Should I castrate mice?

Question
QUESTION: Hello!
A little over a year ago a friend of mine gave me 2 male mice. His female mice was pregnant and when she had the babies and they were strong enough, he gave them to me. They've always lived together.

Time to time they had little fights...sometimes over food or sometimes it seemed that they were just playing. But recently, they've started fighting a lot. I don't usually see or hear the fights as they do it during the night when I'm asleep. But the other day, one of them (the white one) had a wound on his back that seemed to be a bite and I noticed he bled at some point. Meanwhile, the other (brown one) had a lot of eye boogies in his eyes, to the point sometimes that was hard for him to open them. I started observing them more often to make sure they were alright.
About a week later, more precisely last nite, I wasn't home but my boyfriend was. When I got home, my bf said they had a BIG fight and it seemed that the white mouse tried to rape his brother. I don't know if it is true as it was my bf who saw it and sometimes he can be a little bit dramatic. Either way, he said they started fighting right after to the point that the white one hurted the brown in his eye. My luck is that recently I bought a new cage, bigger and better, so my bf split them up. When I got home, the white one was fine, acting normal and enjoying a lot the new cage, even though he had no wheel which is something I know he loves. While the brown one, that was on the old cage with a wheel, was behaving very strange. First of all, he just never stops scratching. It's all the time! To the point that now, a part of his fur fell off and it's only the pink part of his body, that's on the place he scratches the most. I thought that maybe he's got mites but his brother is not scratching at all and usually when one has mites, the other one have it as well as it jumps around, isn't it?! He was also grooming himself more often, almost like a paranoia. His right eye was bleeding on the bottom from the fight but he managed to clean that up. I also felt that he was feeling pretty tired as he wasn't playing at all on the wheel, even though that is common with this one as he doesn't like the wheel, and he prefers to go up trought the cage bars; but when I called him to come near me, he wasn't paying much attention and when he did and came over, he started going up on the cage's bars but I could see he was week and shortly after, he gave up and just stayed near the house.
This morning, I checked up on them before going to work. The white one was just as ok as yesterday and the brown one seemed better. His eyes were a 100% better, no eyes boogies or anything, and he wasn't scratching.
I've never had mice before and don't really know what to do now. Should I just let them separeted forever but both cages near each other so they can still socialize? Can I put them back together at some point?!

I find it very weird as they are brothers, always lived together and there's no female mouse to make them fight.
I have recently moved flat, about a month ago. But would they behave so differently because of that?
Is it something else?
What should I do?!?

Pleeeease help me as I love having them and want them to live as long as possible!!!

Thank you very much!


ANSWER: Dear Rachel,

It is common for male mice to fight, even brothers.  Male mice will even fight to the death.  Keep the mice in separate cages but as close together as possible, since they do communicate in high pitched squeaks that we can't hear.  Both mice must have wheels.


As for the itching, the questioner in the following post had a similar situation.  The cause is likely mites, and the other mouse must be treated as well:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2009/7/Baby-mouse-losing-hair.htm

A vet visit is always the best solution for any health problem. This advice is for if you can't get them to the vet.  If you can, bring both mice. The vet has more modern mites treatments at their disposal.

Best of luck : )

squeaks,

Natasha




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Natasha!
Thank you so much for your answer!
I've tried to put them together the other day but they were really unhappy near each other and almost fighting again. I'm separating them from now on. Luckly, the cage I bought recently has two different floors and if I remove the tubes the connect them, each of them can live in a different enviroment and still near each other.

I've been looking all over the internet and on big pet shops, including the one I'm always buying products from and none of them seem to have a mite treatment spray.
I've called a vet that's near my house and they treat mice as well. I was very pleased about that so I might take them both for a check-up this week.

Hopefuly they'll be alright! =)

ANSWER: Dear Rachel,

Here are two links for the spray:

Petsmart:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752081&cp=2767038.2769320&f.

PetCareRX:

http://www.petcarerx.com/pcrx/ProductPages/Product.aspx?pid=10149&k=8%20in1%20Sm

You probably couldn't find it because it's under flea and ticks and not mites.

However, going to the vet is always the best idea.  It's terrific that your local vet does mice.  

best of health to the mice.

squeaks,

Natasha



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Natasha!
I've taken the mice to the vet!
She said they are fine and it's not mites but a skin problem that was caused from the constant fighting.
She said I can leave them separately from now on OR I can castrate them.
The thing is: I don't know if it's worth it.
What do you think?
They're a year and 2 months now...do you think it's worth for me to spend around 35 pounds for each of them? How long do you think they'll leave?
I just found out that one of their brothers passed away two weeks ago from natural causes.

Oh! I live in London, that's why I couldn't find the flea medicine. But it was good in the end as it's not mites.

Thanks a lot,

Rachel

Answer
Dear Rachel,

Pet mice usually naturally live between 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years of age, usually less than 2.  If you figure they are 14 months old, assuming they do not get sick from whatever their brother had, you can hope for about another 10 months.  

Another consideration is the operation itself, which is very traumatic both for the mouse and its body.  If the mouse has to be knocked out, there are always dangers associated with anesthesia (with people too).  

My opinion is that they will be perfectly happy in their individual cages, able to communicate.  I wouldn't spend the money on the operation at this stage in their lives.  

I hope I have helped with your decision.

squeaks,

Natasha