The rundown on playtime and taming?

by Graceeh Thu 08 Aug 2019, 1:36 pm

I've had my mice for almost a week now. After a few times of putting my hand into their tank to get them used to me, yesterday I brought out my two girls, Sybil and Opal, for their first play-time and bonding session in a small closed-off pantry room that I have. They did really well and happily crawled all over me and their cardboard toys. I thought of this as my first go at taming them, but am a little confused by the vocabulary and what exactly all of these words mean here. So when is a mouse considered "tame" and what does "taming" entail? Is that different from just getting them used to being handled by you and coming out for play-time?

I'm also wondering how some people get their mice to the point of having them out on the couch, on their bed, crawling around on their body, or crawling on a desk/table while they work. I can't get passed the idea of how easily they may escape from those places. Particularly a bed and a sofa — since those both have fabric on them, can't the mice easily crawl down to the floor? And with having them on my body, if I'm wearing long pants, isn't there also a danger of them crawling all the way down? I'd love to reach this point, but am not really sure how to get there. I'd love to bring them out on my desk, but is this something I need to wait longer for? I read somewhere that I need to wait until they are 100% comfortable with me to try this. Is that true? Any and all feedback is welcome. Very Happy

by CallaLily Thu 08 Aug 2019, 3:21 pm

I think in general when people say tame they mean when the mouse is comfortable with you. Readily climbing on you, relaxed, no panicking or jumping. At ease in interacting with you. This can happen quickly with some mice and take ages for others and some never do get fully comfortable with you.

Some mouse-parents take taming beyond this and teach their mice tricks. There’s a YouTube channel, I think called MouseAgility, who has taught their mice some pretty cool tricks. Not all mice are motivated to learn fancy tricks. It’s not something I ever really got into.

My boy, Daryl, was pretty chill from the beginning (I adopted him at 8 months old) and loved to hang out in my hood or sleeve or climb from one to the other. He never tried to climb off of me or jump. He was also chill enough to take treats and eat them during this time. Something most of my girls would ignore outside of their home.

My girls were never interested in just hanging out with me that way. They more enjoyed running around the play bin while I interacted with them. They’d climb up one arm and down the other, back into the play bin. Or take rides from my hand from one side of the bin to the other. That sort of thing. Never willing to just chill in a pocket or sit on my shoulder. A few hardly tolerated my presence. Laughing

But I know others have had girls more like my Daryl, so that’s not to say all would be like mine were. And they were still adorable and a lot of fun to interact with.

I’ve never been comfortable letting mice out on a table top or bed. But then I have other pets that would make it very unsafe and no room that I could make safe enough. But with very tame mice (completely used to you and relaxed) a table top with a bunch of toys can work well as a play space. Most tame mice will not jump from such a height. A bed or couch, yes they could climb down but a relaxed and comfortable mouse won’t be zipping around in a panic or trying to get away, so it would come down to supervision. No matter the play space, even tame mice need to be thoroughly supervised at all times unless it’s a secure container with a secure ventilated lid.

The rundown on playtime and taming?

The rundown on playtime and taming?

Re: The rundown on playtime and taming?