Two or More Pet Mice – Can They Live Together?

Pet mice are very social animals and like living in groups. If you want to keep two or more mice together, you should consider a few things such as gender, enclosure size, and feeding. Usually, male mice won’t go well together because they tend to be more aggressive.

Keeping adult mice together should be carefully considered, and you should know what mice you can keep together.

Additionally, you’ll have to provide enough space and some form of entertainment, especially for the baby mice.

What you also need to know is that adult males are not the best to keep around baby mice. That’s because they won’t be able to take proper care of the babies, and you will have to do it all if you want to have them together.

Here’s what you need to know if you want to keep more mice together.

Keeping Two or More Mice Together – 5 Things to Consider

These are just some of the things you need to consider when you want to keep two or more mice together.

1. Don’t Keep Two Males Together

As with many other species, male mice can fight a lot and can become territorial. You don’t want to see that sort of aggression in your tank, especially if there are smaller mice and babies around. Adult males are more prone to aggression and can be territorial.

Some males might struggle to survive this aggression. Also, there comes the problem of having enough food for each and every adult mouse. As they are territorial and aggressive, they will deny each other food, and might start to fight over food as well as over territory.

These are just some of the things you need to know about keeping two male mice together. Ideally, they should be kept separately.

2. Don’t Keep Males with Baby Mice

Males won’t be able to take care of the babies, and they just don’t have the same capacity as female mice do. If there is no mother of the babies, it might have to be you that takes care of the babies.

So you might see the health of your babies deteriorate and they might even die over time. So that’s why it’s not recommended to keep males with babies. Keep them separately and take care of the babies yourself, even if it takes some more work.

Ideally, the babies will be with their mothers, although that’s not always possible. If it is though, make sure they are together.

3. Give Them Enough Space

In any case, if you decide to own two or several mice that will live together, you should make sure they have enough space.

Firstly, especially males will become territorial and might start to chase the females and babies around. Secondly, males might start to fight and deny each other space and food.

That’s where the problem arises – the mice will get stressed, won’t get enough food, and just won’t be as healthy as they would be if they had enough space.

Make sure they do, and also make sure they live in decent conditions.

Choose a good mouse cage, that is big enough, and all your mice will feel comfortable and will have the ability to hide if stressed.

4. Give Them Various Toys

Mice also like to be entertained. Sure, they’ll keep themselves busy by riding a wheel or something like that, but that’s only for a limited time. Make sure they have various toys in their habitat that can keep them busy.

You might not believe it, but even mice can become depressed if they don’t have enough stimuli. That’s where toys can be useful. And that’s especially the case if you have baby mice. These also need special attention and care, and you can make it easier for them with toys.

5. Feed Them Enough

Lastly, another consideration to keep in mind is that you should feed them enough and often enough. This ensures that all the mice will get enough food, even if there are several males together or if there are baby mice in the tank.

Feeding them enough makes sure that everyone gets enough food to survive. If you notice that some of the rats don’t get enough food, put special focus on them and make sure they get enough food. Alternatively, consider getting a separate tank or put them in a separate habitat.

Do Male Mice Kill Each Other?

While it is more common to see this with rats, it can still occur with male mice. If the two male mice have been raised together for several months or even years, then it’s highly unlikely that this will happen.

But if you introduce two male mice together too quickly, then you will start to see aggression which can even result in the death of one or both males. Make sure they are introduced slowly, or not at all.

How do You Stop Male Mice from Fighting?

You can test for a few days to see if the males will get along with each other. If you notice that they start to fight and become aggressive, then you should keep them separate from each other.

Make sure they are not fighting and consider separate containers if you notice fighting.

Can Male and Female Mice Live Together Peacefully?

Yes, male and female mice can live together, however, you should only keep them in the same enclosure if you want to breed them. After mating, you should separate them, because males can get aggressive not only towards other males but also with females, and especially baby mice.

Conclusion

Keeping two mice together can be done easily, but you’ll need to place special care when you do that. It might result in fights, aggression, and untimely death if you do it wrong. If you do it right, it can be a very satisfying experience.