mice i got in horrible condition

Question
hello again,
i had my 4 female fancy mice and found a person selling their 3 fancy mice and the more she text me the more i felt they were in a bad situation and i wanted to take them to give them a better life. i was told they were 3 males and since i have extra cages to seperate them i got them.
when i went to pick them up they were in the tiniest plastic aquarium maybe 5 gallon size and it smelled so badly, she told me for some reason they were picking on the white mouse so i told her id keep a eye on them, she also told me they were raised up since pinkies and are around a year old.
well as soon as i got them home i put them in their own large and clean cage. but i noticed almost instantly the one they were picking on turned out to be a female but she seems to look old to me so i named her granny she is limping and at first breathing heavy, i have transfered her into my all female cage and im keeping a eye on her. the other 2 males instantly started fighting so i seperated them,
1.was this the right thing to do when it comes to males? im keeping their cages close for contact.
2. would putting the males cage near the females cage cause them to fight more then normal?
3. they all seemed to have odd tails, expecially one it completely flips over on to it back and curls under was this from the poor living conditions? they had a very very tiny wheel and these new mice are huge, way bigger then i have ever seen before. almost appears to me its from the wheel some how.
thanks for any advise you can give me on these new additions.

Answer
Dear Regan,

Oh those poor little mice! Mice are just as wonderful as dogs and cats, but some people who would treat a larger animal well, do not even think twice about the welfare of their mice.

Poor Granny. Interesting that she hadn't had any babies. They can do that for most of their lives. She must be pretty old. I hope the girls are good to her.

Yes, the males needed to be separated. That was exactly right. Most male pet mice have to live alone. And it is perfect to put the cages next to each other. They do communicate between cages, and I'm sure they like to smell each other too. Yes, the female smell probably made them more aggressive. But that's moot now since they are separated. They won't get along no matter what, and one would end up dead. Ironically, the reason they hadn't already done that is that they were in a tiny cage, I assume with no accessories. There was nothing to fight over. It's a terrible way to live, but it does reduce the fighting. By the way, the "picking on" Granny might have been attempts to mate!

And lastly, yes the funny shape of the tails is from the too small wheels. This is called "wheel tail!" It is a disqualifier in a show, but not painful or anything. The actual running in the tiny wheel may have been less pleasant than it should have been, but they are fine now. Some of us : )) that is, me : )) think it's cute. But would never do it on purpose (some mice get it even in a larger wheel; it's just how they choose to hold their tails).

So you were right on every count. You didn't even need me! : ))


Squeaks n giggles,

Natasha
<:3  )--~

>update<

PS I have decided it would be cool to be Facebook friends with some of my questioners. If you would like to friend me, I am the only Natasha Millikan on Facebook. And you will get to see my mice... and more so, my rats, including mouse-sized rats! Be sure to attach a message or I might not accept. But if you have questions do continue to use this site, so that other people can benefit from the answers.

Preview:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150091824234803