Mice are chasing and tumbling around.

by corvusaur Mon 16 Aug 2021, 7:18 am

This is my second attempt to introduce my first pair of females to each other. My first attempt was going poorly to the point of blood being drawn so I separated the pairs for a week and am now trying again with more time in each stage.

I had them stay together in a carrier with minimal bedding and water for about a day, and when they had been sleeping together for a bit I moved them into a bin, and added a box hide and then food when I was sure they were doing well. There was no loud squeaking or anything until I added two wheels, which was also the turning point last time.

The two smallest mice, Marcy and Pepper (one from each pair) seem to be the only ones having trouble. Marcy has been chasing Pepper and I've seen her try to mount her, which I realize is normal when establishing a hierarchy. However, they've been wrestling and I just saw them tumbling around to the point where bedding was flying around. I'm super worried that one of them is going to get hurt again. In the first introduction Marcy was getting into squabbles with everyone, but this time it's just Marcy and Pepper. Should I remove the wheels? Is there any method I can use to help them get along? Any thoughts are really really appreciated.

It might also be worth mentioning that Marcy is probably the jumpiest of them all, and the most likely to get stressed, but she will climb my hand, eat out of my hand, and likes to gently nibble my dead skin and fingernails, so I would say she's relatively tame.

EDIT: I removed the wheels for now until I figure out what to do.