Introduction questions!

by Oreoandfriends Sat 28 Nov 2020, 11:01 pm

Hello,
I made a post a few weeks ago about one of my female mice passing away. I’ve decided that I’ll attempt to get Sprig some more friends since she just doesn’t seem the same. Luckily enough, my local (and ethical) mouse breeder has 2 females available and I’ll be picking them up this Wednesday!
I have an extra 20 gallon long that I’ll set up for them when I bring them home. I’ve only ever done introductions once but I took my time with it since there were 2 mice per cage already. I want to bond them ASAP though this time so Sprig isn’t so lonely!
Here are my questions:
• Is it necessary to quarantine the new mice and if so, how long?
• What size should I use for the introduction enclosure? Would a bin a bit bigger than a 20 gallon long work or is it too big?
• How long should I keep them in the introduction cage before moving them to their big cage (200 qt bin cage, about 700 square inches I believe).
Any more introduction tips are appreciated, I’m pretty new at this! Thanks! Smile

by River Sun 29 Nov 2020, 12:17 am

I would quarantine for three weeks, just in case. I think the most likely problem you might see is a URI, which can be and often is brought on by stress. Moving to a new home is stressful, and even the most reputable breeders can have a sickness that just hasn't made itself visible yet. I would only skip/shorten quarantine if necessary for some reason like if your other mouse was so depressed from being lonely it was already in poor shape. My boy is from a breeder but the stress of being moved did bring on some mild clicking/sneezing, which isn't something you'd want to risk introducing to Sprig! Much cheaper and easier to handle if it's isolated.

I don't think 20 is bad, I usually introduce for the very first time in a bathtub actually lol. Totally neutral territory! I just wouldn't put a lot in it so they don't argue. Smaller can't hurt, though.

As for the other part, I have always moved them in together as soon as they got along on neutral territory. I also make sure I introduce only if I can be around for at least 24+ hours to separate if anything goes wrong. I just don't put a lot of stuff in for them to fight over for the first week, and I slowly add stuff after that.

Remember when introducing, some chasing, squeaking, and otherwise bickering is normal and to be expected. Smile

by Oreoandfriends Sun 29 Nov 2020, 12:32 pm

River wrote:I would quarantine for three weeks, just in case. I think the most likely problem you might see is a URI, which can be and often is brought on by stress. Moving to a new home is stressful, and even the most reputable breeders can have a sickness that just hasn't made itself visible yet. I would only skip/shorten quarantine if necessary for some reason like if your other mouse was so depressed from being lonely it was already in poor shape. My boy is from a breeder but the stress of being moved did bring on some mild clicking/sneezing, which isn't something you'd want to risk introducing to Sprig! Much cheaper and easier to handle if it's isolated.

I don't think 20 is bad, I usually introduce for the very first time in a bathtub actually lol. Totally neutral territory! I just wouldn't put a lot in it so they don't argue. Smaller can't hurt, though.

As for the other part, I have always moved them in together as soon as they got along on neutral territory. I also make sure I introduce only if I can be around for at least 24+ hours to separate if anything goes wrong. I just don't put a lot of stuff in for them to fight over for the first week, and I slowly add stuff after that.

Remember when introducing, some chasing, squeaking, and otherwise bickering is normal and to be expected.

Thank you!
I’ll definitely introduce them in the bathtub first too like I did with my past introduction. The breeder also recommended that I quarantine them for 3 weeks so I will do that! Hopefully it goes smoothly but I’ll definitely watch them very closely Smile

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