I have owned a male mouse for about seven months now, (my first pet) he has seemed quite happy the entire time I've owned him up until the last month or so. Suddenly he is very depressed and showing abnormal aggressive behavior(tail rattling, head bobbing) which he never did before. I decided I would break down and get him a companion, I dont want a litter so I opted for another male. I have read much on the topic but I have some ideas of my own that were never mentioned so I'm looking for some opinions. I got a younger male mouse (about 5 weeks old) and I let them sniff each other, put them together in nuetral territory with vanilla on them but my older mouse started attacking the new one right way. They had about three rounds of tumble and bitting then the young one jumped out of the ring. This was my second attempt in a few days.
Okay, here are my questions. I have been swapping them back and forth daily out of one anothers cage (rat lady at the store suggested this) to get them used to each others scent. My other idea is to build a special devider in the large tank with very tight knit wire so they cant grab through it to get their scents mixed and perhaps swap their positions every few days.
The thing is, with all I have read, I havent read any advice that says to swap their cages or advice on building a deviding cage.
I'm worried that maybe I would make things worse by swapping them around? Making the older one more furious that somones in his space or making the passive one afraid to come out and stressed since he recognises the scent of the mouse that attacked him.
Any advice would help, I dont want to end up with now two lonely males.
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Lonely Male mouse, got him a friend, ?'s
Replies (2)
Male mice do not get along that well especially when one is fully grown and the other just a month or two old. Males are territorial and will fight. The only time I have heard two males not trying to kill each other is when they are brothers and have been together at least since weaning.
Only way you will have two male mice not killing each other is to keep them in separate cages or have a huge cage with completely separate water bottles, food dishes, many hides etc. so they can stake out their individual territories. This will reduce fighting...but may not necessarily work.
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PHLdyPayne
Hi,
I've been breeding mice for a while now and I've done a lot of research. Male mice can only be housed ONE to a tank, otherwise they will fight, sometimes to the death. It's not that they aren't used to one another's scent, male mice are just naturally very territorial. I definitely would not suggest putting them together for any length of time. Males usually won't get lonely... they might get bored if you never take them out of their tank, or they don't have enough things to play with. If your mouse is acting abnormal, it might also be because he's sick.
