Compatibility of female deer mice

by Raberdash Thu 17 Sep 2020, 1:55 am

I have a total of five rescued deer mice. They live in separate cages in my laundry room. I rescued Spencer Papillion a year ago, and she gave birth to Molly. They were extremely bonded, slept together, ran on their wheel together, etc.

Three days ago, the bathroom door was left open, and poor Spencer was apparently eaten by one of my cats when he knocked over the tube leading to her wheel.

Molly went into a depression, wouldn’t sleep in the bed, and moved bedding material into the wheel where she and Spencer used to play.

Two weeks ago, I rescued what was my sixth mouse, Skipper. She lived in a cage 3 1/2 feet away from Spencer and Molly. She was injured, but with homeopathic treatment, she recovered fully, but was clearly uncomfortable. She slept in the crook of one of the tubes.

Until this morning, I didn’t know she was a female. After approximately 45 minutes, my husband and I were able to determine that she was a female. (God gave me a split second where I was able to see that she had nipples, and her equipment is no farther than ¼” from her bottom.)

I therefore moved her in with Molly. After awhile, she moved up into a feeding tray that has bedding in it, the same tray where Molly was born. Molly slept the entire day in her wheel.

Tonight, there is none of the racket of my mice running on their wheels. I’m very nervous that Molly and Skipper will get along. There was no way to introduce Molly and Skipper slowly, because these are wild deer mice.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I fed evening treats as usual, but both Skipper and Molly were in the same locations as before.

Will they bond? I know there’s also a risk that Skipper might be pregnant, but in that case, I’ll sex the babies and leave the girls with Molly and Skipper, and put the boys in Skipper’s old cage.

Please help. Thanks