How early to start playtime/taming outside the cage?

by Rowan Sun 29 Jan 2017, 8:14 pm

Just got my 2 mice about 4 days ago now and whoever took care of them at the shop seems to have handled them a lot. They never run from my hands when changing out food and water or taking the wheel out to clean it. I placed my hand in the tank today and Yuri climbed on with no hesitation, no treat bribing needed. She did however try to climb up my arm and I'm not comfortable having her climb on me in the room they're in just yet.

So onto the question. When did you start taking your mice out for play time or taming in a tub or similar? I have a shower with glass walls and door so I figured I could put a sheet down and take them in there to help them get used to me, would it stress them too much if I did that, say, tomorrow? Do they need more time to adjust to their new home?

Sorry if this has been asked somewhere else, I did take a quick look and I didn't see anything about the timing specifically.

by CallaLily Sun 29 Jan 2017, 8:51 pm

There's no specific time mentioned anywhere because it depends on the mouse. It sounds like your mice are ready to me. Bouncy

I've had some mice need a couple weeks to get to the point where I felt they were ready to start and I had a boy who seemed quite ready after just a day.

by CinnamonPearl Mon 30 Jan 2017, 9:05 am

Depends on the mouse. I've personally never waited more than two days, and most of my mice were ready to tame the next day. But some mice may need much longer. I personally wouldn't wait more than a week.

by stephlisa Mon 30 Jan 2017, 9:57 am

Colin only took about a day before he was ready for starting taming. And then pretty quickly (within a couple of days) learnt that coming onto my hand meant playtime in a different place and treats in his cage afterwards!

Yuri sounds ready to me and that might encourage her sister too!

by Unicorn Mon 30 Jan 2017, 10:37 pm

I give rodent pets one day to settle in and make their mark on their new space but come day two it's time to start realizing that I'm to be a large and daily part of their life they'd best get used to. How hands-on that gets depends on individual personalities but I do like to start with tub time as fast as possible (just maybe need to coax them into a little box or something to get to said tub). I plug up the drain, put down a towel, and then sit in the tub with the critter(s), letting them wander and smell and climb on me while I talk softly to them- they get used to my smell and voice that way without having to be scared by my hands chasing them about, as there's not really any way for them to get out of the tub and nothing they can hurt or be hurt by. They can get used to me on more of their own terms and initiate touch themselves. After a time toys and/or treats can begin to enter into tub time, and sometimes mousie wonderland in which I'm not present in the tub but just loads of toys and I watch them play. But I really swear by the power of tub time for taming. All our foster rats started out that way and all the hamsters. And they were all super happy and friendly. Flynn seems to really like it too and he's getting steadily more comfortable with me.

by CinnamonPearl Tue 31 Jan 2017, 11:39 am

I'll always do a bathtub session with a mouse the very first time I handle them, but I usually don't do them again after that unless I feel it's absolutely necessary. Mainly because I find them a touch boring if I'm not getting to know a new mouse ;3;. Shelly has been immensely anxious lately though (I don't think she's taken well to the weekly checkups), so I will probably have to do a lot more with her. But usually once I knock out the bathtub session, I'll just treat a mouse as normal and let them tame up at their own pace. Sure, not all of my mice adore me, but as long as they're happy, sparking, and healthy, that's what concerns me more. I'll consider a mouse tame enough if I can get them out to exercise and get some air for an hour. But of course, having mice who love you is much more fun. ^.^

by Rowan Tue 31 Jan 2017, 4:59 pm

Thanks everyone for the replies! I had tub time (technically shower time as I have no tub) with them yesterday and it went great! I put a sheet down and brought some tp and paper towel tubes and transported them in their house hide and let them do their thing.

Barry was not scared of my hand before but was not too big on interacting with it but now if I put my hand in the tank she'll climb right on. She spent most of shower time climbing all over me and it was so awesome honestly for such a little creature to not be afraid to explore me. Yuri spent most of the time napping in the house I transported them in but she did come out for a little bit. She did test bite my fingers a bit but that was because I'd been handling sunflower seeds, oops Razz

They're both way more comfortable with me touching them now though and I'm so glad cause it made cleaning their tank today easier than it could've been haha

I'm pretty excited to do it with the two new ones in a couple days.

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