Pet Mice and Wild Mice – Can They Live Together?

If you’re thinking of keeping a mouse as a pet, then catching a wild mouse might be a tempting choice. But is it safe to add wild mice to the collection of pet mice you already have?

Although they can live together, there are various reasons why you shouldn’t keep them together. Not only can wild mice cause a threat to your pet mice’s health, they will also be slightly more territorial and the mice probably won’t go along well.

In this article, we’ll take a look at whether pet mice and wild mice can live together, and the reasons why keeping them together should not be considered.

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Keep Pet Mice and Wild Mice Together

So why is it that this practice is not encouraged and recommended?

There are several reasons for it. While the wild mice will be capable of domestication and will adapt to the new living conditions, it’s still not the best idea to mix them with your pet mice. Here’s why.

– Wild Mice Can Carry Diseases

One of the perils of keeping wild mice with pet mice is that the wild mice might carry severe diseases that can jump to your pet mice.

You don’t know for sure the condition of the wild mice you want to domesticate, and they can carry various diseases that can even cause death to your pet mice.

In addition, the pet mice are not as resistant to these diseases as the wild mice. So, these diseases that wild mice can carry will pose a serious threat to the pet mice.

This is a big reason why you shouldn’t keep wild mice with pet mice together.

– Wild Mice are More Aggressive

That’s right, not only the pet mice can feel the aggressiveness of the wild mice, but you can as well. As they are not adapted to the home conditions, they will be more aggressive both towards you and towards the mice you already have.

If you don’t want to be the victim of this aggression and you want to protect your pet mice, then it’s probably for the best to avoid keeping them together.

– Wild Mice are Very Territorial

Another big problem. This makes the wild mice a threat to your pet mice, as they will seek more territory and might push out your pet mice. This can even result in aggression between the mice, and in the worst case, death.

You will have to put special attention on your pet mice if you want to have them living together. If you feed them together, that will be a big problem.

The wild mice will possibly eat all of the food that is intended for the pet mice. This is another huge reason as to why not to keep wild mice and pet mice together.

– Adult Mice Won’t Get Along

Your pet mice will suffer greatly, possibly. The wild mice are much more vicious than the pet mice, and as they are not domesticated, they might not get along well together. This can result in aggression, and it can lead to constant fights between them.

In the worst-case scenario, you can even see deaths. You will want to avoid that at any cost, and it can easily be prevented by keeping the mice separate or by preventing keeping the wild mice in your care altogether.

– Field Mice Are Not Used to Cages

If you want to keep the wild mice in cages, you might not have any success at all with that. As they are not used to that, they might hide and shy away from you, which is a natural reaction of a mouse if they see you.

You might want to make them more comfortable by putting some wood shavings into the cage and some milk to go with it.

Can Wild Mice and Fancy Mice Breed?

Wild mice and domesticated mice can breed with each other, and they might have babies. If you want to breed them, you can easily do that, although it might not be the best idea.

First of all, you should vet the wild mice and inspect them for diseases. If you want to prevent that, then just don’t put the wild mice next to your fancy mice.

If you put them together, there is no guarantee that they will not breed.

Can a Wild Mouse Kill a Pet Mouse?

Yes, wild mice and pet mice might start to fight with each other, especially the adult mice. Ultimately, this will result in fights and wounds from that, and in the more severe cases, in death.

Usually, the wild mice will be more ferocious and aggressive, and the pet mice might suffer as a result of it.

It’s another big reason why not to keep the mice together; if you want to protect your pet mice from the wild mice, either keep them separate or don’t keep the wild mice at all.

Can You Keep a Wild/Field Mouse as Pet?

Ultimately, the decision is down to you. You can still decide to keep wild mice as pets, but you shouldn’t keep them next to the pet mice.

For the first few weeks of owning the wild mice, you should keep them in quarantine to get them acclimated. Keep them in a separate space where they will get accustomed to being a pet mouse.

Also, make sure they are properly vetted and disease-free. That is crucial for later on when you’ll want to keep the wild mice with the pet mice.

Conclusion

Keeping wild mice and pet mice together might not be the best thing to do. While you can still keep the wild mice as pets, you should avoid keeping them together with pet mice.

They can hurt each other as they will fight, and the wild mice might carry diseases that can kill the pet mice. Make sure the wild mice are free of any diseases before you decide to keep them together.