3 replies to this topic

[Chel the ham ham]

(Sorry about posting so much about my mice, I just have so many questions!) I have two female mice, both are pretty friendly, and will crawl into my hands and up my arms. They also take food out of my hand. They know I have the food, so whenever I walk in, they run to the top of the cage for treats. It’s adorable. However, they are very nibbley, and I freaks me out. I wear winter gloves whenever I handle them. When I first got them, I didn’t even touch them for a month, because every time I stuck my hand near them they would bite me, sometimes pretty hard. For tfwt month I took them out of their cage with a toilet roll. It set us back in the bonding process because when I would work up the courage to put my hand near them again, They would bite, I would jerk my hand away, and then I freaked us both out.

I got them to stop biting the glove by wiggling my finger that they bit and saying no firmly. It worked. They don’t bite the glove anymore. Is this a good method for barehanded taming? And any advice on how to get over this fear?

[Sparrow]

For this reason alone, it is not recommend to hand feed mice any treats. This taming method encourages them to bite - it's extremely common for many people who chose to tame through feeding treats.

What you need to do is step back for about a week without hand feeding of any sort. Provide food through a spoon only until any kind of association of your hand with the food is gone.

You might have gotten lucky with the fact that they are used to the glove, and not your hand.

Next place your mice in a different container. Even a deep cardboard box will do. This is your taming box from now on. Place your hand into this box and let them investigate it. Remember, no treats! It you are worried about them nipping, hold your bare hand in the taming box in a closed fist, that way they can't really bite. Don't move your hand until a few days have passed. Then you can start to open it up and gently move it from side to side. No rapid movements not to frighten them.

You need to show them that your hand is not a source of food and having them removed from their cage to build new associations is your best course of action.

Do this for 10 minutes every day until you feel comfortable with them walking onto your open hand. If you want to reward with treats, do so using a spoon only.

Always wash your hands before handling.

Mice are very clever, they will learn quite quickly that your hand is not a source of food. Your hand is also not the glove, the texture and smell of it is very different to your hand so breathing the link between your hand and food should be relatively easy to achieve.

Best of Luck!

[Chel the ham ham]

I didn’t know about the not hand feeding thing. That makes so much sense tho. I went from a hamster taming video so it was probably not correct for mice. I have a fairly large mouse proof playpen that they play in sometimes, will this work for a taming box, or is it too big? Also thank you for your help!

[Sparrow]

I didn’t know about the not hand feeding thing. That makes so much sense tho. I went from a hamster taming video so it was probably not correct for mice. I have a fairly large mouse proof playpen that they play in sometimes, will this work for a taming box, or is it too big? Also thank you for your help!

When I first started keeping mice, i was genuinely shocked at how different they are to hamsters. I basically had to chuck out everything I learned about hamsters and start from scratch with mice - it was so worth it though!

A playpen might be a bit too big to use as a taming box. You want something the size of a crittertail cage - even an Amazon box would do! Have about an inch of bedding and a wheel in it, the mice will get comfortable and curious of your hand when they see that you are not a threat.

This method usually takes about two weeks to tame mice - the only exception was a half wild mouse and she took about a month to tame. You can do it whenever you have time, as many times throughout the day as you wish, so long as you do it at least once a day.

You will notice yourself when the mice become ready to be picked up or happy to just chill on your hand. They will start to trust you and treat you like their friend and companion.