I enjoy watching the reptiles and small mammals at our local pet store. I particularly like to watch the mice who seem to spend equal amounts of time eating, sleeping and ‘playing’. I say playing because that’s how it looks to me.
In the clear plastic mouse tank is a standard, run-of-mill mouse exercise wheel. Invariably there will be a mouse who jumps on the wheel and starts running on it, sometimes at a frantic pace, for a minute or two, only to then stop the wheel and nonchalantly wander off to eat or sleep.
It’s tempting to anthropomorphize and say the mice enjoy the exercise they get from being on the wheel, but since exercise wheels are not something they would normally see in the wild there has to be a reason why they use it.
Is this a natural behavior for mice, and if it is, what in nature mimics an exercise wheel? If there was something else stimulating to do in their cage would they no longer use the exercise wheel?
The don’t have wheels in nature, but they do run a lot. It’s instinct, since they need to run to escape predators, and the exercise keeps them fit. The wheel gives them the opportunity to run, since their cage is too small for it.
i once got on a treadmill and it was so unnatural. i really couldn’t run vigorously. i then put on a tape of dogs running and barking and i was able to pick up the pace.
Maybe the rodents who use the wheel are doing some sort of dominance display? They get in, deny other mice access, make some noise, then saunter off. Even if they’re alone, they may feel the need to cause some noise, or may even be displaying to their owner? That seems likely to me – notice how the wheels aren’t particularly silent. Maybe its just for cheaper construction, but maybe the noise is needed to encourage mice to run in them?
Hamsters in the wild can run several miles a night, and I assume mice are similar. It’s a central part of their behavioral toolkit. By staying on the move, they avoid predators and find more seeds to stuff in their cheek pouches. Running in a wheel serves the same purpose for a hamster that chasing a tennis ball does for a dog – it’s a way to scratch a particular behavioral itch.
I used to have pet mice, and rats. Occasionally, one would escape his/her cage. If my efforts to recapture them are any indication, their preferred speed is “as quick as I can possibly go”, until they find a place to hide.
As an aside, dolphinboy, they are fun to watch- are you considering getting one as a pet?
I think it’s just their natural preference to run.
When I used to raise mice (to feed to my snake), they would all scatter when I went into the cage. Most would find cover somewhere. Inevitably, at least one would jump on the treadmill and start running like mad. I don’t think they really grasped the fact that they weren’t getting away.
I read a paper a couple years back that suggested that wheel running behavior became neurotic in caged mice and actually increased stress levels, rather than reducing them as it is generally thought to do. Having trouble finding it now.