# New mice on the way...



## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

I am so excited! I moved from home two months ago and could only bring a few of my animals with me at the time (you can see the four I chose in my sig). But that's all over as I have finally purchased a tank big enough for them, and now I have arranged to have the rest of my mice brought here (my sister and brother are coming to visit and are bringing them).

So I'm about to get 12 more mice, I can't wait! Here are some pics from home:










That's Aega on the left and Strudel on the right. They are younger mice, about two and a half months old, and half-sisters...










This mouse is Marzipan, Strudel's little sister. She is a devil and I think I miss her the most...










And that's Petal clinging to the back of the wheel, while Aega looks on below. Petal is Aega's litter sister.

I can't wait for them to arrive, they should be here day after tomorrow. I will post pics of them as soon as they are settled. It's going to be so great having all 15 mice back together again...


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## Daisy2006 (Nov 25, 2008)

Very cute mice! Love all the spots.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Thank-you. 

I am very fond of mice with Broken coats...


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## Tasha (Sep 23, 2008)

Neza said:


> Thank-you.
> 
> I am very found of mice with Broken coats...


oh lovely now I have a mouse (terrified of them) and a lab named after me!!!:lol:


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Well, my Agouti is close to a year old now and chose that name in September, so you would be the one that copied my Tasha.


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## Guest (Nov 28, 2008)

Lovely pics....,very cute


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Thanks, *FREE SPIRIT*! 

The 12 mice should be arriving at lunch time, I am very excited. I will take pics and post them.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

My 12 mice have arrived! I spent this morning getting their new tank ready. Here it is before I prepared it for them:










And here it is after:










It's a big aquarium, 4 feet long and more then a foot wide. A dozen mice should be happy in there. 

I put the 12 mice in and they instantly set off in all directions to check out their new abode. Here is a few of them for you to meet, I will take more pics later when I have a chance.










Above is one of my favorites, a Broken beige doe named Pixie. She took a long time to tame, but now she likes me. She had a twin sister but she is long gone now...

Here are two more:










The yellow one is Saffron, an energetic mouse I am still working to tame. And the other is a Black Self I raised from a pup, her name is Dhalia. Many of my mice are related, I have bred some, and others came from litters I rescued.

More pictures soon!


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## guineapigqueen (Jan 12, 2008)

I used to keep Hairless and Siamese a few years ago but never again, the bucks are like mini ferrets, they stink! I think I'll stick with my Guineas!

Emma x


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

they are stunning!

Can yuo relly have 12 in one tank!! :O:shocked:


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

guineapigqueen said:


> I used to keep Hairless and Siamese a few years ago but never again, the bucks are like mini ferrets, they stink! I think I'll stick with my Guineas!


Well, I currently only have does, no bucks, so smell isn't a problem. But there are two bucks at home and I have gotten used to the smell. You only smell it when you pick them up anyway, if you have proper ventilation.



u-look-like-a-hamster said:


> they are stunning!
> 
> Can yuo relly have 12 in one tank!! :O:shocked:


Thank-you! I think they are beautiful too. 

The tank can house 12, yes. There is a tank a little smaller then in, not as tall, back home, and they lived comfortably in there. In fact, I am hoping to put more in there soon. The tank is 4' 1" long and 1' 1" wide, so that's nearly four and a half square feet, lots of run around room. Plus I make the substrate deep for burrowing, as well as lots of large houses to climb on...


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

im only planning on having 2 mice :O lol 

xx


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Two mice are fine together if they are girls. I keep three in a 30 gallon tank, they are very happy.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Well, when I came in to my new mouse room this morning I found some of the members of my big tank out and about, enjoying their new home...










Three were playing on the gravity wheel as you can see. It was a pitch battle to see who would be the master of it. The mouse on the wheel is named Strudel, she is a kind of mouse called a Skewbald. I bred her myself.

Here is Dhalia, the Black Self I showed you yesterday. She is cleaning the head of her sister Vala, a Broken Black doe...










And here is Vala getting her head cleaned by another mouse, Arcee, a Red-Eyed White who I took in as a rescue:










Vala likes to look her best and her friends are eager to help preen her. 

A familiar face came out to say hello, it's Pixie...










That's all I saw this morning. Hopefully other mice will be out later today or tomorrow. I will take more pics...


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## You_Rock (Oct 12, 2008)

Neza were you once a member of petshub under the name Area52 ( if i remember rightly ) just some of the mice look familiar to the ones on there.

If your not the same person then your mice are really cute.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Vala and Arcee were sitting on top of their purple sleeping hutch when I came into check on them this morning...










Vala soon left to check out the new food I put in their bowl, leaving Arcee behind...










The little REW is still a bit jumpy due to her two hour trip to get here, but after a minute she gave in and followed Vala to the bowl for some breakfast.

On the other side of the tank, three other girls were lounging atop the red house there...










The white one with the brown spots is Misty, a rescue from a mouse mill I got more then a year ago. The brown one is Priscilla, an Agouti. And the one in the back you know, it's my Black Self, Dhalia...

And look, Pixie came out, looking to be picked up:










Pixie is such a friendly little thing...


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## Amy C (Nov 27, 2008)

Your mice are so sweet! I was under the impression that mice fought unless they were from the same litter? I would love a massive tank with lots of mice in...hopefully one day I shall be able to! For now I've just got the two.


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## StolenkissGerbils (Aug 8, 2008)

I'm delighted for you that you got all your micies back  They're just lovely girlies!


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Thank-you, *StolenkissGerbils*. I missed having them and now that they are back for good I'm very happy. 

You can have a group of mixed females living in the same tank, *Amy C*, even if they are not all related. You just have to be careful doing the introductions. Not everybody fits in, which is why I have a second smaller tank with three mice. They didn't work out in my giant tank, but they are fine with each other. Of course, all three are related, which helps. Zala is Brin's mom, and Tasha is their cousin...


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## Daisy2006 (Nov 25, 2008)

OMG! They are so cute!


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Thanks.


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

They are little Cuties!!

whos ur fave?


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

I try not to play favorites, though I really like Brin and Pixie. They are so friendly.


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

aww 


everbody seems to love jeffrie because he is a nice colour and is freindly 

I think they are all lovely in their own way


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Yeah, I think they are too.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

When I came into the mouse room today I found a bunch of my mice all piled together on top of one of their houses, take a look:










It was a little chilly in the room so they were piling together for a nap, though I don't know why they didn't do it inside the house, instead of on top. They just all like each other a lot, which is nice.

Two of the other mice, Vala and Dhalia, were preening each other. They are good friends...










Vala is the Broken Black is Vala, and the the Black Self cleaning her head is her sister. Both of them are more then a year old and are quite happy and healthy. They are senior members of a large bloodline that fills a good portion of this tank. The rest of the girls in the big tank are rescued mice...

By the way, I have a new arrival I'd like to show you, it's Vala's son, here he is:










His name is Odin and he has fathered some of the girls now living in the big tank, like Marzipan and Strudel. Odin lives in a seperate cage and is very friendly as you can see. My sister came into the city again and brought him with her, wasn't that nice of her...


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## You_Rock (Oct 12, 2008)

You mice are really nice looking


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

A new addition has arrived! A friend of mine who also breeds mice let me have a doe from a recent litter. She is related to my mice, being a direct descendant of one of my bucks back home. Here she is:










What a pretty Broken Black. Here is her dad:










She is a bit jumpy but that's probably due to the change of local. My friend assures me that she is friendly, thanks to her being hand-raised. I have been given the honor of naming her and have called her Calypso...










For now, Calypso will remain in isolation, but soon she will enter my big tank and meet her new friends...










And Calypso should like it in there, as one of the younger mice is her half-sister Marzipan.


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## MrsNik (Dec 5, 2007)

They are stunning!! I miss my mice  I always dreamt of getting a Freddy Two cage for my mice and having ropes and toys and hammocks and beds everywhere.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

I bet mice would love that, lots of things to do. Mine love ropes.


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## StolenkissGerbils (Aug 8, 2008)

You have such sweet micies 

When you introduce a newbie, do you do a split cage intro? I'm not familiar with keeping pet mice, only gerbils. For gerbs you'd need to do a split cage.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Yeah, when I kept gerbils I would do the same thing too. With mice I have different methods, because mice have different personalities. It all depends if your tank of females has an alpha mouse, a girl that's clearly in charge. If you keep 3 or more mice in a tank together, usually one becomes the leader, and she sometimes will be resistant to newcomers, stalking and attacking them relentlessly, for days if not forever, if you allow her to. And she can have what I call hench mice, who will follow her orders and attack for her. Mice are a lot more complex then most people realize.

Anyway, to prevent this I don't put a new mouse in a tank until the day I clean it, and while I am cleaning it I put the tank's mice in another tank, neutral ground, and add the new mouse or mice in with them, then let them play for an hour. Then I put them all back together in the home tank.

Now, sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't, it really depends on how headstrong the alpha mouse and her henches are. If it doesn't work and they start attacking the newbie, then I take out the attackers and keep them in a seperate tank for 3-4 days, then introduce them one by one back into the tank. See, by this time the new mouse smells like the rest and the home tank, so the fighting usually ends.

Usually. But, sometimes it won't. I have mice that will not tolerate new mice, and I keep them in a seperate tank I call the Bully tank. The three mice in my signature are all bullies. They are great with each other and delightful to pick up and pet, but they will attack any other mice on site. 

My sister back home keeps another tank of three bully mice, they are all older and get along, but they are devils. One of them, Nova, holy cow, she is a killer...


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

The giant tank gang were out in force when I came in this morning. When I put new food in they all rushed to the dish, take a look:










That's senior mom Vala on the left, and the Broken Black already in the dish is Petal, her granddaughter. The Yellow Self is Saffron, she's a real spitfire...










As you can see, they all got comfortable and started chowing down. These guys are always first to the dish in the morning, they want to get their favorites from the mix before they are all gone. That older mouse above Vala is Oreo, our second oldest mouse. She's approaching two years now...










Oreo wasn't there long, and that is Kinko who took her place in the bowl. Kinko delights in stealing half-chewed food from her tankmates. She will even challenge Vala, which is a dangerous thing to do, Vala is tough as nails...










Vala may look a bit grizzled, but she's very sweet and an important part of the haven...


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

I added a new mouse to one of my tanks, her name Calypso, here she is:










Caly was very excited to be in her new home and bounded back-and-forth across the tank, checking everything out. She really liked the gravity wheel...










But it wasn't long before one of the residents came out to see what all the scrambling was about. It was Marzipan, Calypso's half-sister (they share a father).

Marzipan was very curious about this newcomer...










Calypso was very submissive and let Marzipan sniff her all over. Things were looking good, then Marzi SPRANG at poor Caly. I caught her taking off:










But she didn't hurt her, Marzipan was just dominating Calypso, it's how it works. We're still keeping an eye on the situation, just to make sure everything proceeds as smoothly as possible...


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

wow thats an awsome last picture!!


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Yeah, that was a lucky shot. Wish I could have caught her in mid-air, but still, that's pretty cool.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

The morning gang were waiting for me when I came in, and as usual they charged the food dish for their favorites...










Kinko, the tank's resident pickpocket, stole a choice sunflower seed from Saffron and raced away. She went to the gravity wheel and began stripping her prize...










But somebody tried to steal it from her, so she retreated to the far side of the tank to finish her snack...










Who was this bold thief? It was one of Vala's other granddaughters, an energetic little brown and white mouse named Strudel. Here she is:










Strudel is a new arrival in the giant tank. She used to be in with our younger mice but she started bullying them on a regular basis, so now she's in with the adults. I just love that marking on her forehead...


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Things are proceeding well for new doe Calypso in the new tank I prepared for her to live in with some other younger mice. She is out-and-about on a regular basis, we see her constantly. She certainly loves to run on the wheel...










Caly can go for nealy an hour straight, and only gets off when she gets too dizzy...










Or to get a drink of water to keep up her strength. She is a very healthy mouse, a credit to my friend who raised her right...










Calypso is still struggling to fit in, as the other mice in the tank are still a bit wary of her, like Trudy here:










Trudy is a Grey Pearl, she and her sister Trudy live in the tank with Calypso, along with three other mice. There is no actual fighting, but there has been some territorial issues. Like Trudy thinks the food bowl is her personal property.

Calypso disagrees.


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

aww ..................


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Yeah, Caly is sweet.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

When I came in last night I found lots of mice having a good time in the giant tank. Resident thieves Strudel and Kinko were pal'ing it up on one of the gravity wheels...










Those two are best of friends lately, they are always out together. Things were more edgy on the green mesh wheel. Oreo was occupying it, not using it, just sitting on it and snacking, which annoyed poor Prima who wanted to have a run...










So she chased the older mouse off it, then took over...










Lookit Prima, she is warning me to stay off the wheel too, it's her property now. 

And one of our favorites was under the wheel, having some supper:










That's Pixie, a fawn colored doe with pretty ruby eyes. She was very hard to tame, it took nearly a year, but now she enjoys being picked up daily...


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

beautiful colours 

oh i reli want some mice now!!


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

They are hard to resist, yep.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

My messiest mouse by far is a doe named Maple. Here's the little slob:










Isn't she a cute brown and white Skewbald? Don't let her sweetness fool you, she loves kicking food out of the dish. That mess she is standing in is her own, she does it constantly. And when I say she kicks, she really kicks, it can go flying across the tank, banging against the glass and rattling down on the hutches. She has been known to wake up other mice. 










It's a good thing a lot of the other giant tank mice like to scavenge, or else the food she tosses out would go to waste. Maple has been with us a long while and she has had a litter of pups. We still have one of them, her daughter Razzle.:










The reason we kept Razzle is because unlike the rest of her siblings, Razzle does not like being handled. It's an odd thing, sometimes no matter how careful you are hand-raising a litter, one of the pups still won't like humans.

We like Razzle though, even though we hardly ever see her. She spends most of her time in hiding, we really only see her during tank cleanings. But she is happy and healthy, and that's what's important.

Her mom Maple sure loves being handled though...










Maple loves to climb and explore, she is a pleasant mouse and I look forward to seeing her each morning.


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## Neza (Nov 21, 2008)

Things are going great with our new mouse Calypso. She has gotten over her shyness and will now allow herself to be picked up...










Caly has to sniff the hand carefully first, checking each finger seperately, but once satisfied that I smell okay she will carefully climb aboard...










She really has been growing a lot lately, she has been gaining weight and length, I'm hoping she will get as big as her daddy, as her mom was a little smaller then him. Only time will tell...










What's important right now is for me to foster a good relationship with Calypso, as down the road I hope to breed her in order to continue our Pinto line...










If she doesn't fear me, and openly enjoys my presence, then that will give her future pups a much better chance of survival. A nervous mouse can be a poor mother, but it's looking like Calypso will be fine.


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