training/taming my mice

aloha,

My 5 male mice live in a 10 gallon house together, going on over one year
just about now since I split the litter.

I haven't played with the mice too much, and I'm wondering if it's too late
to make them a bit more comfortable with me. If I put my hand on the outside
of the house, or put my face up to it, they'll come up and push up on the
wall, looking curious. If I put my hand on the top of the lid (say to put in
more food), they tend to scurry for cover at the intrusion.

I'd like to be able to play with the mice a bit, but at this point I'm
concerned if I take them out and let them roam around on the bed or
something they would jump/run/hide/etc.

Any advice on taming the mice to be more comfortable with me? The obvious
seems like I should just pick them up and hold them often, but with five
mice it seems like alot of work and very time consuming.

Any advice on the area would be appreciated!!

Brian wrote:
> Any advice on taming the mice to be more comfortable with me? The obvious
> seems like I should just pick them up and hold them often, but with five
> mice it seems like alot of work and very time consuming.

My strategy is to remove all food from the cage (but leave water). Be
around to hand feed them a couple of times a day. Use something
particularly smelly/tasty like cheese.

Start with food in a bottle cap you are holding. When they are ok with
that, hold the food in your fingers. Then lay it on your palm. Small
steps and lots of patience is the key. But ultimately if you are the
sole source of food, you will win.

I've never tamed more than one mouse at a time, so I don't know how the
group dynamics will work. Make sure that the scared little mouse in
the corner actually gets a turn to eat.

The only word of caution is to gently curl your fingers out of the way
if they start sniffing your fingernails. My current mouse had trouble
recognising that fingernails were part of me and were not something to
be chomped on. Small teeth under the fingernails can be rather painful.