# keeping brothers together- how long



## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Ms. Phantom's litter of 6 turned out to be 5 males. Aug. 10th was their four week birthday so I put them in their own tub. At the moment they are still sleeping together and getting along. I assume they can smell the girls in the room, but I haven't allowed them with does since moving them. How long should it be safe to keep them together? I'm trying to balance safety and the need to set up another 4 tanks.


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## m137b (Sep 22, 2010)

It's been years since I worked with pet store mice, but from what I recall the bucks had to be seperated by 5-6 weeks into their own bins or they started fighting.

Eventually I started culling the young bucks who became aggressive with their cage mates. Currently I can house virgin bucks together indefinitly without issue, and only seperate them when I decide to use one for breeding.


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## Fantasia Mousery (Jul 16, 2011)

It differs a lot. You can get lucky and they will never start fighting, or it can be the complete opposite and they will start fighting any minute. It's not really predictable. 
Maybe only one of them will become aggressive toward the others, maybe all of them will. All you can do is hope and keep an eye on them.


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Well, that gives me some hope. Do you think the aggression will slowly escalate and give me time to notice it and remove the territorial one or will one suddenly kill another one over night? I'm holding one buck for another breeder and haven't decided which ones to keep for myself. Is it better to keep 5 in there (foot print slightly larger than a 10g tank) or should I leave only three? One way spreads out the tension, the other eliminates some of the competition.


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## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

I would say as long as there are no fitghing at all. As soon as it begins I would seperate them. I havent had a lot of young male groups, but I have been lucky and had boys who got along fine untill they were 12 weeks (where I cull for feeding/ rehome and choose the ones for breeding to put with does).


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## Bella (Aug 15, 2010)

I keep males together. In fact, I keep males from different litters together. If fighting starts, I deal with it then. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. It is different with each and every litter. Some of them live together for a very long time with no trouble. Others start fighting immediately.

I've never had them switch from friendly to aggressive so quickly that there was anything more than a little nip here or there. None have ever killed one another.


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

Honestly, I very rarely keep more than one male from each litter, but in the past I tried to seperate the day they started going "SQUEEK! SQUEEK!" loudly...usually signified the beginnning of aggressive behaviors.


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## Mouse Queen 96 (Jul 11, 2011)

i have 5 6 month old males together no fighting


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## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

Bella said:


> I keep males together. In fact, I keep males from different litters together. If fighting starts, I deal with it then. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. It is different with each and every litter. Some of them live together for a very long time with no trouble. Others start fighting immediately.
> 
> I've never had them switch from friendly to aggressive so quickly that there was anything more than a little nip here or there. None have ever killed one another.


The males I had together was from different litters too. But they were put together when they were about 4 weeks.


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Well, so far so good. I haven't heard any fuss coming from them and they don't seem to be avoiding each other. I hope they keep it up.


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