# Tasting and Bitting...



## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

I'm just curious what people consider to be biting and what you consider to be tasting? When I first got my little girls they wouldn't sniff me at all, but lately they've been sniffing and tasting my fingers quite often. They have yet to bite me hard enough for me to consider it aggressive, but I was still curious as to what you consider biting and what you consider tasting...? And what types of biting have you observed in handling mice? And what types would make you reconsider using a mouse in your breeding programs?

I have been chopping onion, garlic and peppers the last few days and I think that is why they started getting interested in my hands.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

It's always a good idea to wash your hands thouroghly before handling your meeces. the smell of food, or anything novel to them, might prompt 'tasting'. You can also discourage this kind of behavior, and other things, like 'going' in your hand, by putting them back in the tank whenever they do it. they will learn that they don't get to play with you unless they behave.

Learning is used in a loose sense here, it's really more like a conditioned response.


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

LOL. I've washed my hands a hundred times since cutting all the veggies yesterday and I can still smell it on my hands. :? To me they smell very spicy, so it surprised me they were so eager to taste. The one doe kept tasting and tasting. I thought it would maybe be spicy to her, but she didn't mind and seem to like it. I think at this point in my bonding the putting them down with be more of a reward. They would rather be on the ground playing with me there, then up in the air on my hand. Instead whenever they taste I've been putting my thumb down on the top of their head which they don't seem to like. I always did this with my parrots and it worked well. They don't like to have their heads inbetween fingers, even when it's real gentle.


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## Wight Isle Stud (May 19, 2010)

you will know when you get bitten !- I have been bitten twice, each occasion drew blood. One doe got me whilst examining her litter, another when reaching into a maxy to judge a mouse. Having had a stud of several hundred mice for 30 years obviously the amount of mice I have handled is huge. I will let someone else work out the odds!-


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

I'll be back. said:


> you will know when you get bitten !- I have been bitten twice, each occasion drew blood. One doe got me whilst examining her litter, another when reaching into a maxy to judge a mouse. Having had a stud of several hundred mice for 30 years obviously the amount of mice I have handled is huge. I will let someone else work out the odds!-


So you're saying it's a rarity to be bitten? After less than a week with mice I would have to agree, based on even my limited experience. They are amazingly accepting of me, even when I poke my fingers into their house to pet them when they're napping. My hamster would have had something unpleasant to say about that almost every time!


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

I'll be back. said:


> you will know when you get bitten !


YES! And it _is_ a rarity (or should be if you source your mice from a reputable breeder).

I've told the story of my boy "Minip" on here before but i'll do it briefly again....

A long time ago, I got a mouse from a non-reputable source (way before I joined the NMC or found this forum) and he was an evil little bugger. He had obviously never been handled since day 1 and he wriggled and bit me every time I handled him.

I didn't let him get the better of me and I showed _him_ who's boss! 
I handled him _all_ the time and when he bit me, I didn't *reward* his bitey behaviour by putting him down again (giving him what he wanted).

It wasn't long at all before the biting stopped and he became one of the sweetest, tamest mice I ever owned.

I no longer keep pet mice, or have the time, room or patience for bitey mice, the scenario would run a different course these days, but it's a cute little story and relevant to the thread.....even bitey mice can be tamed 

xx


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## ian (Oct 3, 2008)

Ive never been bitten properly that I can remember. I work with small children and decided mice would be a good classroom animal, all the children hanlde the mice regularly and we have had several different groups now. One mouse suddenly took against another adult who worked with me and bit her twice hard in a couple of weeks. Obviously I couldnt risk having her handled by the children so she had to be removed but I found it odd that she reacted in such a way to just one person while being able to put up with quite a lot from being handled by the children.

Sometimes my mice give a warning nip, usually if its a doe with a litter or a youngster with eyes open but still in the nest (around 3-4 weeks). I just continue to handle babies frequently and leave does well alone who have litters and are stressed out about you handling them. Im not an expert on this but my method is the stark opposite to moustress' for young untamed mice I continue to hold the mouse until it has calmed down (usually by the tail and maybe put it on my sleeve so it cant bite me if it intended to), although if youve got interesting tastes on your hands your probably not going to be able to stop them from tasting it.


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

Mmmmm, funny you should say that Ian.
I had a mouse (now in mousey heaven) that was as soft as mush. Very fond of being handled and was a very loud bruxer. He did, however, have a big problem with my friend Simon and *bit* his nose on numerous occasions (when I say bit, I _mean_ bit....blood and everything!).
Never did know why :?:

He earned the name Lector :lol: :lol:


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## ian (Oct 3, 2008)

Maybe some people are just irresistably tasty.


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

ian said:


> Maybe some people are just irresistably tasty.


ROFL. :lol: I'll have to tell my husband that he needs to start cooking, because I need to be able to hold my mice without them wanting to nibble my hands.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Meeces operate so much by sense of smell, and when they smell something that scares them, they will want to terminate contact with whatever is carrying that scent. I have to be careful to wash after handling a mature buck, as I am liable to get bit eventually by another buck. I doesn't happen often but with umpteen umpteen mousies, you know it's gonns happen eventually. Any mousie that is feeling sick or threatened may bite if not handled with great caution. Pregnant or nursing females sometimes bite 'at' my hand, but Im' not sure if that's bitey behavior or very hungry behavior. when You've trained you meeces to take treats from your hand, you need to watch out as well. Pregnant or nursing female mammals get pretty testy when not fed every hour. I can speak from personal experience. :lol:


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## Wight Isle Stud (May 19, 2010)

just as a matter of interest, my daughters Ferrets always had a nip at my fingers, not at all hard because a good ferret bite can mean good by finger, they never ever did this with anyone else, and they lived 7 years - however, of course, I was a mouse breeder ! It is exceedingly rare to get bitten by a mouse, however, when you have a handfull of pinkies in the nest and you know the doe has just fastened her teeth into you, and you know you cannot jump or you would spray pinkies around the shed, it kinda makes you remeber which doe it was !!


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

I'll be back. said:


> just as a matter of interest, my daughters Ferrets always had a nip at my fingers, not at all hard because a good ferret bite can mean good by finger, they never ever did this with anyone else, and they lived 7 years - however, of course, I was a mouse breeder ! *It is exceedingly rare to get bitten by a mouse, however, when you have a handfull of pinkies in the nest and you know the doe has just fastened her teeth into you, and you know you cannot jump or you would spray pinkies around the shed, it kinda makes you remeber which doe it was !!*


That is a vivid mental picture.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Aah-yupper. It's good to give the little dear a treat, cuz then she'll run away to the far end of the tank and won't care what you do. Those mousie bites can go really deep....though usually they don't. when you have a few hundred of the little angels there is a good chance you'll get nipped at least once a year or so. I alway forgive any mousie that's pregnant, nursing or sick. Chronic biters are another thing entirely, though.


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## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

I have been bitten only twice, by the same mouse... the first time he was in with a girl, so I let him off, but didn't the second time.
Really deep too, bled for ages!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I had a little baby try to bite me last week; I just laughed and said, "Aw, the itsy bitsy darling tries to bite me. Isn't that sweet?" It managed to pinch my skin an leave a tiny pair of little red marks. It's important not to drop a mousie when it bites you, as then they learn that they can get let loose by biting.


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## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

I don't keep mice that bite... though I do let males off if they are in breeding, and females if they are being protective of babies and babies up to three weeks, still, only to a point though, the bite has to be a one off occurance


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## zany_toon (Apr 3, 2010)

I am regularly tasted by my mice and quite often have my finger nails nibbled. Before I got my rescue mouse Pop I had only been bitten 3 times (twice by a baby who wasn't used to being handled and once separating Marx from his brother Charlie when they were living together - that one was really painful!) With Pop - every other night for almost three months with random breaks in between to lull me into a false sense of security :x And nasty bites too, blood everywhere - all over my nice new, cream carpet :evil: Took almost 4 months to get him to stop, and every time he bit I made sure my hand stayed in his cage where he could see it so he knew that he was not the boss! That and I moved him to an all plastic cage and put him on a different level to all the other mice so that he can't see them and isn't able to get near them which seemed to help as well.


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

My mice always bite the smokers in the house, and it doesn't matter how many times they wash their hands or how long it's been since they smoked the last cigarette.

The mice are my allies.. :twisted:


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## jwitfield (May 6, 2011)

I was bitten pretty good when I got my male mouse.. He drew blood on me and it wouldn't stop bleeding for a long while..

But it seems he is fine with me now, he sees the other mouse climbing all over me when i put my hand in the cage so I suppose he thinks I am a (as my wife puts it.) Big ball of fun for them to run around on and play with.


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## Zowie (May 30, 2011)

One of my mice almost attempts to bite me, but not quite (because I know if she wanted to bite me she would!) but it's almost like she is testing my fingers so she just puts her teeth around my finger and ever so gently squeezes. She has already developed a habit of nibbling at one of my finger nails, but she also licks my thumb nail, it's all very strange! When she does it I just gently move my finger out of her mouth, but keep my hand in the cage, and she does run up it after a couple of minutes, am I doing the right thing here? It's all a bit new to me


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## Nemo (Aug 3, 2010)

Lol this is an interesting one. Ive had Nemo about a year now, and hes a very lively but gentle mouse, and has never bitten me. Even in the pet store he wanted to sniff and not bite. The shop assistant tried to grab him for me, and i stopped her, i said "he will come in his own time" and he did. 
Hes never tried to bite me, but he has done this odd thing of launching himself at my nose and nipping it on rare occasion. The first time was around the full moon that was really close to our planet, and i wondered if this was partly the reason. Every now and then he does it, just launches himself at my nose has a nip and runs off. I think he is playing, as if he really wanted to bite, he would hook on and draw blood. 
My point is....... You definitely know when its a bite. 
To me it sounds like your girls are having a taste.... a nibble. They obviously like the taste lol.
I generally squeak when nemo does this to me, and he never bites hard. ever. 
xx


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## Galaxy (May 25, 2011)

I have only been bitten twice in my whole life by mice. The 1st time was when I was 15 and I had just bought a handful of dutch babies home from the petshop. One escaped whilst I was putting them in their cage. At the same time I noticed my cat lurking around outside the shed and suddenly getting that intent neck craning forward stare and just knew he was staring at the escaped mouse. We both ran for the mouse at the same time but I got there first. I saved her live and was gifted with the most painful bite ever. It bled everywhere and I have never forgotten it. But that was the ONLY time she ever bit me. The second time was last week when I got 3 mice from a breeder. I had two does in my hand and I felt a nip and whilst the breeder assured me none of them were biters I thought I would give her a chance. Getting her home and transferring her from the carry cage to her new home she bit me again. But I let it slide because everything was new etc..... The 3rd time she drew blood and I knew she was a biter so I took her back to the breeder. She was fine with the other mice but not humans because when the breeder held her she was bitten too. 
So at 15 I had over 200 mice. (200 being does) and the others were bucks. Never had any baby mice bite me back then as I used to "wash" my hands in their bedding. Now having my latest mice (7 in all at the mo - my husband won't let me have more than 10 in the house) I wear latex gloves when I chop strong flavoured veg then wash my hands thoroughly with anti-bac soap.


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