nothing like some of my previous ones so I think this is partly down to the individual. I have heard that male mice that have been kept with other males into adulthood are more territorial so possibly more likely to smell than those that were separated at a younger age. So far I would say this is true of the male mice I have owned. I also love having a male mouse because of how loving they are and how much they bond with you as an owner. All my males except one have been so cuddly and want to be with me all the time. However, their cages are full of things for them to do when I am not around and they tend to get to know my work pattern and sleep/wake accordingly.
Hey Imee! Now that you have a new cage, maybe you could do a updated "how i clean my cage"? I'd love to see it!!
I knew number one would be smell. I had a male mouse and he was amazing but like you said the smell is horrendous
Gosh I’ve just come across this video, I got 2 brothers (same litter) was told they NEEDED to be housed together and because they were from the same litter they were very unlikely to fight, so that’s what we did. My god! 1 of them was very dominant and after a few days of being home started attacking the smaller, timid mouse, it was awful! So I made the decision to separate them. To me being separate was much better than coming home to 1 or both of them severely injured or even worse. I joined a group on FB and asked for help regarding nipping (not aggression) and my daughter being worried about scaring him and my god I got ripped to shreds for housing him alone! Ethically it was wrong of me I should be neutering and housing with females as that was going to give him the life he needed. I explained it was never my intention for him to be alone but that wasn’t good enough. Why is the animal community groups online so hateful at times!? I got 1 helpful comment regarding the nipping situation, the rest were just how wrong it was of me to house a lone male, sad really when you are trying to do the very best under the circumstances you are in.
I have 2 brothers in a cage that don’t fight often. It’s usually over special treats, so I just have to make sure they both have a piece at the same time. Or if I take one out of the cage without the other, they’ll fight when I put the other back. Btw that’s not me endorsing putting males together. I took them off a backyard breeder who was also having trouble housing them so I took a chance and this particular situation has worked out and I’m glad it has. And about the smell, I have smelt some cages with males that made me dry reach but luckily my boys are pretty neutral. 2 days before their weekly cage cleaning I can start to smell it build up. So I think it depends on the mouse
Ive owned 7 mice in total and currently only have a male. I'm watching your videos with my boy on my shoulder ☺🐭
Aww so cute! Are males ok being alone?
to be honest, I have a male mouse called Tae, and he is super sweet! And I am not bothered by the smell that much. Yes, it’s a pretty strong smell, but if you clean the cage regularly then you should be fine. I have a 40 gallon tank for him, with many plants and wooden houses, and he pees all over them and that makes me crazy! Lol. I also have a large room, about the size of a master bedroom, and it’s not that bad... they are very needy and naughty, but they are sweet pets. I have 6 females and they smell a lot worse then males.. just my thought :)
Being a pet parent i know i did some mistakes... By the past i did own some species that were not met to be alone alone... Because i underestated the need they have for a one of their own.
Although i did that, when i did start to realize that it was wrong, i did not go running and adopt a new one or rehome mines.....
I did realize that inwas not in a financial situation to own new ones just yet, but i could keep providing for the ones that i had.
I could not find the heart to rehome them because my home is 0 abandon. This is indiscutable. The only reason for i would rehome would be a major very major reason. They are so many pets out there that need a home, that are homeless, that are gonna get killed in shelters or get mistreated... I just cannot bring my self to think that this would be the go to solution.y pets being kept in so tall and carefully designed environnement, fed, vet, loved... I play with them every day, i would bring them all over the home and pass the entire day while i was there with them. And also the uncertainty of knowing they would be going into caring homes or that it would be their final homes ... I just cannot go for the uncertainty by only cause of i did a mistake...
The only thing i could do is to be better in the futur with the information i have now and take cat of the ones i like now.
Aw yay a mouse video I think fig is the most adorable mouse ever. I would really like to have 3 or 4 female mice one day. Could you do a mouse diet video, I would really like to see that if you can. Also how often do you clean out fig? I've also have rabbits and I don't regret a second of it but i don't think I would get more. Sorry I know this comment is long but I have seen people mix in wood cat litter into their usual bedding and that is supposed to help
Hey there! I own mice, and this forum here is an amazing place to get info on mouse care. Diet, bedding, behavior, everything. www.petmousefanciers.com/
@@burton188 oh thank you
This is just a suggestion for your female mice. I have my cage for my 3 male mice (brothers and they dont fight) with potting soil instead of litter. I have another cage connected to it with litter in it. The one with soil i have mealworms in the soil and the mice know they cant cover the dirt smell so they just dont try. If they ever do fight I have a extra cage so they can be seperated. Love you vids. Thnx.
The smell is kinda funky, however if you keep the cage clean its no bigI clean mine every other day, I have lots of blankies I switch out on the regular. Just keep him clean and it's very easy to keep a handle on it.
I currently have four females and I think I'll have a male after them, cuz I like to have my pets around while I watch TV, draw, etc, and it's easier to keep one mouse on my neck than four xD also I love my mice but I wonder how it is to have a 'cuddly' mouse :0
Also males r harder to rehome so I want to help at least one :00
Get one now and get him neutered.
@@linkslover25 I'd like to, if I only had money lol
But I'm getting two or three females soon :D
@@stixandcritters4640 try putting a bit away each month in the mean time. My vet does it for 80. But I've seen vets that do it for as low as 50. You just have to price shop at some vets a bit. I neuter all my male mice and rats and I spay all my female rats. It's the bomb
@@linkslover25 I'd love to, but some of mice and rats need a vet check already and I need to keep money for that so... :')
Little Reginald was rescued from probably being eaten by a snake. I am actually trying to hide the fact he exists, which is very hard because of his smell. I had a male mouse as a kid and really don’t remember him smelling as bad, but now that Reggie got comfortable and I got him a bigger cage with better bedding, he smells a lot less! I really wanted to get a couple of girls, but Reggie just climbed on my hand at the pet store. Plain white mouse but he is mine (and currently is sleeping in my shirt pocket)
up late thinking about whether we should get our male mouse neutered!! such a hard decision. Seems like there's a handful of exotic vets, will be calling them tomorrow.
our male mouse is extremely happy, but I would love for him to have cuddle buddies and just company 24/7. i got him an air purifier b/c we have bad air quality sometimes - but I think it helps with the smell so much! I highly recommend. I only smell his pee when he actually pees on me, but his cage smells fine :)
I agree the smell is not the best. But it’s so cute that fig has a close bond with u.and I wish the u.s had a law where u can’t feed live animals to snacks❤️ and u should do a room tour
I’ve started fostering mice but in my area not a lot of people want to own mice or I’m not sure anyone would. What are some ways I can reach out to people in order to find my babies good homes?
Thank you for your video! I found it very informative and helpful.
This video actually makes me feel better. I owned hamsters my entire childhood and never thought they had a scent. I had a single male mouse during college and the smell it produced was horrid. Never again! I’m getting my first ever trio of female rats soon and one of my worries was that they would be like the mouse.
I absolutely love my little mouse, but I completely agree! He smells awful even though I clean his cage every week, and spot clean occasionally.
I could be wrong, but from my experience, I would say good genetics combined with allowing the little critters to live life in a similar way to their wild cousins will help them live peacefully. Both male and female parents look after their offspring and by being in a family environment, mine at least, got a good education from their relatives. I think it’s a bit like puppies that have not been given the opportunity to socialise; the problems arise because they were not allowed to grow up in the family unit. I mean, how often did my Mum, my Dad and my big sister give me a good telling off? I’m now a perfectly well behaved woman! LOL
I live in the US i have a male mouse. I never had a interest in owning a mouse. But i had found a baby mouse abandoned by its mother. Its eyes were still closed when I found it so i had to hand feed it baby formula for the first 2 weeks. Now he's part of the family
oh my god, yes. I have a male mouse and their urine / marking does smell sharp and intense. When my mouse pees or scent marks I, sitting across the room, know immediately. It smells like someone with a urinary tract infection peed on a huge bowl of stale plain bran cereal. (TMI and gross, I know but it's an accurate description). I do change his bedding regularly for his comfort and mine. Just to disclose, I was warned, rigorously, about the smell. So I was well aware. I adopted him for the same reason as you adopted Fig: to help the breeder that had an abundance of male babies in a litter and needing to find them homes. Cole is very sweet and makes me smile and laugh often.. I just wish there was something I could do to help minimize his scent marking. Male mice can NOT be kept together, period. They fight and will injure / kill each other, siblings or not. I will continue looking after him and ensure he has a good life, but I won't get another mouse. They are easy to care for, however the males have a powerful punchy odor in their urine that I just can not fathom how something that is literally like 2 drops can smell so strong / bout to knock me over... out of such a little furry boi! Anyone considering a male mouse should definitely handle one and visit an adult male mouse's habitat before making a final decision. It is rare indeed to find any vet that is willing to neuter a mouse. :(
Can definitely understand your point of view with the fact that males are a controversial subject. It shouldn’t matter but having pets is a lot less enjoyable when everyone is saying you are wrong and even more upsetting when they’re saying your opinion is harming your pet. In this case the animal is social but they are also aggressive and can’t be kept safely together, it’s a hard situation but either way you’re going to have this negative feedback and you start to question if you should even have the pet with all the comments saying you’re wrong. Such a shame but opens up new species of animals to care for so it’s not all negativity more of a learning curve 🤗
I get a male mouse tomorrow! He’s already two years old and lived together with 7 other mice but doesn’t like them and they’re fighting a lot so the owners decided to get rid of him, they thought about releasing him in the wild :( I’m so happy I can adopt him! He’s not neutered so I can’t introduce him to my 4 girls and one neutered boy, but I got him an ~860 sq inch cage where he can live his last months in peace without much stress 😁
These fancies can also bond with tame deer/white-footed females and they can’t interbreed.
one of my biggest issues with my pets is that I DO NOT smell pee smell. at the very least it doesn't bother me and at the most it's just a smell in my environment that doesn't bother me. Makes it hard to have people over because it really doesn't bother me? but other people hate the smell of my mouse and rats, even when it's mild
I lost a lot of scent to Covid a few years ago so I have the same issue. I’m like macadamia smells sort of musky/woody but apparently no where near what my family thinks he smells like haha
Mice: Males need to be alone, they'll fight otherwise
Rats: Individuals of both sexes need platonic friends of the same sex, loneliness causes stress but being around the opposite sex when it's not mating time means fighting
I have a male mouse. Housed alone as he should be. He’s in and out of his cage several times a day but I do have days where I can’t love on him as much so I completely sympathize with you on the topic of wishing he could be housed with a companion.. but I LOVE him so very much.
He’s moderately stinky and enjoys marking his bath house with his scent immediately after I’ve sanitized everything and changed his bath sand. 😑
Me watching this after she got another male mouse in 2020 like ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Hi! Um... I have been owning mice for over 12 years and they have never smelled. Particularly male mice is what she talked about in the video and I have owned 8-9 male mice over the years and none have ever smelled so I am a little confused she is saying they smell
I have two male mice : Panda and Casper. Panda smells like crazy, and Cupid barely gives off an odour. That being said, my girls can be smellier, although we currently have a litter of babies which add to the smell haha. I find mixing the bedding (I use a paper bedding) with cat litter.
For the record: my males are in seperate cages and my females share. The only time they share is an overnight ‘date night’ when my older female passed, since it’s almost impossible to find mice locally, and I needed some more females 😘
I have two male mice : Panda and Casper. Panda smells like crazy, and Casper barely gives off an odour. That being said, my girls can be smellier, although we currently have a litter of babies which add to the smell haha. I find mixing the bedding (I use a paper bedding) with cat litter.
For the record: my males are in seperate cages and my females share. The only time they share is an overnight ‘date night’ when my older female passed, since it’s almost impossible to find mice locally, and I needed some more females 😘
I have 4 brothers and the lady ( not a pet store) i got them from said they won’t fight bc there brothers yea right ( I was new at having mice and did do my research and google did also say brothers can be housed together) now I have 4 brother mice in 4 separate tanks but I still love them all and they do give me the guilty stair when u take one out and not the other ..... also what toys do I suggest instead of wooden toys?
i was also curious to know, did you have your rats with you during university? i ask because i'm entering my final year of uni and though i will most likely not be getting rats anytime soon, i was curious about leaving them for a bit during classes and how you managed. thank you!
Yep I did! Honestly it was fine, I was only in classes for a few hours each day and I’d spend a lot of time with them in between.
fig is quaking. haha, i definitely agree that females are more social with one another, and literally don’t crave any attention rather than that of their sisters 😂🐁. it’s always so cool to see the way they’re interact with one another and play!!
I love seeing your girls interact with each other and do their own thing 😂
So cute! I have 2 male mice one of them have they’re tail chopped off, both of them were supposed to be food for snakes but I came to pick them up. Had to spend 200 dollars on each cage.
My mouse is a male and figure out a exit form his cage, now he’s always trying to jump out..
I have 2 brothers and they love each other so I'm lucky. Would getting them fixed help reduce the smell?
As someone who DOES have two very bonded male mice, and also a lone male mouse, dont feel bad for taking him away from his brothers if they were fighting ahaha, the two bonded brothers cry when theyre apart meanwhile the lone one is alone for a reason lmao, it definitely depends on the mouse but err on the side of caution and your best bet if you wanted to house two males together its a lot easier if theyre from the same litter and are never housed apart (if they are then they develop different smells and wont recognize the other as their brother anymore) but im looking to possibly neuter the lone male to put with females or maybe look into getting asfs, im not totally sure yet
I love rabbits and really want to own one but I can't because of something that happened with a rabbit I owned when I was a kid.
Great video. I have a group of 5 girls and they are super fun to watch and very friendly. I might try to get a neutered boy in my next group but I'm so undecided....
Such a great video for people who are wanting mice, it lets them know if a male mouse is right for them! 💕
Fig is too cute 😍 and sweet Imee. I would LOVE to own mice in the future myself 🤗💕. I would just have to wait till I no longer have my 3 hamsters or my dog. They all require a lot of attention and work. So hopefully one day in the future and I will find a good legit breeder in the US😊🤗💕 You're a GREAT pet mom Imee.👍🙏💕
I found myself adopting some “fancy mice” from my local spca. Smelly is right, he lives with his brother and thy don’t fight unless I take one out and not the other. Holding them is the worst because I can’t forget the smell until I shower. I love them so much tho, wouldn’t change jd and Chester got the world
Love the cage . When is their goin to be tour
I replied to your comment about it the other day 😊
Me watching this a couple years later: 😆
Yeah male mice are definitely a different story from female mice. I’ve owned a male before and he was a mean little bastard.
The only way I’d own another male is if I did breeding, which I currently don’t have the space to do.
That's what happened with my mice I could have never imagined how gross they smell my family was complaining about the smell when I first got them I got them a lager cage and use more cat litter wood based and now they barley smell I'm so glad I sorted it out as I don't think I could have lived with it for longer it is so gross
We had two male mice, Basil, who was given to us as a female 🙈 and his son, Cobweb, who arrived because Basil wasn’t a female. 😂 They lived together happily before and after neutering, and really they didn’t really smell any worse than our females. They were kept in my bedroom, which is very small, so I don’t think room size was a factor. Having said that, we would never have another male, unless it was an emergency. They do present extra problems, but if it was a case of taking them or putting them down, we wouldn’t think twice.
Males can live together perfectly fine after they're neutered and neutering them reduces the smell :)
My more anxious/submissive mouse is smellier than the other. They don't stink too bad but I did take my dominant mouse to pet smart today and the carrying bag/container I had him in smelt horrible after (still smells better than my guinea pigs though!!!)
We have pretty much the same list of animals that wouldn’t get again. I had many gerbils as a kid and loved them but wouldn’t get them again. My male mice attacked each other and smelled awful. I loved my rabbits but they are a huge commitment and the vet bills can be ridiculously high for a rabbit specialist. Female mice and male rats are the only pets I’d get again.
Thank you so much. I am getting mice in a few days. Their habitat is ready and I am soo excited. Their names will be Peanut and Butterscotch. I will hopefully get females.
My male mouse and I have formed a really good bond but the issue is that he always gives me "the look" when I come into the room and I ho to my female mice and guinea pigs first so then he goes on the highest ledge and just stares at me until I give him a treat 😂😂😂😂
I had a male mouse at one point, he was a mean little bastard. My girls were sweethearts.
I just got 2 male baby mice...I'm hoping they'll be that 1% exception of 2 males that grow up perfectly fine with eachother, so I won't have to separate them...
I recently got mice and I originally was told they were girls but it turns out they're both boys. They were in the same cage at the pet store so I originally housed them together, but they sorta fight and it makes me anxious. All they've done so far is kinda grab each other and that's it, the grabbed one will squeak and run and that's the end of it. The last time that happened, the one that seems less dominant actually grabbed the other mouses butt and I thought he bit him but there's no blood. I'm kind of very unsure of what to do. Can they play together still? I'm extremely terrified of them getting into a bad fight so I've got two smaller separate cages for them to be alone and a bigger cage with four stories in it (that they unfortunately can escape from so I can't keep them in it unless I'm watching them). I've read a lot about them (I intended to get girls so I wouldn't have to worry about this but now I got too attached to give one back) and some people say they're fine together amd some people say never house boys together. I don't want them to get lonely/depressed
If they’re already fighting like this at this stage it’s only going to escalate so you need to separate them permanently and that means no play time either because once they’re separate they won’t have any bond anymore and the next time they meet could be fatal!
@@Emiology they won't become depressed or lonely? Their cages are next to each other. The one boy is very curious and will not hesitate to let me hold him but the other one is still very cautious and not as eager to be held so if he's in his own cage, his socializing is very limited. I've got a guinea pig who is in his own cage (his cage mate died) and he does fine on his own, he eats and is very happy by himself but I also have two other pigs who are in the same room but separate cage so he can hear them and smell them so that might be part of why he's okay, just having them nearby. Would that work for the mice? Or is the smell/sound of another male mouse nearby going to upset them?
I had two male mice and they were my babies. They seemed to love each other tons. They cuddled and played but then the more dominant one started fighting. I tried to separate him out for a "time out" for around an hour when this happened but then it became extremely fatal. The dominant one bit the others tail and the injured one passed two days after. Please please separate them. Itll only escalate.
I completely understand and respect your feelings about male mice - However, for viewers who do own or want to own a male mouse, I want to share that I have successfully owned two male mice (both during separate time frames) I do keep my mice in glass tanks (which I know is controversial here). I layer with clear plastic refrigerator containers, and keep a glass water bottle hanging with heavy duty velcro on the inside of the tank. I kept my first mouse's tank ON the kitchen counter in my last house (because my kitchen was huge and the most lived in space). And the male mouse I have now is in a tank in the dinning room area of a large open concept kitchen/dining/living room space. I have placed them in these heavily lived in areas so they are never alone. I eat with him, talk to him, play with him, let him visit my chihuahua and pug who love him outside his tank. I also let my mouse visit my english bulldog and cat with his tank between them. He also loves them and runs to them when they are present. :) When my cat sits on top of his metal mesh tank cover, my mouse will climb up and hang from all fours, touching my cat's paws. They are quite friendly. My first mouse lived 25 months in my home, from about 8 weeks old. His death of old age had me undone. And my current mouse is only 5 months old today. I expect and hope he lives a long and full life. I have learned SO much from "Emiology" about how to have even more fun and make his life even better than before! Thanks so much, and enjoy those male mice! (they really do have the best personalities, i think!) :)
Maybe an air purifier would fix the smell issue, at least a little bit? Has anyone tried?
I have a white male mouse named Phoenix, he STINKS! But I still love him 😊🐁
Is he white in the pattern, or albino? I have an albino male mouse named Frank
Melanie Perekopsky He died a few months ago...He was pure white with black eyes :(
I have had 10 mice 7 males
3 females. The girls are easy
The boys make you spread them and remove them to keep them alive.
It is based on the male mouse personality
Males can be housed well in 2s but I have managed to have 5 boys together but it’s still stressful you have to understand who the boss mouse is at the time usually the fattest mouse. If you house them alone they will gain weight you can use this your advantage by making the nicest mouse the boss by seperating him and reintroducing him as the nice fatty boss. They shouldn’t get to fat obviously.
If you give them to many house hides they will might more best to only give them one at first and add maybe one more at a time.
Wheels cause fighting a lot. With males only the boss mouse will attack the others you can take him out but a new boss will begin. They’re are some mice the boss doesn’t attack but if he attacks any of them his cage rage will make him potentially hit even his friends.
Not a vet- consult a vet to know for sure
A warmish epsom salt bath soak for 2-up to 5 minutes is needed any time blood is drawn. Unscented dr teals is what I used
Also running water on the wound from the tap has worked for like 20 secs but that’s chancey. If they develop lumps it will need to be heat lanced at the vet and given medicine for 2 weeks every 12 hours
If you have a bunch the boss can’t attack them in groups, he will only attack when they are off on their own. It can happen if only 2 are together also your mice can die due to stress and depression dehydration if the boss doesn’t let them leave their house. I would purchase boys in 2 at a time if your sure you need multiple.
Neutering is scary xc cause anstesia is a big risk. Would get it done before you get attached to the mouse.
I combined my males then separated them
Into pairs if you have 4 males you’ll need 3 mouse cages so don’t get ambitious
Even with 2 boys you’d need 2 cages not travel cages. If they don’t get along.
Social grouping them is a strategy but cage rage will play against it. Probably possible to have 3 boys that don’t fight but you’ll have gone through 5-mice which means 3 cages. Putting boy mice next to girl mouse cages gives the solo boys something to do which is nice. The girls like a chubby boy
If you do get boys in 2s the 2 you get might not even get along down the line.
My 2 that do get along are not from the same litter and the one that he’s friends was the boss and isn’t the boss now. While his brother had to be moved cause he was an aggressive boss. If you introduce a boy into a cage that isn’t new to all the boys involved the fighting is more likely. Blowing air at attackers can stop an attack mouse their tails will wiggle and they lean side ways to begin an attack. My mouse pumpkin does not like any boys at all. He just bites he doesn’t go side ways he does so the tail slap tho.
You can use water to spray the mouses to prevent the fight if blowing air doesn’t work but you have to dry them immediately.
And that could make them sick.
Hypothemia is more problematic for solo males so your room being way colder then 75 is a problem. If the males groom eAch other then it’s likely their friendly.
Multiple males multiple problems
If you don’t wash a blood draw mouse bite within 12 hours or less of when it’s bit the infection is horrific. I use the mouse balls to check their underbelly and everywhere else for bites.
Louder squeaks and continued sqeeking mean their likely fighting one squeak is probably just the mouse being annoyed.
If your mouse is cold and wants to be held and is laying it’s paws and face against your hand it’s likely going to die within an hour. The vet probably can’t save it at that point you would need a small animal emergency place with the right equipment.
Female mice are easier then males
Grouping males is like advanced difficulty
If you get females it’s best to get 3.
Don’t get multiple males unless your ready for high stress and heart break.
Also getting a male nuetered is a risk because they can die from Anastasia cause they may not wake up.
You can’t get mad at the boss mouse some males don’t like other males.
My Twinkie gets along with all the mouses no matter who it is but they can bully him. Xc boys also spray more if they are the boss. Which is very smelly compared to their regular amount.
Cage size helps but will not stop the aggressive behavior. I found taking the boss and putting him in time out in another cage with the boy for 1 day has results but I can’t tell you if it’s long term or short term. Unless you have the time to babysit them rotate their cage mates and do bite cleanings or fight preventions don’t house males together. If a mouse is way fatter then the other mice they are likely to be scared of it. It’s seriously complicated and not worth doing. Maybe testing compatibility and returning the mice that don’t mix is an option but somebody always hates somebody. If your mouse is losing weight and being attacked he can’t stay with the boss mouse. You could house him alone and reintroduce him when he gets fatter then the original boss but he might become a meanie mouse to.
From scratch probably get a boy neuter it before you get attached
Then get 3 females after he’s healed and do a gradual introduction over time till they are good together. If they don’t mix you can try cage rotations to see what works.
Crazy mouses they are literally like kids fighting over toys food and water.
Mousu’s are so cute
I’m adopting a boy from the shelter today.
Having more then 2 boys together is selfish
Theirs no good reason to permently house them like that. Maybe if you had a bunch of nuetered males and females together but the girls would probably be stressed out by the nonstop harassment from the boys.
Thank you so much for your videos on rats & mice. I normally watch the rat ones since i have pet rats. Recently i resucued a small white male mouse from a pet shop. He was injured from his cage mate. He's doing good but yes, he stinks lol his urine smells something like shrimp tails lol 🦐🦐🦐🦐🐭
I have a father and son spiny mice in one setup I have two brothers spiny mice in another setup and a mother and her two daughters in another setup my male pairs are living together happily I guess im the only one that can keep males together peacefully lucky me
That's the cutest mouse I've seen in my lifetime! I hope to have a group of females someday.
I wish you could show us the smell over the internet because now I'm curious... I know my rats can be a bit stinky at times but male mouse sounds like a whole new level of odor.
My rats are pretty needy and I feel pretty guilty I can't give them more time as it is. I couldn't imagine how guilty I'd feel if they had to rely on me 100% for social. That's rough.