Housing males together?

Question
QUESTION: My friends and I each bought a mouse about three weeks ago. Because they are all males we bought a separate cage for each of them. The cages aren't very big (11" long x 8" tall x 6" deep). I purchased a house for my mouse in addition to his food dish and water bottle. For exercise, we bought a ball to put for the mice that they could be put in and allowed to roam about the room in a controlled manner.
Yesterday my mouse escaped from his cage while his water was being changed. I caught him quickly and he bit me. To discourage the biting I gave him a light tap on the nose and put him back in his cage. He tried it again when he was being given food later that day and did manage to escape but was once again quickly returned to his cage (this time there was no biting).
Since his "escape", my mouse has been acting different. Before the escape he was very active, constantly digging and rearranging the contents of the cage. Now he spends the majority of his time jumping toward the top of the cage or climbing the walls and biting the sides of the cage. Do you think there is something wrong with him? Maybe he needs a bigger cage or more toys in his cage for exercise? Any input would be helpful. Thank you

ANSWER: Hi!

The cages are far too small for the mice.  They should each have a cage at least the size of a small aquarium.  I can imagine they are not happy with the space they have, so now that the mouse has experienced more space, he knows what he will get if he escapes and it's all he can think about.  I have a mouse who got out once and she spent the next two days madly chewing on the bars of her actually quite large cage.  She had a taste of freedom and she liked it.  However, it is not safe for a pet store mouse to roam the house.

Give them bigger cages, which they also can't escape out of (aquarium walls are too high for most pet mice to scale) and I hope it's enough to satisfy him.  Also they *must* each have a wheel in the cage at all times.  It is crucial that mice get their exercise.  

Best!

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha

PS  I removed your name so I could change the question to public.

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

QUESTION: The original cage that we wanted to buy would have housed all three mice and it was considerably larger. It had multiple levels and a built in wheel. We were told not to buy the cage because the mice (being all males) would fight for dominance in the cage and by the end of it all we would end up with one mouse instead of three. Should we risk buying the one large cage for all of them? Or should we just stick to the three separate cages (which of course we are going to upgrade)?

Answer
Hi

You need three separate cages.  The male mice will not live together peaceably in any size cage.  Make sure the cages are close together so they can still 'talk' to each other-- they communicate in high pitched squeaks that we can't hear.

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha