RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:13 am

An update on the little house mouse I adopted a week or so ago. My parents came to town to visit today and brought two mice from my sisters litter. They weren't 100% sure of their sexing skills so they brought what they thought was one of each sex. Of course they also know that I'm a sucker and probably wouldn't send the male back with them. Of course they are correct and I didn't.

The newbies are about twice the size of the house mouse, so I'm guessing they are about 8 weeks old of so. And yes, the female is suspiciously plump compared to the male. The famale is a black sleek haired model, while the male is a dalmation marked fluffy haired guy. Both are well socialized.

I put all three of them into a neutral 15 gallon aquarium and aside from some minor face to face boxing between the females (in which the male becomes the mediator), they seem pretty indifferent to each other. The new mice already seem to be building the confidence of the little one as she doesn't seem nearly as skittish. They're spending a lot of time running on the wheel together, sometimes all inside, sometimes two in and one on top. Of course I now have to figure out exactly what I'm going to do with the male so I don't become overrun with little ones.

Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:17 am

I think you are already going to be overrun with babies.

What are you going to do with all the babies? Do you have good homes for them lined up? There are so many unwanted mice out there, please think about it before you let them breed.

Monique

Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:38 am

Get him another baby male ASAP and they should be able to live together. Also try getting one more baby girl if you can. Here, check this out: http://www.horns.freeserve.co.uk/mouse.htm, all about how many and with who, etc. Click on the orange Pet Mice link near the top left and scroll down to the pertinent sections, but that whole page and entire site should help you out quite a bit.

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:19 pm

I agree with Monique and Kate - get that male out of there now. Just as with rats, mice should not be housed in a mixed sex situation unless one or the other is altered. Please seperate them and take Kate's advice above.

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Christy
RP Admin
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Frodo, Zorro, Erzulie, Maeve, Clara, Molly & Emily

Fri Jan 02, 2004 7:26 pm

i agree...im sure u dont want THAT many mice, seperate them!

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Dustin -aka- duttie and the Rats!

"SqUeAk" <:3---)~~~ "SqUeAk"

Fri Jan 02, 2004 7:33 pm

Sorry, I wasn't very clear in my original message. I left the male in with them while under supervision because I had read that in introductions, having multiples, rather than one on one seemed better. That did seem to be the case here since any disagreement between the females broke up when the male disturbed them. By the time I went to bed late last night they were all sitting together so I removed the male to the smaller cage that the foundling had been in.
That does lead to another question, though. I've read conflicting reports about keeping males together. Some articles say it works, others say no way. What's your opinion. For that matter, can mice be neutered, as that would be the best situation, allowing me to have just one cage. Thanks.

I just checked out the link that Kate gave and it was helpful, though I'd still like to hear second opinions on the neutering issue. Thanks.

Fri Jan 02, 2004 8:48 pm

I wouldn't know about males since all mine are girls, but go to any pet shop and you'll see plenty of males housed together. I do think the key is a LARGE cage if you have two or more males together.

As for neutering a male mouse, it can be done, but you'd have to find a vet who'd done it plenty of times before, and not just on rats.

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Sat Jan 03, 2004 7:22 pm

I just called the vet clinic in the area who does some exotics (not that a mouse is exactly exotic) and they won't do a mouse neuter. They did refer me to a vet near the University of IL that I have used for my birds before. He is a great doctor (I think he's listed on the vet reference page of another site) and I'll bet he'll do it. Of course he's also an hour and a half away, so hopefully it can be done as an one day "outpatient" operation.

Sun Jan 04, 2004 12:04 am

I know most rats can come home the same day as a neuter, so you might be in luck there. If you bring him in first thing in the morning and plan to spend the day in the uni town, it should work out. Just make sure that vet knows that rodents can't puke and so should not be starved before surgery, should be offered water and snacks soon after surgery, and kept warm during and after the op, and be given an appropriate dose of painkiller (usually by injection) before waking up. Oh, and make sure he uses isoflourane and not halothane.

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Sun Jan 04, 2004 2:47 am

Oh, thanks. I didn't know that rodents can't puke and had wondered about the witholding of food for such a small critter.
I'm pretty sure he knows his stuff. I've since checked out his clinic's web page and his credential are a long list, plus there is a minor section on rats and mice, which recommends neutering. I've e-mailed him to get more info.

Sun Jan 04, 2004 2:53 am

http://www.rmca.org/Articles/nurse.htm

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Sun Jan 04, 2004 8:01 am

So glad you got that boy out of there! Re neutering, you need to find a vet that is successfully operating on mice regularly.

The problem with mice is the anaesthetic. I changed vets recently to a vet speciallizing in rats but not mice. She does spays and castrations on rats regularly with no complications. I put two mice in for surgery, one castration one removal of a tumour and they both died under aneasthetic. Ive now gone back to the vet I was using before who operates on mice all the time. He has castrated quite a few mice for me and there have been no problems.

If your mouse is still quite young is there any chance of getting one of his male litter mates to live with him?

Monique

Mon Jan 05, 2004 8:35 am

Well, he is young and I could get one his littermates, but I really don't want two males or two cages. I've already noticed that the single male smells worse than the two females combined and if I could get him neutered it would solve both the cage and smell issues.
The original idea was for me to get one female from my sister to keep the wild mouse company. My parents only brought a mouse of each gender because they weren't quite sure which was which, but were pretty sure the two they brought were different and would let me verify which was the female I would keep. Keeping the male was really one of those impulse decisions that wasn't well thought out, but know that I've done it (he is pretty cute), I want to follow through correctly.
The vet did e-mail me back, mentioning that he has done mouse neuters, including two for his own daughter. He did mention that one time a mouse had complications in the form of infected suture site, and confirmed caution with anesthetics, so didn't seem a stranger to the subject. I'll have to call the clinic for more specifics when my travel schedule allows.