How Do You Play With Your Mouse?

by Bandit Cat Mon 11 Jul 2016, 7:48 pm

As I'm sitting in the bathtub playing with Cotton and letting him run over my keyboard, I can't help but wonder how you guys play with your mice? No, Cotton! Don't eat the computer! Silly mouse. Razz

by CallaLily Mon 11 Jul 2016, 8:36 pm

None of my girls are ever very interested in hanging out on me for very long and I'm just not comfortable with table top play (or couch or bed or whatever). Not in this house Laughing

and especially not with Hazel. She's much better than when I first brought her home and climbs on my hand willingly but still a very jumpy mouse by nature. So the girls play in a big sterilite bin filled with toys. It's very easy for me to interact with them while they play. My previous group of girls were the same.

Now when Daryl was still with me, I had a special hoodie that I wore and he loved hanging out on me, in the hood or up a sleeve.

by Ealexander Tue 12 Jul 2016, 5:03 pm

With Eddie he comes out for Hoodie time, where he climbs around inside my hoodie. I time it with a 30 minute video on YouTube or something so that he goes back in time to get a drink. In tank, I try the old 'shake the toy in front of him' routine. About half the time he takes the toy away from me and hides it. Sometimes though he takes the toy and wrestles with it! Then I tickle him.

by peas Tue 12 Jul 2016, 5:43 pm

With Wormy and Nutty, i take turns poking at them with a long thin piece of cardboard. They grab at it and try and wrestle it and bite it. I then move it around the cage and they chase after it, until i eventually i let them have it and they carry it around slamming it into things triumphantly.
I think they get really worked up because it has eachother's scent on it and they're territorial. After they "conquer" the carboard, they run around sparking.

Thutty doesn't enjoy that game. She just sits there with a "why are you poking me?" look on her face, grabs at it half-heartedly and gets bored and runs on her wheel. She much prefers when i talk to her and encourage her to run and hide. Mostly i follow her around her tank telling her to run.

Most of the time i spend one on one with them is massage time anyways. They all like it when i itch their faces and pet and massage them. They'll spend 5-10 minutes bruxing in my hand as i give them a good rub down.

by Peachy Mon 05 Dec 2016, 10:14 pm

I took my new foster mouse out for playtime a few minutes ago and was delighted at how well she did! We played "tag," where I gently poked her and then made my fingers "run away." Then she chased my hand, and when she caught it we did the walk from hand to hand thing a few times. Lots of fun! When I was taming Cora, I just sat in the tub while she climbed around, but I think Tag might be my new go-to. I wonder if the other mice will enjoy playing. Razz

Anyone else have games or something special that they like to do during playtime/taming sessions?

by CanadianExport Mon 05 Dec 2016, 10:31 pm

That sounds interesting! I admit I am not the most dedicated to taming. I just enjoy watching my girls run around and play on their own. When I first got Winnie though she really enjoyed running up my arm to get out of the bathtub when we worked to get her not bitey.

by AnonymousMouseOwner Tue 06 Dec 2016, 12:25 am

I don't handle my girls a whole lot either. Scout, however, I handle a lot. It's hard to get him out to play, because he tries everything he can to avoid getting in my hand, but once he's out, he has a lot of fun! He likes climbing from hand to hand, darting up my arms, and sometimes even down my back lol. Also, I always have a hammock in his cage hanging from the screen lid, and I run my fingers across the lid while he's in the hammock, and he likes to follow my fingers and lick them through the screen (Lol, he's kind of a weird little guy).

by scaredymouse Tue 06 Dec 2016, 3:40 am

My girls like to play boop the nose. I have a small box with 1-2" sides (like what a case of 24 cans of cat food would come in) and I toss in a bunch of large scraps of fleece and some mice and they run around in/out/above/below the fleece. Then when the come to the sides I gently boop their nose and give them rubs. Sometimes, I hold the box up to my face so that my nose is at the edge and they will all take turns coming up and booping my nose! I like that part. Touching noses is like my favorite thing to do with my pets.

Anyway, they seem to really like that game.

by CinnamonPearl Tue 06 Dec 2016, 5:58 am

I usually just bring mice out to come hang out with me while I do stuff, and let them climb around or on me. With Henry it's harder because he's nervous and doesn't like me as much as I wish he did, so usually we either do bathtub sessions or I just bring him out to run on the bed or desk. Tag sounds so fun though! I couldn't do it with Henry (he doesn't like to be prodded), but when I get another mouse or three, I'm going to try it.

by CallaLily Tue 06 Dec 2016, 7:49 am

Not much of a game I guess, but my girls seem to enjoy climbing onto my hand for a short ride to another part of the play bin, and then running back to my hand at another spot to repeat. Twix especially loved this when she was alive.

When Daryl was alive, he seemed to just enjoy hanging out in my hood or sleeve. He loved to be held like that , didn't mind occasionally being gently petted, and would beg to come out whenever he heard/saw me. All of my girls so far don't/didn't mind climbing onto my hand so much (except Bacon) but none liked hanging out on me for too long. So play bin is/was how we play. They run around. Climb on and off of me. Except Bacon who would mostly only willingly climb on to me when I asked "home?" which she knew meant she was going back to her tank. I try a few phrases like that with these girls now but they don't seem to catch on as well as my previous girls did.

by CinnamonPearl Tue 06 Dec 2016, 8:04 am

When I first got mice, I thought I was gonna teach them all these tricks. Ha! I'm so bad at training animals that none of mine have ever even known their names. Laughing

I don't know how you guys do it, but I just don't have the patience to teach them commands and words.

by Peachy Tue 06 Dec 2016, 9:23 am

Haha! Boop the nose sounds super cute. We like the ride game too, but I scoop them until they catch on.

My girls would mostly rather play in a bin instead of in or on me, also. Whether they stay home or move to the bin, I just leave my hand and they run up arm and play around in my hood or my hair. Peach likes to climb my jacket strings all the way up. I don't think they really know their names or any words, it's tricky to teach them when they don't get much alone time. Razz

Yoshi and Frog both know their names and they know "Cheerio!" for "come and get a treat." I didn't teach them, they just caught on. They don't spend much time in a playbin, we either sit on the recliner or clear off the dining table for them run to around and climb wherever they like.

by CallaLily Tue 06 Dec 2016, 9:41 am

Like Peachy, I don't really take extra time out to train them. I just play with them and keep using the same phrase for a certain action and they catch on. Or they don't. Like I said, the girls I have now don't seem to be. Laugh

Home seemed to be the best learned phrase. I just said it every time I was offering my hand to take them back to their tank after play time. Even if I had to scoop them. Eventually they got it. Or at least I'm confident Bacon did because it was pretty much the only time she'd willingly walk onto my hand. I also say "play time" when I go to get them out. I use their names often when talking to them. I feel like Twix and Cheeseburger especially caught on to their names. These girls now, nope. Maybe it's me slipping up with the routine. Or maybe these 3 just don't care. Hazel still can be pretty jumpy so I'm sure that doesn't help. Pardon

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