I have to write a summery for an assignment I did at college. I had to observe a mouses behaviour over 30 minutes, write it all down etc.

Thing is, I'm having trouble trying to come up with an "in depth summery" of it's behaviour, it didn't do much !?! lol

As I've never owned Mice, nor have I ever really read up on them, could you tell me about any of the following;

Level of interest
Facial expressions
Body postures
Vocal and olfactory signals (isn't this sniffing? lol)
Interaction with other animals

I have some info on the interaction, but as for the others I'm at a loss to be honest. The mouse never squeeked once, it was interested, but that's about it lol.

What SHOULD they be doing?

Hope this all makes sense. Any info would be greatly appreciated and earn ya a blobby xx

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*~* Tracy *~*
Mum too:
1 Guinea Pig - Bracken.
2 Budgies - Harley and Jerry.
Pond full of Fish.

in what? if I started watching my mice now they'd sleep the whole time. I cleaned and rearranged their cage yesterday and watched them then, they were extremely interested in everything in the cage, running around and sniffing/nibbling it all - especially the new items. They're also quite interested in me if I put my hand in their cage. They run up to me and sniff/nibble then run away and come straight back to do the same thing.

I wouldn't really know what to describe here tbh, this assignment sounds hard! I guess you could talk about things like closing eyes, opening mouths, pointing ears back etc.

They stretch out a lot when approaching things from a distance, Hunch up when eating, they tend to flatten when they're on unsteady ground.

two of my mice I never hear a peep out of, one squeaks quite loudly if they're in bed and the others move suddenly and she has a kind of chattering whenever she's exited - like if you rearrange the cage.

I take it you have enough.

not all mice are vocal

were there any more specific questions you had?

I have 4 female mice who live together in an Imac. They are very inquisitive. The cats sit in front of the cage and the mice sniff and look at them a bit. Their facial expression does change a little bit...their eyes widen and brighten up when you give them something new to play with...just like children really.

They also run around a lot faster when you have cleaned their cage out. They have to examine every inch of the place, even if the same objects were in the same place before. They do not all follow each other around though. They don't mind sleeping on their own or eating on their own.

Unlike hamsters, they are not tidy rodents. Hamsters will move their food to where they want it...ie their bed...but mice will just make mess everywhere. They tend not to take food anywhere else at all.

With regards their body posture, they are either on 2 feet or 4. I have never seen them put their ears down, always sticking up. They sit on their bums to clean... (not really sure what you are looking for here) and they love to climb.

Now, the cutest thing about mice is their noises. They squeak alot!!! Not loudly or nastily, just cute little squeaking. When playing, when eating, when in their houses. I think it is some sort of communication. But I can't understand! lol.

Anything else, just PM me!!

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Level of interest - at night is the best time to watch mice as they play, run, etcc.... they are ever so fun to watch as they are very acrobatic and hang from the bars at the top of the cage. So they are very interested in everything.

Facial expressions - Depending on how well the mouse is taken to the owner they have many facial expresions, I have a mouse that smiles at you when you first wake up in the morning, she also has a sad face, a frightened face and even an inquisitive face. Can get pictures of the different face types if needed

Body postures - When a mouse is relaxed it will start cleaning itself, Frightened it will start banging its tail on the side of its cage while being as still as possible, and when it is wide awake and looking for trouble it will stand on its to back paws and look around for some where it can cause trouble.

Vocal and olfactory signals (isn't this sniffing? lol) - Yes mice do do a lot of sniffing of each other, but they also squeak when the dominant one is putting a naughty mouse back in line, also squeaking can happen when they are fighting over a bit of food. There is also a little squeaking sound or tuttering as I put it, when they are happy, you can normally hear this if you put the mouse to your ear.

Interaction with other animals - Well I recently had Callie my mouse get out and get into a gerbil cage, and I found them sleeping together they also play and eat together. When the cats are around mine are always at the bars sniffing the cats. Even the rabbits get checked out when they come by the cage.

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a mouse and a gerbil?! I had my mice out on the bed recently when my brother chucked in one of my gerbils - it literally went in to kill mode and went after one of the mice. luckily she wasn't too shaken up and was back to normal in about 10 minutes but if i hadn't grabbed the gerbil it definitely would have killed her.

I was shocked as well as every one else as I had a gerbil kill a mouse before, but no these pair are happy together, though I do keep a very close eye on them for any sign of aggression but the gerbil is only 6 weeks old, and the mouse is 1 yr old so the mouse might just be mothering it. I got pictures somewhere will find them out.

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Thanks guys! Blobbed ya all there are no specific questions really, just the ones I asked, it would have been easier if we could have observed a dog - more things to write about then lol.

Got some help from your answers though so thank you very much! xx

__________________

*~* Tracy *~*
Mum too:
1 Guinea Pig - Bracken.
2 Budgies - Harley and Jerry.
Pond full of Fish.

You are welcome!!

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