I've wrote about our mice before, Our lovely Ariel (RIP) and Nala, and then sprinkle and Pearl.

Now, We have two new mice! They are Rue and Lavender. Rue is black and white, like the others, but Lavender is white all over except for a grey patch on her bottom and head. Rue, while at first was wary of the new mice, is now really brave and plays all day and loves being stroked and will lift her leg up so you can rub her sides (Cute eh?) and is quite cheeky (She takes pieces of food and runs over to the water bowl and drops them in until the water is gone. She also digs until she reaches the bottom (Quite a feat!) and then throws sawdust in the water bowl and out)
Lavender is completely... Off. When we got them, they came together (sisters) and both were very timid, Rue came out straight away and was fine, but from the moment we picked Lavender up, she just freaks out and yanks out of your hand, squealing and panicking until she can bite you. When we go to feed them, the others run out and wait near where the bowl goes, but she just hides.
When she sees you in the room, she darts around the tank, hitting off walls and hitting enrichment until shes hidden. It scares us because we can't hold her without her throwing herself away, and we have to keep our hands in the tank when we attempt to hold her because she freaks out. We're scared she's hurting herself. We had her a few weeks now, and have got pictures (I've been saying I will put them up but I forget) she's stopped squealing at night now, but still is impossible to hold.
Is there anything I can do to make her not so scared? Even if it means not holding her straight away. We just want her to feel safe in her home, like the other four.

Help? and Thanks

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could you poss put something in the cage with your scent on it? Im not sure tho hopefully someone will be around soon to give you some advice

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Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat

Thanks for replying anyways! But, yeah, that could be a good idea....It works for puppies right? I'll go find something that they won't completely destroy.

Any other ideas or help? Thanks

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Sorry no advice from here either really other than to say some mice are just naturally more timid and shy. I used to have quite a lot of rescue mice (slightly different situation as not sure what had happened to them in the past) out of the original seven I got 6 were fine and could be handled and one would not let me near her and never did until the day she died. That being said she was one of my favourite mice and had such spirit and personality and also managed to escape twice. Also some of the other rescue I got could just about be handled but did not like it much and would prefer not to be. There were I few I did not handle then got lifted in a tunnel, bed etc something I could block both ends of to move them about (this is how Eden got out she squeezed through a hole when I was moving her).

I think people recommend putting your hand in the cage/tank and getting the mouse used to your scent (without actually attempting to lift her until she wis comfortably coming near/on your hand). Good luck in getting her used to being handled.

Awww, I'd love a rescue mouse, but nowhere here does it!

I sometimes just put my hand in, and Sprinkle and Rue run onto my hand and sit there. It's weird because I didn't think they would, but they use my hand and arm to climb out the tank!

Anyways, I'll add my scent in a little more, and Vanilla Essence. I use it when introducing, so it might be like im adding myself in? What do you think?

Thanks!

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Totally pointless adding the vanilla essence - you use that during intros so that all the mice smell the same and to reduce risk of them fighting. It's going to mask your smell and complete defeat what you are trying to do.

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Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.

Thanks

Maybe she's just meant to hate us? Aslong as shes happy and eating, it's gonna be okay. She eats like a horse though. We're cleaning them out tomorrow, So i might just keep my hand in the mouse carrier when they are in.

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I don't think mice are capable of that! Some mice just do not like being handled, some of mine i've had for 2 years and they just don't want picked up. As long as they are happy and you are able to handle them when needed and to give them a health check for lumps etc or to give medicine then I wouldn't worry about it.

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Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.

Baha! Yeah, they are too cute to hate people

Update!!

We were cleaning the cage out the other day, and we had done it all (With this new net thing we made, where they have to pull fruit out and climb on it) and started to put them back. Nala - fine, Pearl - fine, Sprinkly - fine, Rue - Fine and finally, Lavender - fine!!

We have been picking her up at the very base of her tail, as we are taught at college, and then support her weight, and this is when she is freaking out. My girlfriend let me pick her up, because of biting and she was running riot in the carrier, so i just scooped her up! As i went to quickly put her in, I realised she wasn't moving, so, like you do (Just me then?) i opened my hands to check she was okay and she was just sitting there, Calm and waiting! I was so shocked that I lowered her really slowly into the tank, so she had chance to jump if she needed to. She just sat there, really calm. I then went to pop her onto the shavings and yeah, she freaked a little bit, run and hit and didn't come out for the rest of the night, other than to steal a bit off fruit off Rue.

So, for like 30 seconds, she let me hold her, without trying to throw herself off my hand or bite!

I had kept my hand in the carrier while I added stuff in, letting them run all over my hand, so I think she got used to it a little bit, but then once she was 'home' she freaked.

We put a new sock, that I had kept in my pocket (NEW!) and then added a cardboard tube inside, to make a sort of snuggie. They love it now, so that might help.


Sorry for the rambling, I'm just happy!

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