# depressed mouse?



## Hali (Mar 2, 2011)

I just got a new doe that I plan to breed. she is alone in her cage at the moment as I plan to keep some of her daughters with her and don't want an over run cage when I do breed her. I think the isolation is getting to her, even though I socialize her much more then any of my other mice. She won't run on her wheel and never comes out of her nest/box area. Everything physically, as far as i can tell, is ok. I won't be breeding her until late May because she is still quite small and I'm guessing only 4 to 5 weeks old.


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## AnnB (Jan 14, 2011)

Give her a bit of time to settle into her new surroundings, she won't be very courageous if she's on her own. I recently bought three does and it's taken just over two weeks for them to start investigating their wheel.


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

Also, if she was used to being with other females, she`s been taken away from that, so she really should have company of other females, even if you do intend to breed her. Does this mean your going to split your two males after all then? Such a shame.


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## Hali (Mar 2, 2011)

no I'm going to use my friends male actually that looks more he's a really light grey like her- a dove I think its called. unless the two males continue to fight then I might just split them anyways...


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

Males will squabble over things and squeak, but fighting means attacking, ball fighting, tail biting and drawing blood. So if none of those are going on, they don`t need splitting up. It`s a matter of keeping an eye on their behaviour daily and never leave them for days at a time without checking them.

Are you breeding to keep the babies? Litters produce males too remember so baby males can all stay together when they leave mum at exactly four weeks and not before. Keeping a lot of males can pose it`s own issues because although they can all stay together in their own cage/tank, they will need space and probably extra accommodation incase you want to split them into pairs in the future. The females can live with mum.


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

I had two brother mice roll around squeeking the other day, I inspected them no blood drawn they have been fine ever since sometimes it can be over a space they want or a piece of food.


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## bethmccallister (Mar 5, 2010)

I tend to keep does in pairs even if I will breed them later, the second doe would be an amazing companion and helper to the lonely doe even during pregnancy, birth and pup rearing.

If the doe really feels comfortable in her nest and doesn't come out then you can try to provide her with stimulation/activity by regularly changing up the nesting material. Like one week give her a cardboard container (I keep all my food boxes for the mice) with various things like tissue, timothy hay, wood pieces and a little piece of polar fleece. The next week change it all out and see if she's participating in basic mouse tasks like ripping/shredding/and nest building. She should at the very least be arranging her sleeping area.


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