# Mouse mass murder!!!!!



## Takeawaykitty

Hello this is my first post, i was shocked and horrified at the sight of one male cage during this mornings welfare checks. 5 mice in a cage of 7 were killed over night the survivors dont seem to have a a couple of minor scratches each and no fur clumped or looked wet i don't think they even lost a drop of blood, the bedding was covered in red patches of blood and bodies all over there 40 gallon tank. they were all brothers of the same litter and never separated for more than 5 minutes. the never had fights, when different food than usual was added was the only time i would hear squeaking. This was only because some acted as if the food dish was to far away and would snatch food from a bothers paw's, but even then no fighting ever occurred and twice daily welfare checks confirmed this. i was wonder if this maybe mental illness or something the mother is a quite a interesting character food was added 2 days ago. there was food a little food left this morning thank you for your help.


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## WoodWitch

Takeawaykitty said:


> the survivors dont seem to have a a couple of minor scratches each and no fur clumped or looked wet i don't think they even lost a drop of blood, the bedding was covered in red patches of blood and bodies all over there 40 gallon tank


Hi there and welcome. Sorry it's under unfortunate circumstances...

I'm sorry, the picture is a bit unclear to me, you say the survivors seem to have no injuries, then you go on to say that the bedding is covered in blood....are you saying that the 5 dead mice ARE injured and died from fighting and that is where the blood is from? Or are you saying that none of the mice appear injured and you don't know where the blood is from?


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## Takeawaykitty

oh sorry i didn't see i miss typed yes the dead mice and the bedding were a mess the survivors seem okay, the dead mice have very deep cuts and puncture wounds from fighting.i noticed during cleaning up, that the dead, they all had identical puncture wound across the bridge of their nose and travels down very deep, sorry for the graphic details its just disturbing to me that they all had his exact same fatal wound, sorry again for the typo i was in a hurry


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## Fluffnstuff

This isn't mental illness.

This is male mice being housed together. Ever separated or not there is ALWAYS a risk of this happening, at any stage from weeks old onward.

You NEED to separate the survivors into their own cages.


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## PPVallhunds

That is the big risk with housing males together, even litter brothers when mature can and often do fight. They can get along fine until the second they dont.

Id separate the surviving boys up for there safety.


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## moustress

Once males have started fighting it does spread to all in the tank; I've never seen this kind of carnage but I'm not surprised to hear of it.


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## Andrew

This is so sad. I've got a couple of brothers who like the company of each other which still astounds me, but I'd never dream of leaving any of my other boys together. It's just too risky, I've never had deaths but I've learned from injuries that however lovely one of your boys' temperament is he could still tear a chunk from his brother. People who come to look at my mice will tell me "I've always had boys together" but I still won't let a couple of males go together knowing they don't intend on separating them.


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## EdgewoodMousery

I once had a pair of brothers from a co-worker and she didn't understand why they just started fighting when they've been together since birth and they were nearly two years old. Unfortunately you never know when it'll happen but it does. :/


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