# Can rats and a mouse live together?



## Indywroe (Jan 16, 2013)

I go to my friends house and she spontaneously bought a mouse which she doesn't want anymore. 
I've offered to take the female mouse but I have 3 male rats. 
So my question... Can a mouse and rats co exist together? 


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## bazmonkey (Nov 8, 2013)

In the same cage? No, not at all.


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## toke (Aug 28, 2012)

I am fairly certain that rats will kill mice if they get the chance. I would never risk it.


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## RexRat (Nov 29, 2013)

I have three mice myself and exactly what everyone else said, no. The rats will most likely kill the mouse.
An important thing is that female mice should never be alone, they are social animals just like rats. Male mice, however are recommended to be alone. A 10 gallon tank will work just fine for a mouse (and no less). Food should have protein under 14% to prevent hotspots, at least a 6.5" wheel and nothing smaller. 

I'd recommend using careFRESH bedding or paper based because mice love to burrow. Lot's of hideouts and cardboard tubes! I'd really recommend adding another female to the group, trios work best but you may need a 20 gallon aquarium for that. There's a great mouse forum, I'm not sure if we can post links to other forums, but if you search mouse cage calculator a website/forum should pop up.

I've found using fleece doesn't work well with my mice & just prefer bedding.


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

The rats will DEFINITELY kill the mouse,,. 


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## alexn (Sep 30, 2012)

Gannyaan said:


> The rats will DEFINITELY kill the mouse,,.
> 
> 
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## Indywroe (Jan 16, 2013)

Oh I really don't want to get another mouse. I just offered to take it because my friend was considering releasing it into the wild! 


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## alexn (Sep 30, 2012)

As rexrat has said, they don't exactly need much space. If you want to rescue it, go for it - it'll be a nice little addition. Just don't ever let it mix with your rats - it's a well documented fact that rats will kill mice.

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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

Indywroe said:


> Oh I really don't want to get another mouse. I just offered to take it because my friend was considering releasing it into the wild!
> 
> 
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Well, you can foster him? Like just keep him until you can find a new home? Honestly, they're reallyyyy cute and you can have them live in adorable living spaces!! I'd keep him just for that reason hehe... 

I LOVE cute things!! Seriously... Like, here....
View attachment 99809
adorable house you can buy at petco! 
View attachment 99817

View attachment 99825
View attachment 99833


Cute homes!!! 

So... Yah...  

I'd take him but I'm in Michigan 


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Perhaps you have read some story somewhere about a rat and mouse living happily together.... so let me explain...

Long ago... we had a litter of mice and a new rat pup. The mice were in fact a bit older and nearly grown... mice grow pretty fast and the rat pup was small... The rat pup was not much bigger than the mice. So my daughter put them all together (which I supervised) in a large Tupperware sweater box. And much to my daughter's disappointment and my relief, they pretty much ignored each other. There wasn't any real aggression from the young rat, but there was certainly no "we are all rodents so lets play" kind of camaraderie and the mice pretty much kept their distance. There was nothing fun about watching a rat and mice not interact. Over the course of the life of that rat she came into contact with mice when my daughter had them out to play with and when we got wild mice into the house and she couldn't care less... My rat actually got mites from the mice by diving into their play bin and stealing their treats then jumping back out, so it wasn't a win by any means.

Now.... don't get confused by this or any other cute story... When I was learning about rats, I tried lots of things that only worked once or only worked with one particular rat... you see different rats have very different personalities. 

Then we had a part wild rat that actually sprinted down my shoulder and bit me when I blocked her effort to viciously kill a white mouse and most likely eat it!!!

I never actually tried to let any mice and rats live together. So, even if you read stories about domestic rats and mice living together, it is possible that a very few are true, but please don't get confused! For the most part wild rats think if mice as FOOD! And I'll bet that that dietary peculiarity may be shared by many if not most domestic rats, especially those that didn't encounter mice as pups.

And BTW an adult rat is fast and it is strong and can probably kill a mouse in one single bite... before you can intervene. So from someone that had a rat the didn't bother with mice and also got his hand punctured when he came between a rat and it's meal... Don't try this one at home unless you are willing to sacrifice the mouse to your experiment. 

All you really need is an old aquarium you can pick up curbside, a wheel, a water bottle, some surplus rat bedding and a screen cover and for about $20.00 total and you have a mouse home... or if you call some friends they might have everything you need in their basement or attic. Or if you adopt the mouse ask for the cage it is already in.

Please take everyone else's advise on this thread regardless of the cute stories you may find elsewhere on line. Putting rats and mice together is a stupid risk that has every likelihood of ending badly. And with how fast rats can kill mice, it's not even worth trying.

Best luck.


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