Dancing Sickness?

Question
One of our mice was showing strange symptoms, but we didn't get her to the vet on time.  :(  The number one thing we noticed was she'd suddenly go into a fit of spinning in circles, sometimes even repeatedly bouncing off the sides of the cage.  After a few seconds, she'd stop and be motionless for a minute or two.  

Any idea what it might have been?  Can our 2nd mouse have caught it?  We'd like to get another friend for our surviving mouse and have read about quarantine procedures for getting them used to each other...


Answer
Don't worry! It sounds like your mouse had a stroke. I have had over a hundred mice and I've had three with strokes. I had to euthanise all three mice as they couldn't eat, drink or walk properly. One had her head twisted in a strange angle and could only walk in circles and the other two kept spinning around and falling over (I must point out the three mice never met each other and had no genetic connection)

I would suggest getting a friend for your mouse as mice are social creatures. Introducing females isn't difficult providing they are the same age and size you can usually put them together straight away as long as you keep an eye on them for a few hours.

Take her to the pet shop and see which mouse she gets along with best (just make sure they are the same sex!). Put the new mouse in the 3 day old cage (if you put them in a clean cage they may fight for territory). Put the box the new mouse has travelled in in the cage and make sure there are plenty of hiding places and a wheel. Keep them in whatever room you are in and listen for squeaking. The odd squeak is OK but if you see any bullying or if either looks stressed then separate them immediately. Ideally you should keep them overnight in your bedroom and then any serious squeaking should wake you up (so you can separate them).

I doubt you will have problems but if you do please feel free to ask any more questions. Good luck.