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My second skittish doe...

1095 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  shadowmouse, 
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I am yet again having troubles with my second doe. My first has finally calmed down and doesn't seem to freak out over human contact... but it has taken several months.

My second is new, but doesn't seem to be adjusting. She runs and runs and runs when I put my hand in the cage. When I pick her up, I always scoop, never by the tail. I hold her close, but she runs. I have to alternate hands constantly for fear of her literally jumping out of my hand, if another isn't available for her to run onto. I try to handle her for short periods of time, several times a day, but have so far seen no change.

Is there anything more I can do? She won't accept food from my hand, and I talk to her lots. What else can I do? I really don't want to breed her until she calms down, for fear that she will have the same anxious habit of eating her kids as my last doe...

I also wanted to add that my initial plan was to keep the two does together, but my older one seemed to be out for blood with the young one. I know that some fighting should be expected at first... but it seemed extreme to me, so I seperated them again. Just how much aggression is normal? Should I try again?
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The fighting might be a territorial thing. I've heard people have success with placing both the mice in a plastic tall tub with nothing in it including bedding...just until you de-scent the cage and remove all toys or anything that can be fought over. I find that when I need to switch around cage mates I need to soak everything possible in bleach water and clean the cage out with bleach...including the food dish and water bottle. Once everything is washed and dried put just the water bottle back in with bedding and nothing else then put the two mice in together, put food on the bedding and not in a bowl. Leave them like this for a week and if everything settles down and they get along then I put dish and toys back.

As far as being shy, I have success with just putting the mouse in a small tall plastic tub that can't be jumped out of and going to sit somewhere like in front of the tv. I then place my hand in the tub and just rest it there. I let the mouse come check me out and eventually they crawl in my hand and up my sleeve trying to get out...lol. I don't ever chase the mice to scoop them or anything that would make the mouse feel threatened. When I need to take them out and they don't want to get in my hand then I use a toilet paper tube and let them run into it to lift them out.

I do have a few that are hyper like your mouse...and they can be tamed but they usually stay hyper, they just get in my hand really fast now...lol!
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shadowmouse
I had success with my mice by putting a dab of peanut butter on a baby spoon. Whenever I come to the cage I have the spoon and a tiny lick of PB. They can't seem to resist it.
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