How do you tell if a mouse is fully tamed?

by River Thu 25 Aug 2016, 12:13 pm

Since mice have such diverse personalities, I'm curious - how do you know when they're fully tamed?

by Peachy Thu 25 Aug 2016, 1:49 pm

I'd say it depends on what you want from your mice... I can scoop up my girls with little trouble, sometimes they opt to climb on my hands, and they don't hide or act bananas when I'm cleaning/feeding/watering in their cage. That's tame enough for me, but some owners like to teach other things, like sitting nicely in your hand. For things like that, I usually go by personality. Like, my Pearl begs to come out to play when she sees me, so sitting nicely in my hands wouldn't be a crazy expectation for her, but I once had a mouse named Rose who would get so frightened just from the bedroom light coming on that she would freeze and you could poke her and she would hardly flinch. Eek!

by MouseLover Fri 26 Aug 2016, 7:33 pm

I feel like the phrase "fully tamed" implies a level of tameness where the mouse can't possibly get more tame. But I think that mice can always get a little tamer with more time, and if you keep spending time with them they will slowly become tamer throughout their whole life Smile

So rather than "fully tamed" I would prefer to use the phrase "tame enough" Laughing

When I have a new mouse, and I'm starting to tame it, there's a sign that I look for that (in my opinion) says I've made a breakthrough - when they will sit and clean themselves in my hand Smile

I always take this as a sign that the mouse isn't frightened of me and thinks that they're in a safe place. I generally consider them "tame enough" from this point, but continue to work on it.

Honey, my little wildling, has never reached this point though lol. She'll come and see me at the cage bars, she's not frightened of me, but she hates my hands lol. She will however, sit on my arm and groom herself Laughing

by CinnamonPearl Fri 26 Aug 2016, 7:55 pm

I consider a mouse tame when they're not shy to be in your hand at all. All of my girls would always hop into my hand when offered. Henry is still a bit hand shy and will glare at my hand when he runs into it, but he's sitting in it more comfortably. You can tell, because less tame mice will hold themselves up more when in your hand while tame mice will sink their weight into you much more.

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How do you tell if a mouse is fully tamed?

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