Will half wild baby mice be tame?

Question
My husband and I built a beautiful mousery which our 11 female mice "live on our wall".  It consists of shelves with 1 1/2 inch edges to hold the bedding.  There is no wire or glass sides...they are just living on the shelves enjoying life to the fullest.  A wild male found his way to our girls and now we have 15 new babies. Their eyes are just starting to open today.  I safely caught the male and set him free outdoors.  My question is, if we keep one of the half breeds, will it also live on the shelves or will she leave?  Right now the babies are with their mother in a 20 gallon long tank. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Dear Carrol,

I have some bad news for you. Over and over it turns out that first generation hybrid mice are crazy wild. It happened to me; I've talked to a lot of people; and recently I even guided someone through a taming process with no success.

I had ten little hybrids. Of them, nine were crazy wild and by about 6 weeks really wouldn't be held.  The tenth tamed herself one day, strangely enough, and she was a super sweet mouse. The others pretty much had to be let go. However, the tame one had a habit of wandering, and she was small enough to fit through mouse-proof wire bars, as we found out. She had certainly been coming out at night and wandering around, returning to her cage for the morning. I've found that out about other mice which I thought were secure too. Anyway one day at the mouse-sitter's place (my boyfriend), she didn't make it back in. The cat had chased her down the stairs and she couldn't get back up. He didn't get her right away but by the afternoon he did.

You are going to have to contain those babies as soon as their eyes open. Within a few days they will be able to jump two feet straight up into the air. When you hold them you will need to hold them on one palm with the other hand holding onto the base of their tails by their butts.

If you need to release them, and want to really be nice to them, build them this release shelter:

http://mouseranch.com/FYI/releaseShelter.html


If I am wrong, and you have better luck than me, do be sure to let me know! I would REALLY like to hear about a hybrid mouse success story.

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha
<:3   )--~