# Help please: taming adults to the hand



## Mionemouse (Aug 21, 2013)

Hi, I bought three does from a pet shop on Thursday (  ) and I am in the process of trying to tame them so that they are less scared of hands. I didn't really want to get pet shop mice this time round, but I couldn't find a breeder within my area of the UK, and it seemed that the girls in the local pet shop were getting beyond hope of finding a proper home as they had been there so many weeks after all of their tank-mates had been sold; c'est cera cera! My previous girls were feeder mice from a big tank full of sawdust and young mice; Daisy remained somewhat jumpy her whole life but Phoebe was the sweetest little thing from day one and would come running to the door of the cage when she heard me, ready to jump into my hand and run up to sit on my shoulder and go for a walk. I know that I may never achieve this with my new girls, but would like to at least be able to hold them in my hand without the fear of them taking a suicidal leap!

The girls seem to love their new home and seem confident when exploring inside their cage together, or looking out through the sides at me. However, when I put my hand in they scatter and at the moment there is no way I can get hold of them apart from waiting until they go into their kitchen towel tube so that I can put my hands over the ends and lift it up. When the girl in the shop caught them, they jumped all over the place and looked terrified at being grabbed and chased so I don't think their previous experiences of hands have been particularly positive ones.  I have been talking quietly to them a lot and spending time each day just sitting with my hand laying on the bottom of the cage, but whilst they will carry on about their business and will occasionally stop to look or reach forward for a quick sniff, they have not as yet stepped onto my hand - though they have run or jumped over it when I have slowly slowly moved my hand towards one of them. After allowing them to settle for a day, I have since taken them into the bathroom each day and allowed them to run free in the bath tub with me sitting legs-outstretched on a towel. It has only been three days so far but I have seen a little progress as they will now eat from their treat bowl in the bath and will run happily up and down my legs, arms and back. Primrose, the light grey girl, has once sat on my shoulder to sniff my face and I reached up to stop her falling, which resulted in her tentatively stepping onto my hand. I put one hand in front of the other a few times to encourage her to walk over them, which she did, though she was very keen to get down onto the towels once I had lowered her close enough. Today when putting my hand in the cage, the other two girls were still very quick to run away if my hand came close, but Primrose stayed still when my hand was within about a centimetre of her, but still darted off when I slowly reached out a finger to stroke her side. They have all taken seeds from their tiny treat bowl whilst I have been holding it, but none will take a treat from my hand.

Is there anything else that I should or could be doing to try to help the girls overcome their fear? I know it is early days and I need to be patient. I would be grateful for any advice though, and also anyone else's experiences of taming older mice. I would be happy if I could just get one of them to be happy to step onto my hand and be lifted out of the cage. Do you think this is realistic or I am labouring under a false hope?

Thanks,
Chris


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## Fantasia Mousery (Jul 16, 2011)

All I can say is: keep doing what you're doing, both with the tub and a hand in the cage. You're obviously doing a great job.  As you said, it's still very early. It seems to me like there's hope, especially for Primrose.


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## Mionemouse (Aug 21, 2013)

Thank you, Patricia


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## thammy24 (Dec 20, 2012)

Sometimes it takes a while. I have two girls and one warmed up relatively fast (still took a few weeks of spending time with them daily) and the other used to rattle her tail at me, that's how threatened she felt by me. It took her a good 3 months to finally be okay with my hand being close to her and they're 6 months now and though she still won't walk onto my hand when she's in the cage, she'll walk onto my hand when she's on my shoulder


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## greydawnbreaking (Oct 25, 2013)

I've had a lot of success taming mice by sitting and watching TV with the tub in my lap and my hand just sort of hovering inside it. I usually let it rest naturally somewhere near but not blocking the entrance of a nest box (especially one I suspect they're in) and try not to watch the cage at all. Then I don't move, or I only move gently and slowly.

It feels like it takes forever, but if you're quiet and patient within 15-20 minutes many mice will be openly sniffing you. They're so curious that you just need to give their natural inquisitiveness a chance to win out over fear. Then once they're out, you can slowly and gently start interacting with them. If they ever skitter back into cover, just put your hand back at "rest" and wait for them again.

Don't worry about mice not taking food from your hand, I've never had one of mine do it and a lot of mice aren't naturally food-motivated. Eventually, as long as every encounter with you is either neutral (nothing bad happened) or positive (something good happened) then the mice will lose their skittishness. It's just a matter of time. The other technique I use is to make sure they've got many places to hide and plenty of bedding to make into nests (long strips of shredded paper are a favorite). The pattern I've seen is that the closer they are to a hidey-hole at all times, the more comfortable they'll be risking a trip out into the open.


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## pro-petz (Nov 14, 2012)

Never had much of a problem with taming of even the skittish of mice, found a little treat that they all go crazy for. the cheese flavoured nibbles is what I use same as ritz but alot smaller usually available more frequently leading up to christmas.

Use about a third placed on the hand and as others have said just place hand in the cage for 15-20 mins. Placing the treat closer o the edge of the hand initially and then moving towards the centre, one could even use basic sunflower seeds as a little enticement, works best with sunflower if it is not part of the stable diet but used solely as a treat.


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## Amber1 (Dec 27, 2013)

Mionemouse said:


> Hi, I bought three does from a pet shop on Thursday (  ) and I am in the process of trying to tame them so that they are less scared of hands. I didn't really want to get pet shop mice this time round, but I couldn't find a breeder within my area of the UK, and it seemed that the girls in the local pet shop were getting beyond hope of finding a proper home as they had been there so many weeks after all of their tank-mates had been sold; c'est cera cera! My previous girls were feeder mice from a big tank full of sawdust and young mice; Daisy remained somewhat jumpy her whole life but Phoebe was the sweetest little thing from day one and would come running to the door of the cage when she heard me, ready to jump into my hand and run up to sit on my shoulder and go for a walk. I know that I may never achieve this with my new girls, but would like to at least be able to hold them in my hand without the fear of them taking a suicidal leap!
> 
> The girls seem to love their new home and seem confident when exploring inside their cage together, or looking out through the sides at me. However, when I put my hand in they scatter and at the moment there is no way I can get hold of them apart from waiting until they go into their kitchen towel tube so that I can put my hands over the ends and lift it up. When the girl in the shop caught them, they jumped all over the place and looked terrified at being grabbed and chased so I don't think their previous experiences of hands have been particularly positive ones.  I have been talking quietly to them a lot and spending time each day just sitting with my hand laying on the bottom of the cage, but whilst they will carry on about their business and will occasionally stop to look or reach forward for a quick sniff, they have not as yet stepped onto my hand - though they have run or jumped over it when I have slowly slowly moved my hand towards one of them. After allowing them to settle for a day, I have since taken them into the bathroom each day and allowed them to run free in the bath tub with me sitting legs-outstretched on a towel. It has only been three days so far but I have seen a little progress as they will now eat from their treat bowl in the bath and will run happily up and down my legs, arms and back. Primrose, the light grey girl, has once sat on my shoulder to sniff my face and I reached up to stop her falling, which resulted in her tentatively stepping onto my hand. I put one hand in front of the other a few times to encourage her to walk over them, which she did, though she was very keen to get down onto the towels once I had lowered her close enough. Today when putting my hand in the cage, the other two girls were still very quick to run away if my hand came close, but Primrose stayed still when my hand was within about a centimetre of her, but still darted off when I slowly reached out a finger to stroke her side. They have all taken seeds from their tiny treat bowl whilst I have been holding it, but none will take a treat from my hand.
> 
> ...


Hi

I've just joined the forum and so hopefully all is well with you and your mice now. Just for info though, my mouse (Luna) hates hands but she has no problem stepping onto my hands when I pop a pair of soft gloves on. Bizarre but it works when transferring her from cage to free range time etc. 

Lisa


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