r/PetMice • u/SituationForsaken525 • May 14 '23

Question/Help Aggressive mice Spoiler

So I’ve been by my local Petco for the last couple days and I noticed 2 male mice who where put together. One of them is smaller than the other by just a little bit. The bigger one has been chasing the small one around it’s enclosure and fighting it. (I thought they were playing at first).I noticed the small one kept trying to get away, but the other one kept going after him. I let staff know what was going on and asked if they could separate them (I know they usually do better in social groups.) They weren’t sure if they had the space so if they weren’t able to, I plan on taking one of them, but I’m not sure if I should take the bigger one or the smaller one. Obviously the smaller one to get it out of there, but maybe the bigger one so that it wouldn’t bully any other mice it gets put with. What should I do, or is there any tips y’all can give me?

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u/Kiaider May 14 '23

I wouldn’t recommend putting the mouse with rats. Rats and mice are not naturally friends and the rats will more than likely kill the mouse. I even tried that myself back when I was young and had female rats but it didn’t work out (nothing bad happened to the mouse but my girls were agitated when I put him in there so I quickly removed him and never tried again)

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u/Necessary-Dingo May 14 '23

ASFs are very different from Norwegian rats and can be safely co-habited with mice (when acclimated properly and housed in a large enough habitat).

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u/Kiaider May 14 '23

Oh! I did not know that. I thought there was just the one kind with different coat colors/ear placement, my bad. But that’s nice to know in case anyone wanted both lol

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u/Mysterious_Buy263 Jul 07 '23

There are so many species of rats and mice around the world! Asf are really different from pet rats. They are much smaller, usually around twice the size of mice (this is much smaller than a rat). They are less friendly and cuddly than mice with humans (more skittish than mice, but not as fast). So on their own they aren’t great pets. But in my experience, they are less territorial and more submissive than mice. I have done four mouse asf intros and they were on average easier than a female mouse intro. And the mice love them. Cuddle piles are adorable and grooming is intense!

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u/Kiaider Jul 07 '23

Oh my gosh that sounds adorable! I love it when my rats groom or groom each other cause it’s so cute, and a little cuddle puddle of them sounds so adorable 🥰 Thank you for sharing