# General Questions About Mice cohabiting with Multis



## mouseman11 (Feb 18, 2010)

Hi,

Would love it if someone experienced could answer these questions!

1. Can the intro between fancies and multis happen at any age?
2. Do the species have to be of the opposite sex? e.g. male mouse with female multis? or can they be same sex? What's the reason if opposite sex?
3. Could you say have 3 fancies with 1 multi? or will a multi always need another of its own kind?

Thanks


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## Kayota (Dec 29, 2013)

What is a multi?


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Multimamate, African Soft Furred (ASF) They look like this:










As to the questions in the thread, I do not have the answers. I tried an introduction once, and the male mouse attacked the female ASF so I never tried it again since I didn't really feel I needed companions for lone bucks. Hope you find what you are looking for!


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## madmouse (May 19, 2012)

I have two non-breeding fancy mouse bucks with ASF companions. When the friendship works, it works extremely well. But when introductions go wrong it can be dangerous. I've never heard of anyone keeping male ASFs with male mice, perhaps bc they will fight? I've introduced one adult buck to an adult ASF doe and they are in love and have been together most of their lives. The doe is extremely affectionate and protective of her much smaller buddy. Then I did another introduction with a buck mouse and ASF doe, and the buck immediately ran over and completely scalped her, blood everywhere. I had another buck living well with an ASF doe, but then the buck died unexpectedly and the ASF violently attacked every other mouse I introduced her to until I isolated her in her own bin for a couple weeks. Then she became so lonely that she happily adopted an old show buck and they have lived happily ever after since. I'm really uncomfortable with keeping non-breeding bucks alone (breeding bucks at my house at least have lady visitors on the regular). I recently saw a documentary about the cruelty of solitary confinement in US prisons and part of it dealt with the results of a study (done with mice) that showed that social isolation literally caused brain damage and neurochemical imbalance in social animals. I would say that ASF/mouse partnerships can certainly work, but you should not attempt it unless you 1) have a housing back up plan for both animals if they do not like each other and 2) have the knowledge, supplies and resources to take care of any injuries that may result from a failed introduction. Probably the sort of thing only experience rodent keepers should fool with.


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