Male Mouse Biting Only During Free Roam

by Nicolademee Thu 01 Jul 2021, 2:28 am

Hello all! I wanted to post this in behavior, but it appears to be locked.

I have 5 7-week old male mice, all in separate enclosures. One of them, Gharry, is very personable and enjoys handling quite a bit, so I take him out often. I allowed him free roam in my room for the first time tonight since I'm moving and it's empty and clean. After the initial scouting of the new environment, Gharry seems ecstatic for the space and is having a blast exploring and ruining my carpet. He comes over to me often to recount the newest thing he's discovered and spend a few minutes snuggled under my chin, however when he comes up to my fingertips on my keyboard he's taken to absolutely CHOMPING down on them?? He hasn't bitten me before besides very small, curious nibbles, and never bites me out of fear. He's completely well behaved in his enclosure.

He seems to be angry when he bites? He'll slap his tail down like my females do when they're upset. I've tried blowing on him gently to discourage this or shaking my fingers when he goes after them, but usually he just doubles down on them until i pull them away? He hasn't done this before or displayed any negative behavior towards me in the past.

Is there anything I should be doing to help stop this? Have i triggered this behavior? Thanks guys

by River Fri 02 Jul 2021, 5:51 pm

Mice are prey animals, and a large open area might stress him out enough to cause him to bite, even if he seems to be enjoying it. I would free roam on a table with a lot of (mouse safe) clutter and see if there's any improvements. Since he doesn't do it in the cage, I wouldn't think it's a neurological thing.

by Dee67 Tue 06 Jul 2021, 8:33 pm

@Nicolademee My male Figgus gets more 'worried', I guess you'd call it, when he is out in his large enclosure and this makes him more hyper-vigilante and a tad more likely to rush me, until he realizes it's me and not something dangerous or someone unknown. I make sure to gently talk to him, call his name before I approach so he knows it's safe.

by SarahAdams Wed 07 Jul 2021, 10:11 am

There are different kinds of excitement and some are not good. A mouse in the wild in a large open space is a dead mouse. Their strongest instinct, the one that keeps them alive, is to hide at all times. If no hiding place is available that would cause extreme agitation that might be mistaken for happiness.

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Male Mouse Biting Only During Free Roam

Male Mouse Biting Only During Free Roam

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Re: Male Mouse Biting Only During Free Roam

Re: Male Mouse Biting Only During Free Roam