# Keeping males together??



## totalreject (Sep 8, 2014)

Hi 

At the moment we have 4 females and one male (seperated of course) and we are thinking of breeding, I was told if we had some males in the litter we could introduce them to their dad and they could live together for company...is this true? Everywhere I read online it say's they will fight to the death  I don't want to try anything if it would result in injury but at the moment I feel sorry for the male as he looks lonely by himself. The females enjoy playing and he's all alone unless he's with us but sadly I cant have him out 24/7.

Any advice apreciated


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

Strongly advise don't do it!
Where there are 2 cases of males living together in peace, there are 100 cases of males fighting to the death. That is not something you want to risk or have to deal with. Here's a post from today for you to look at: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=29442


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## totalreject (Sep 8, 2014)

Ok thank you, the breeder we got then off said it would be ok to do so as they keep their males together. I've read one website saying it's ok but everywhere else it was 'fight to the death' so it's rather conflicting


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## Ruth (Jul 3, 2014)

Maybe I've just been really lucky but I kept males together as a child and now as a breeder I've kept and am keeping males together with no issues at all. I did have one dominant male in one group and I removed him and no more squeeking. All males were litter mates or introduced before sexual maturity and all are kept away from the smell of females. I should stress I have many spare enclosures should fighting occure and am home most of the time and check on my mice about four times a day. My mice are my haven


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## totalreject (Sep 8, 2014)

Thanks 

I think I am going to contact the breeder to double check and get some more advice, they are really helpful and surrely if all of their males are placid enough to get along then the one they sold me should be as he's from the same family.


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

It just isn't worth the risk. While they _may _live together, why risk the injury and death that will most likely occur? Your single male is the supreme king of his territory with no challengers to stress him out, and that is what is important to a male mouse. Give him things to occupy his time and he'll be fine


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

with keeping males together it all comes down to the individual males personalities. It will work until the day it doesn't work anymore, and by time an owner goes to check on them a buck may be dead or so badly mauled it needs putting down. 
Ive had a buck group once before what worked for a whole year until I bred one and put him back (befor I knew bucks are best kept apart) then the bred buck attacked his friend of a year so badly I had to have him put out of his misery.
my bucks since need to be split by 8-12 weeks old normaly.

So due to the big risk of a fight breaking out one day its just not in there best interest to keep them together in my opyion.

Its just not natural for bucks to live together, wild bucks will drive off other males from there patch.


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## Rainy_Days (Sep 30, 2014)

Hey,

I wean my males at day 28 and after I wean them they will happily live together until I give them to friends with young children or sell them. Males who are related and who have been introduced before sexual maturity or litter mates I find never fight enough to draw blood or give even a small scratch. I wouldn't risk reintroducing the male weaners to the father, I've never done it I just keep all my male breeders separate. If you do have a small group of males living together who get along fine and decide to use one for breeding, once you take him out you cannot reintroduce him, if you do it may create a chain reaction and you'll then have a once happy group that is now not getting along.

That's my experience with it, hope that helps!


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## Sizzlea89 (Jan 19, 2013)

Iv personally found that if the male is involved in the whole pregnancy and upbringing of litters then he doesn't have a problem with the younger males. Sadly this method as I realised after the first litter results in a second litter. Never bred that female again. Felt terrible for her. She lived a good long 3 and a half years too. Still have one of their sons to this day. Can't for the life of me source an unrelated female


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## Rainy_Days (Sep 30, 2014)

Oh I just remembered I once had a pied agouti female paired with an old long haired black self male and they had 4 babies 2 boys and 2 girls, when weaning time came I separated the two girls into their own cages and left the 2 young males with their mum and dad. Mum was a dominant mouse who kept those young males in place and she didn't allow them to breed with her and dad was getting old and no longer interested in breeding. I didn't want dad to die in a cage all by himself so I left them for about 2 months like that until he passed. Mum didn't get pregnant from her sons and the 2 boys and dad didn't fight with each other. It also would have helped that the 2 boys were more submissive mice like dad. So I really think it depends on the mouses individual personality.


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