Meet Mouse/Maus - Page 2

ShanRICK · 12-18-2015, 03:14 PM

Update: so she just came up to drink some water and had a little nibble on some food which I'm glad about. She just went back to her burrow after. For some reason when she is out she doesn't seem too phased if I'm there. My friend was there quietly talking to me but she didn't seem too nervous. I'm glad it seems like she's settling in and doesn't seem too scared by my presence or my voice. She was probably just resting most of the day and I'm sure she'll come out again later. I've just left her alone in my room in the dark now.

ShanRICK · 12-21-2015, 05:53 AM

So Mouse/Maus has basically continued to do what she's been doing on my last post. During the night I've been hearing her exploring and nibbling on her good and drinking water, and just sleeping in her burrow during the day. When I have been watching her eating she just continues and doesn't seem overly bothered that I'm there. I haven't been home much during the weekend, but my dad has been looking after and has heard her scuttling about. I think she's been eating more because I can notice a small difference in the quantity of food in the bowl.

I was just wondering when I should start the taming sessions. Today is the 5th day I've had her. So would I be able to start soon? Also I'm thinking of moving her to a seperate container to do this so she doesn't immediately hide. How big should the container be?

cypher · 12-21-2015, 07:14 AM

She seems to be settling in well then

It's still early days but if she's comfortable with you around try introducing your hand into her cage & see how she reacts, talk to her first so you don't startle her & try to approach from the side as much as possible, just keep your hand still at first, maybe put a little treat on there & see if she'll come & take it, may need a few tries to get there.
I'd just do that for a few days before taking her to a taming bin unless you have no success at all in the cage in which case she may do better in the bin, I'd would try to use something similar in size to her cage/bin if you have it & put a wheel & maybe a couple of toys from the cage with some substrate again from the cage so it's all at least a bit familiar.
If the taming bin is too small they can just feel very trapped but if it's too big it can be scary & they just try to race around the edges looking to escape if they can't hide anywhere so you may need to experiment a little to see what works best for little Mouse.

ShanRICK · 12-21-2015, 01:40 PM

Thank you cypher! I'll try to that if I see her come out. She spends most of her time in her burrow but I'm hoping she'll come out later tonight.
I also hear a tapping sound from the bin cage a lot. It almost sounds like a woodpecker! My friend suggestion this is because she's at the bottom of the bin cage and is digging at the plastic. If so I think next time maybe I should add more substrate. I've got about 6" right now.
Also it's hard to figure out what food to try taming her with. It looks like she's picking out the tiny seeds from the burgess mix and leaving the larger pieces. I tried breaking them up to see if she will go for them. As for treats I can't really tell what she's been eating. She's probabaly had nibbles of things here and there. I've also put a small piece of brocolli in her food bowl so I'll see if she goes for that.

Edit:
Is it worth me buying a red lightbulb for my lamp? I heard red light doesn't disturb them much. I'm wondering if she's more likely to come out under the red light. Even though she's come out when the lights are dim, she seems most active when it's pitch black.

cypher · 12-21-2015, 10:52 PM

Has she had any mealworms yet? Being quite smelly they make a good treat to hand feed, the hams definitely know they are there!
Otherwise I would just try offering things like sunflower seeds or maybe pumpkin seeds, the teeniest piece of cheese might just prove impossible to resist too.

It's true they can't see red light so you might find it helpful to use a red bulb.

ShanRICK · 12-22-2015, 03:25 AM

Not yet, even though there's some already in her burgess mix she hasn't touched them. I tried breaking them into pieces to see if she'll eat them now. She definitely likes sunflower seeds though! She picked them out of her food straight away.

Yesterday I just tried placing a bit of broccoli in my hand because I didn't know what to use. When I put my hand in the cage she seemed a little nervous, but just went back to rummaging in her sand bath and cleaning pretty quickly. Unfortunately she was on the lower level of substrate (I've sort of sectioned off an area with bendy bridges that lead to the sand area) but there wasn't room to put my hand there so I had to put it on the higher section. I did accidentally drop the broccoli down the slope and she reached out the sand bath bowl so have a little nibble. After I tried moving my hand to the lower section of substrate but she still just watched me then carried on cleaning.

I'm glad at least she didn't seem too scared. I'm hoping if I continue doing this she'll eventually come over. Next time I'll try it with a sunflower seed and see what happens.

cypher · 12-22-2015, 06:19 AM

That sounds like success to me, it's not often they don't run away or at least back off when you first begin to introduce your hand, she sounds very laid back!
If you carry on as you are I'm sure she'll be approaching to investigate the treat soon enough.

Penguin · 12-23-2015, 12:30 AM

Sounds like a success to me too! If you find that she won't take anything from your hand try offering her something through the bars. This worked wonders with my mum's robo and he really gained trust after that (: she sounds wonderful and I can't wait to see her!
Robos are the cutest but too fast and cautious for me, so it's great that I can stalk the ones on here lol

velma · 12-23-2015, 12:40 AM

Sounds like you're doing great together

Hector, my robo, will do anything for a sunflower seed

ShanRICK · 12-23-2015, 05:03 PM

I'm very excited! Mouse/Maus (still not final on the spelling lol but I'm leaning towards Mouse) ate some broccoli from my hand!

well I held out a little piece to her and she came and had a nibble.

So when I came home she was quietly sitting in her sand section behind her wheel. She seems to come out around 10pm onwards and also seems to spend most of the time in the sand area. Since she was behind the wheel I tried to move it so there was space but I accidentally scared her and she climbed out of the sand area and ran and hid in her house. I tried holding a sunflower seed out to tempt her out. After a couple of mins I could hear rummaging of her slowly moving forward. After 5-10 mins my arm started to hurt so I dropped the seed and went to get a fresh piece of broccoli. When I held this out it instantly got her attention. After about 2 mins of slowly creeping forward she came and had a little nibble. After she walked around near my hand and went back into her burrow.

I'm very pleased I got her to come over in only the 2nd attempt! Today (23rd) is a week since I've had her aswell. From now on I think I'll try taming her with bits of broccoli and hopefully she will get braver and braver each day. :3