# Hair Loss Around Nose/Whiskers Area?



## varuscelli

Our newest mouse is showing fur loss around her nose area. It really shows up in these pics. When I look back on pics of her taken a few days ago, I can see some redness in the whisker area but not this much of a noticeable fur loss.

I haven't noticed any problem between the mice in the cage (there are only two, both females). Haven't seen any mutual grooming or barbering going on although I don't watch them constantly. She's seems very active...extremely social toward people, almost immediately crawling up into our hands when she gets the chance. She doesn't seem to be isolating herself or acting strangely as far as I can see.

I'm not an experienced mouse keeper, this being one of two recently acquired for my daughter (our first two mice and we've had them for only about 10 days).

Any clues from the visuals as to what this might be?

Thanks in advance!

Al


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## tinyhartmouseries

There could be a lot of different things going on. First that springs to mind is that someone indeed is overgrooming her and chewing off the whiskers.

It could be mites, which can be treated preventatively with pour on cattle Ivermectin, found in a feed store or Tractor Supply and diluted into a spray on with 5 parts water one part Ivermectin. You'll need to spray both mice and habitat once a week for 6 weeks, even if they seem better sooner.

It could be a slight moult. It could be a little allergy, tho that's often accompanied with hair loss around the eyes.

Honestly, if it isn't bothering her and she seems in fine health otherwise, treat her for the mites as a precaution (most of us do this anyway, even on very healthy mice) and just observe her to make sure it doesn't get any worse.


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## moustress

This looks like simple transfer stress. Let the little darlings alone for a day or two, except for feeding and watering. Keep them in a relatively quiet, dark location, away from things like loud voices, TV's.

You might want to provide extra nutritional support to compensate; little bits of spinach, soft cooked rice. Take care with corn, wheat, anything fatty like peanuts, etc.

Move slowly around them; they don't see well, but things and people moving quickly in their vicinity causes alrm and most mousies.

Even if they seem OK when you handle them, you should still respect their space; don't chase them around the tank with your hand. Wait for them to come to The Hand; small treats after a day or three in a quiet, still place with Hand resting and waiting with treat. 

Good deal for both of you! Have fun!

ps Are you sure they don't have a cootie or three? Happens to the best of us.


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## varuscelli

Thank you both (tinyhartmouseries and moustress) for your advice/feedback.

When I look back on photos of the two mice we have, I can see some evidence of redness around their noses/whiskers (both of them, now that I'm looking for it) even in the first photos we took of them going back about 10 days ago. But even if I look back to a couple of days ago, the redness and thinness of the fur in that area was not nearly as evident as the last day or so. It seems to have increased a lot over just the last 24 to 48 hours.

There are interesting behavior differences between these two females, too. We have one white mouse in addition to this one (another female). The white one is not really social toward humans. She treats a human hand in the cage the same way she treats any other object and mostly ignores or runs around it, while she's playing. The one in these photos is highly social toward us. If she's not eating or in one of the little shelters, she'll almost immediately crawl up into our hands and settle in. No catching her involved...she just seems lo like being in the hand. You typically have to force her out of your hand eventually.

As to the possible stress issues, I'm going to have a lot more peace and quiet over the next few days. My daughter won't be here for a few days, so I can see to it that the mice are left mostly alone. I'll keep an eye on them to see if the fur loss worsens significantly and consider what else we might need to do (like precautionary mite treatment). I might even pop into the shop where we got them to see if any of the others are showing similar signs and ask the person we dealt with about it to see if she's got any insights as well...but since the mice came from Petco, it's kind of like having picked something up from Home Depot -- and there's no telling what kind of feedback we might get.


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