Picking up a timid mouse

Question
Hi Natasha!  I'm the girl who messaged you earlier this month about the three male litter mates and how to keep them in a cage together.  I thought I'd give you a small update.

The three as I listed them before all have names now.  The biggest one is Mal, the smallest one is Wash, and the "newwest" one is Jayne.  They all seem to be getting along much better for the most part!

Mal and Jayne (the two who had the most friction) were fighting over the wheel mostly for a while, but now they seem to be getting along just fine--they explore the cage together quite often, drink and eat at the same times, and even run in the wheel side by side.  (Which is clumsy and adorable to watch.)  They both seem to have little bubbles of healed skin on their butt that look like they could have had scabs from biting each other, which made me quite nervous... but since I noticed them, Mal has bullied Jayne less and seem to do everything together now, so I'm honestly wondering if they came to some sort of balance that neither would be dominant over the other.  Now they pretty much do EVERYTHING together.

Wash, the smallest, seems to be the most skittish still, but he always has been--whether it came to me or them.  He still comes out to eat and drink and run in the wheel and explore from time to time when he wants to, but he does spend a good deal more time in the igloo than the other too.  Sometimes they herd him back in, but sometimes he's out and about with them and they still all sleep together.  He's never had a single scratch on him, and I never see him scuffle with them, so he's not being bullied at all.  I think he's just generally skittish.  The other two always run to climb on my hands when I reach in the cage, and he's the one I usually have to coax on or catch.  I think his vision may be a bit worse too, he has red eyes unlike the other two.  I know that I read in rats at least, red eyes see worse.  So it could explain why he's less adventurous.

Either way, they're all getting bigger and happier, I do believe.  I was wondering if you have any suggestions for how I might be able to get Wash (the skittish one) to be a little more trusting with me?  I've tried treats, but he generally won't take them unless I set them down, at which point he snags them and runs back inside.  I feel bad disrupting their igloo to take him out, but I want to make sure he gets as much exercise and socialization with me as the rest of them.

Answer
Dear Kira,

Thank you very much for the update. I'm very happy that the three boys are living together fairly peaceably. Do watch those "bubbles" in case they are something else.

It's OK if a mouse doesn't crawl onto your hand in the cage. I don't even teach my girls to do that. If he lets you take him, that's great; otherwise there is only a  problem if you are chasing him around the cage. A toilet paper roll works great to pick up a mouse. In the following two posts I explained *extremely* thoroughly how to help *very* timid mice get used to being picked up and held. You certainly won't need to go through all of these steps but you can pick and choose how to train him as you like.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2011/7/frightened-mouse.htm

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2009/6/mouse-used-picked.htm

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha