I had mine in tanks previously with wheels... 24/7 squeeking.
But after the fire I had to put them into a mouse rack with opaque tubs and with no room for wheels (medium kitty litter pans).
BEST thing I ever did. They became calm, socialable, gentle, and handleable. I could reach in and root through the babies, nudge the otherwise aggressive males aside to move them off the babies, etc.
Never took a nip, or had even the slightest bit of stress from them.
Honestly I think we keep them wrong, and have been. I feel that being burrow dwellers they are stressed in tanks and hyperprotective. In this rack I feel it mimicked a burrow and they were truly amazing.
I would never go back to having them in something tall enough for a wheel.
Just my 0.02 cents, but I had them for about 18 months in the previous setup, and the change was almost instantaneous once I moved them into smaller snug tubs.
I had males that never hesitated to nip and me, and after this, I could open the tubs and put my hand on the edge, they would come over, sniff, tug, etc. but never showed any aggression, and were fine with their babies.
Bruce
PS: I had them in 1.2 groupings as well.
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