# male mice issues



## gezzabella (Sep 30, 2011)

Hi,

last sunday we bought three male mice, i thought it would be ok because i had two boys when i was younger and they got on fine. we had them in a small cage and one kept bullyin the other two they never cam out of the little house. we thought it was a space thing so have now bought them a big old cage which when we first put them in they were running about all over the place and loving it (this was yesterday). however, Mr Scruff has started bullying Cole and Leo again. he won't let them out of the house. there are three food bowls and if leo tries to get some food mr scruff chases him back to the house with lots of squeaking and nipping. leo doesn't even try he's so scared! and they are so loud we can hear them downstairs through a solid pine door! i don't think there is any blood but they are not yet tame enough that we can handle them to look.

i don't know what to do. i don't want to split them up because i would feel awful about mr scruff being alone and guilty because he loves the new cage. would neutering help?and would we need to neuter all three or just mr scruff? and could we then keep them together or would mr scruff still need a different cage with a doe in it? or would it help if they could mate?maybe relieve some "tension"? or would that make it worse?

im sorry to bombard you, but it breaks my heart to see them like this and i thought it would be best to ask pro's who probably have to deal with this a lot. 

thanks guys.
x gez x


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Males usually don't do well together. Neutering does help and ensures that you can atleast put him with a doe. You need to remove him immediatly before he kills one of the others.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

as jadeguppy has said males dont allways go on well tougher, some will be able to be kept tougher some wont, it all depends on the mouse. Ive has some who could and some who would just fight. The only males ive been able to keep tougher were virgin males, after breeding them they had to be kept seperate. i had a pair of males tougher for all there life and bred one when he was 8 months old and not thinking put him back with the other male and he attacked him and he had to be put down due his injuries.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

You really need to be carefull about this; I have groups of boys living together, and I need to look at them several times a day to be sure they aren't being visibly injured. And even if you can't see any injury, the stress of being hounded and hassled when it wants food and water, can kill.


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

Like the others have stated, I agree that males of unknown origin should really not be kept together for their own well-beings.
Neutering is ok if you can find someone to do it, but it's really cheaper to just house all three seperately. They will NOT be lonely, bucks are actually VERY territorial and relish their own spaces.


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