How to Teach a Pet Mouse Tricks

People love to show off the tricks their pets can do and pet mice owners are no exception. Training a pet mouse takes a lot of patience but pet mice can learn tricks in about 2 weeks. Anyone with a willing attitude can train a pet mouse to have good manners and perform several funny tricks.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Train a Pet Mouse

1. Help your pet mouse get comfortable with you by feeding him a small piece of food by hand each day. Cheerios or similar grain-based cereals work well for this.

2. Give your pet mouse treats to reward good behavior and get the mouse to learn new tricks.

3. Be consistent! Train your pet mouse for 30 minutes at a time. Any longer and the mouse will stop paying attention.

4. Use the same word as a command and the same tone of voice every time you teach your pet mouse a trick.

5. Teach the trick in small steps that are easier to learn. Be patient. Mice are smart and your pet mouse should learn quickly.

Teach a Pet Mouse to Stand Up and Beg

1. Hold a small treat in your hand and show it to your pet mouse.

2. Raise the treat slowly in the air.

3. Say a command word like "up" as your pet mouse sits up to reach the treat.

4. Wait until the mouse is fully standing up before saying the command word again as you feed the treat to your pet.

5. Make your pet mouse wait a little longer before you give the treat each time you are training it to stand up. This will teach it to stand and hold the pose when he hears the command "up."

Teach a Pet Mouse to Come When Called by Name

1. Sit by your pet mouse and say its name.

2. Repeat its name several times while giving it a treat.

3. Sit or stand a little farther away from your pet mouse at each training session.

4. Hold the treat and show it to your pet mouse.

5. Say the pet's name while holding the treat.

6. Give the mouse the treat and say its name again when it comes to you and soon you can say your pet mouse's name from across the room and it should come to you.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't let anyone else try to train your pet until he has mastered a new trick. Your mouse may become confused if more than one person attempts to teach him the same trick.

• After your pet mouse learns a trick, you can train it to respond to the sound of a bell or clicking your tongue, especially if you give the treat when you make the sound at the end of the trick.