Males and females in the same room?

by AnonymousMouseOwner Wed 04 Jan 2017, 10:15 pm

I heard from a video on YouTube that if you keep male and female mice in the same room, the males will be stressed because they can smell the females but can't find them. Also, the stress makes them get sick more often/more vulnerable to getting sick.. Is this true? I know you can't trust everything you hear on YouTube but the person who runs this channel seems to know most of their "mouse stuff". She also said she recommends neutering them.. Scratch

by EverythingAnimal Wed 04 Jan 2017, 10:33 pm

I've seen this question pop up a few times before. Chances are putting them in the same room won't cause any problem if they can smell the females and even if they smell another male. I know many people keep their mice in the same room this way. What's the channel called?

by AnonymousMouseOwner Wed 04 Jan 2017, 10:40 pm

EverythingAnimal wrote:I've seen this question pop up a few times before. Chances are putting them in the same room won't cause any problem if they can smell the females and even if they smell another male. I know many people keep their mice in the same room this way. What's the channel called?

Anna's Animals. She does have different opinions on a few things. But most of her care videos are good and have correct information. Yeah, I thought that was a little odd, I have 2 boys and 5 girls, all in the same room, and they haven't showed signs of stress or illness that I've seen.

by Peachy Wed 04 Jan 2017, 11:34 pm

I think every time this subject comes up, we've always said it's a possibility that mice might be stressed out smelling each other, but it's not likely.

Since so many of us currently keep mice in the same rooms, and so many of us came from the previous forum (which was up for 10 years, so there was a lot of learning material Wink

), if these things were always true it wouldn't be the first time you heard about it. lol The majority of my mice have never been bothered by being in the same room as other mice, and the one that was bothered simply didn't like being so close to another male.

Neutering seems to be more popular now than it was some years ago. You'd have to discuss with your vet their knowledge and experience and the risks of surgery and anesthesia. Those are two big reasons that neutering is often only recommended as a last resort.

by AnonymousMouseOwner Thu 05 Jan 2017, 2:01 am

Yeah, I really don't agree with neutering for no good reason. With a legitimate reason, it's a different story, but I don't see a reason to stress out the mouse with a surgery that doesn't have many major health benefits for the mouse.

With larger animals like dogs and cats, it's understandable. However, mice are so tiny and it seems like a big risk to take, especially for no good reason.

I mean, if it ever was a problem, you could just move them further apart or to a different room. I was just curious Smile

All my mouse tanks are about 2 or 3 feet apart, Scout's 20 gallon on the left, the girls' 20 gallon long in the middle, and Rocky's 10 gallon on the right. So they both smell the girls, but I don't think they can smell each other well.

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Males and females in the same room?

Males and females in the same room?

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