Half Wild - New Issues!

by Sparrow Tue 30 Apr 2019, 4:52 am

Background:
A person I know had an unexpected litter of mice, as a wild mouse got into the females enclosure overnight due to their negligence. Only one female got pregnant as far as I know. When the Pups started to grow, he started giving them to his snake as food. Horrified, I offered to take them but it turns out that by then only one mouse was left alive. That mouse is my Iris. She looks completely wild, aside from a few small patches of white that are very common for fancy mice. She is much longer and slimmer than any one else in my gang, her face shape is a bit sharper looking and her eyes and ears are larger too in proportion to her long face.

I got her last year, and never had any issues with her. She was as sweet as can be, got on with other females and if I hadn't known better I would have thought that she is just a unique looking fancy mouse. The only problems I have ever had was that she was not as quick to tame as any others. It took me months to tame her enough for her to trust me and even longer to get her to climb onto my hand without having to cover it with a sleeve. Once she became tame, she was extremely friendly and affectionate.

The Problem:
Three weeks ago her behavior changed drastically. She started to hide more and run around the cage like crazy, she was jumping up onto the bars and started to over-groom her cage mates. I couldn't hold her either. So off I scheduled the appointment with the vet who is familiar with my mice. The night before she was supposed to go to her vet, she escaped her cage and till this day I have no idea how. I never had a mouse escape before and I am extra careful that the mesh and bar spacing are no larger than 0.8 mm. I have 13 other mice and this never happened to any of them before.

Thank God I noticed she was gone before my two cats did! I go off looking for her and calling her all around the room. Luckily she came running back to me and I though that that was the end of her adventures. We went to the vet the next day and she said that Iris is as healthy as can be, she is having no physical issues, even after the escape took place.

I moved the group to a bin cage, it is a bit smaller than the Alaska cage (600+ sq inches) but the mice have always loved it and never had any issues with it. She lasted there maybe 4 days before she escaped. Everything was secure and I have been using the bin numerous of times for a lot of other mice. The mesh is 0.6 mm. Turns out she bit off to zip tie on one side and squeezed her way out between the mesh and the plastic.

I found her again and moved the group to a 20 gallon long tank. Surely she cannot escape from that! Oh boy was I wrong. She lasted a few days there until she escaped while I was refilling their food and changing out the water. She was out with one jump! She was so so fast and I had no chances of catching her! She would usually come back when called but this time she wouldn't. I spent hours looking for her and when I finally found her, she was trying to leap out of my hands.

I rushed to a nearby pet store and bough a plastic cage (Kind of looks like the maxi duna but its not that) that opens from the top, meshed it for extra security and placed her with only one other mouse in there as the cage, while extremely secure, is significantly smaller at 270 sq inches of space.

Advice:
I am at a loss as to what to do. She has gone she fast and jumpy all of a sudden, the escapes are driving me crazy and I feel like having a heart attack at the thought of one of the cats getting to get if she continues like this. I presume that the way she is acting has something to do with the fact that she is half wild, as I have 13 other mice and none of them act even similarly to this. Ever since I put her in the pet shop cage, she hasn't tried to escape but I am worried that it is just a matter of time. Is there anything I could do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

by Nieve5552 Thu 02 Jan 2020, 4:26 pm

Sorry I know the post is bit old but I thought I'd post a reply in case.
I'm assuming the whole restlessness and escaping is definitely caused by the wild genes. How old was she when this happened? Has she mellowed out?
In wild animals tend to migrate away from their birthplace/parents/place she grew up in to prevent continuous inbreeding. She might just be in that migration stage which is an innate psychological instinct that you can really do much about. I'd say the best you could do is to try put her in the most secure cages possible, preferably ones that have high walls she cannot jump out of.

Half Wild - New Issues!

Half Wild - New Issues!

Re: Half Wild - New Issues!