Taming and getting used to me

by LittlePixie2.o Fri 25 Jan 2019, 3:44 am

So I adopted two boys last week today (toby and riff) recently I've had to separate them due to fighting and I didn't want to risk their little lives with the anesthetic during the neutering process. So I understand toby is abit stressed out due to the move, his been very quiet and not active I started to get worried about him since he is always hunched over or hiding away even in the evenings for the majority of it. I covered half of his cage with a fleece blanket and since then his been playing which has now been a solid hour, ive been talking to him softly but his still abit shy but he is doing so well (he even sniffed me a few times while resting my hand in his cage).

Another thing positive today:

As I was talking to riff he normally comes to the cage door when he hears me, yesterday he started taking sunflower seeds from me, he started to lick my finger after he had taken it, I resumed to keep my hand in the cage and to my surprise riff willingly climbed onto my hand, it was breath taking and im so happy. Smile

by MouseLover Sat 26 Jan 2019, 5:48 am

Hey sounds like you're making good progress! Can I ask where you keep your mice in your house? If possible I usually try and keep them somewhere that's usually very busy in the home. That way they get desensitized to humans walking around and making noise etc. For me I keep my mice in the living room, and before they are tame I get them used to my presence by just sitting next to their cage a lot.

I don't know the background of your mice, their breeding and how well they were handled by the breeder or pet shop staff, but these can all play a factor in how quickly you can tame your mice. Some mice will be easier to tame than others but given enough time and patience, you will get there.

As for your little shy guy, the fleece blanket sounds like it was a good idea. If his brother was the bolder of the two he may be feeling a bit vulnerable right now without this big brother to rely on. What I'd say he needs right now is a bit of time to settle into his new life, plus plenty of distraction. Keep certain things in his cage layout the same, so that he feels confident in his new home, but maybe add little activities for him to do or swap a toy in/out every few days (you can wash and swap toys from his brothers cage to keep things interesting for them). You could scatter his food throughout his cage to encourage him to explore the cage a bit Smile

by LittlePixie2.o Tue 29 Jan 2019, 7:30 am

MouseLover wrote:Hey sounds like you're making good progress! Can I ask where you keep your mice in your house? If possible I usually try and keep them somewhere that's usually very busy in the home. That way they get desensitized to humans walking around and making noise etc. For me I keep my mice in the living room, and before they are tame I get them used to my presence by just sitting next to their cage a lot.

I don't know the background of your mice, their breeding and how well they were handled by the breeder or pet shop staff, but these can all play a factor in how quickly you can tame your mice. Some mice will be easier to tame than others but given enough time and patience, you will get there.

As for your little shy guy, the fleece blanket sounds like it was a good idea. If his brother was the bolder of the two he may be feeling a bit vulnerable right now without this big brother to rely on. What I'd say he needs right now is a bit of time to settle into his new life, plus plenty of distraction. Keep certain things in his cage layout the same, so that he feels confident in his new home, but maybe add little activities for him to do or swap a toy in/out every few days (you can wash and swap toys from his brothers cage to keep things interesting for them). You could scatter his food throughout his cage to encourage him to explore the cage a bit

I dont think the boys were handled very much at the shop, i wanted to be able to see a breeder but none was available around my area. I keep the boys in the living room on the book shelf we have next to our sofa, my partner sits next to cage a lot talking to them, they dont come out when he places his hand in the cage but last night they took their first treat from his hands i can see how chuffed he was. I keep thinking maybe the cage is abit small for them since we got it from pets at home but we are planning on upgrading them in the near future.

by MouseLover Tue 29 Jan 2019, 11:36 am

As long as the size of the cage meets the minimum requirements, I personally think it can be a good thing to start off with a smaller cage before upgrading. The reason being that for less confident mice, they often feel more confident in a smaller space, and therefore it can sometimes be better for taming/ bonding. Then upgrade later when the mouse is more confident and settled in your home Smile

so I wouldn't feel bad if the cage isn't as big as you'd like it to be in the long run

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