Questions about my 3 mice...

Question
Hi Natasha, thank you for taking the time to answer this question.
I have 3 female pet mice, an older one (named Jerry), and two younger ones (Joey and Junior). I recently decided to put them all together in one 10-gallon tank. They seem to be getting along greatly! They love to groom each other. But sometimes,when the younger ones are being groomed by Jerry, they squeal. Is that something I should be worried about? Jerry loves it when the younger ones groom her. It's very adorable to watch (:
Also, there is one wheel inside their tank. Junior doesn't go on it much. Is it okay to have 2 mice share one wheel, or do they each need their own? I've also realized that they poop and pee on the wheel A LOT! The smell is horrible, and it leaves me having to clean the wheel everyday to keep the smell away. Is their any way I can keep them from pooping and peeing in the wheel?
So basically, my questions are...
-Is it normal for my younger mice to squeal when being groomed by Jerry(the older mouse) ?
-Is it okay for 2 or 3 mice to play on the same wheel?
-How can I prevent my mice from pooping/peeing on the wheel?
Thank you very much!
Lily

Answer
Hi Lily,

1. Yes it is normal for submissive mice to squeak when they are being "power-groomed" by the more dominant mouse.

2. I like two wheels per cage if there are three runners, but if Junior doesn't care, one is fine. You can't fit another wheel in such a small cage anyway. Ten gallons is very, very small. Can you get them a bigger cage?

3. You can't. They love to pee on plastic because... it smells so very mousie! Oh that lovely pee bouquet, that eau d'mouse! But peeing on the plastic means they aren't peeing in the rest of the cage-- which means, all you have to do is rinse the wheel once a day and you can clean the cage half as often as if they did all their peeing in the corners.


Have fun!

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha