Re: Pet shops???

by CinnamonPearl Wed 06 Jul 2016, 11:54 am

I know that neutering males is a lot more common in Europe, and they have more success with bucks living together. But as I don't live there, I can't say how successful they are.

The thing about pet store bucks is that they don't leave the casualties out on the floor for customers to see. Fights probably happen all the time, but they're not gonna leave out mauled mice for adoption. They put the injured ones in the back until either they die or get better and plop them back in with the other boys. Remember, there's a lot at pet stores that we don't get to see.

Also, NEVER house mice with any other species, especially rats. Rats are natural predators of mice. It's just as risky has housing bucks together.

by River Wed 06 Jul 2016, 12:18 pm

I thought of that when I first saw that being said, but I'm not really sure
Pet shops??? - Page 3 IMG_4276_zpsaea4c8be

I believe this is one compared to a pet mouse. I'll have to do more research on it, but either way...I still would never risk it.

by CinnamonPearl Wed 06 Jul 2016, 12:21 pm

Sigh. The dangerous things people do just for the sake of giving bucks companions they never wanted.

by River Wed 06 Jul 2016, 12:27 pm

True. Personally, I think bucks kind of enjoy being kept alone. I could be wrong, but they seem to enjoy all the freedom and space they get!

by AnonONIagent Wed 06 Jul 2016, 12:30 pm

My local Petco has stopped stocking male rodents of any kind at all. Not sure of the exact reason why, but I think infighting may be part of it.

by CallaLily Wed 06 Jul 2016, 1:02 pm

I've heard of that too but it's also something I would not recommend.

by scaredymouse Wed 06 Jul 2016, 2:04 pm

FYI, Natal multimammate mouse (aka african soft furred rats) actually can be housed with mice. However, females only. Males will always fight.

by MouseLover Wed 06 Jul 2016, 2:22 pm

There are people over here who have successfully housed mice with zebra mice as well.

Neutering is more common here. Keeping male mice together does seem to be more common over here as well, although I'd still say the large majority of people believe in keeping them alone. I have a feeling some other european countries are more on the side of keeping males together (for some reason Germany comes to mind, but i'm not 100% on that).

That's strange for a petco to stop stocking male rodents of any kind... Male rats have no problem living together, and some dwarf hamsters can live together (and usually have a better chance at getting along if they are male, as females are the dominant of the sexes in hamsters). So it's only really mice who would have the problem with males?

by CallaLily Wed 06 Jul 2016, 2:49 pm

scaredymouse wrote:FYI, Natal multimammate mouse (aka african soft furred rats) actually can be housed with mice. However, females only. Males will always fight.

Just wanted to clarify. I never said they couldn't, only that I personally don't think it's a good idea. A quick search suggests it's recommended African Soft Furred Rats have a much higher source of crude protein. I'm not sure what other care requirements differ. But maybe I just feel some kind of way about it because on crab forums (and fish ones when I was active there) there was always people trying to see how many different species they could cram into an enclosure. I just think it's difficult enough to get everything as close to perfect as you can for one species, let alone 2+.

EDIT: I totally missed several replies on this topic before my last post so I thought the quoted post was in response to mine. Embarassed

by River Wed 06 Jul 2016, 4:21 pm

I think it's just Syrians - who can't live with anyone, no matter the sex - and mice who have that hostility issue. I had dwarf hamsters when I was very young and they fought so much we had to separate them - and they were sisters.

by MouseLover Wed 06 Jul 2016, 5:06 pm

Yeah, some people have luck keeping dwarf hamsters together but falling out is very likely, from what I've read. That's why I decided to just get the one hamster, didn't wanna have to deal with fighting.

by CinnamonPearl Wed 06 Jul 2016, 5:11 pm

On TFM, we had a member from Germany who kept two boys together alongside three females. The boys were both neutered. Apparently in Germany, boys can live together safely so long as they're neutered. However, since he was our only German member and was honestly pretty defensive, I have no idea how truthful he was or whether is short-term success speaks for the rest of his country.

by MouseLover Wed 06 Jul 2016, 5:29 pm

Yeah people say that over here as well, that if bucks are neutered they live together happily. But wild boys (lol, wild boys) would never live together, so if I ever had a neutered buck I'd put him in with a group of girls, as the lone male. But I think neutering mice is still a massive risk. Better to have a solitary life (with plenty of human company) than no life at all.

by Rodents rock! Wed 06 Jul 2016, 8:41 pm

Male gerbils do well together. Mine are best buddies and the have been together for over 2 years now. I adopted Pip from the humane society and he was alone.I didn't want him to live his life alone. So I did some research and surprisingly found out that it is easier to introduce a baby male to an adult male then it is to introduce a female baby to a female adult. So I contacted a breeder and got a tiny baby boy and named hm Pup. I did the split cage technique so they could see and smell each other but couldn't get to each other. They acted interested in each other and didn't show any signs of aggression. I felt so bad for Pup being alone as he was so tiny and had just been taken away from his mother. So, the next day I figured I would remove the separation screen and see how it goes. Pip was so happy to have a baby to care for! He immediately started grooming Pup, it was so sweet. He took such good care of Pup and still does to this day 2 years later. Pup grew up to be a little bigger than Pip, but he is still Pip's baby!

by olimarthemouse Wed 06 Jul 2016, 8:54 pm

I bought both of my gerbils from PetSmart. At the time, I really didn't know about introducing them through the split cage method, and I got one from the back of the store and one from the front. They fought off and on for months! It could be pretty awful at times. Ginger even hit the wheel or something once and got a cut on her hip, we put Neosporin on it and it healed. We had to separate them multiple times. Finally, I think Ginger became the dominant one. Oreo was always cleaning her and making the nests. She sadly passed in December, and now Oreo is on her own. But she seems to be doing fine.

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