# Nipping :(



## wowwy (Jun 8, 2012)

Hi i have 2 female siamese mice and they did have babies like 4-5 weeks and i did wean them but i left all the females with the mother. None of the babies nip but one male if you chase him around the cage to pick him up lol ( But i didnt do that my upstair neighbor got nipped by him lol) But it kinda seems like they know what there doing, the would nip soft then a little harder then harder and so i push them away with my finger. I oftne like every day put my hand in the cage for like 20 to 30 minutes so they are tame. They were nipping so i tried what if i put chooped pealed frusts and vegies in my hand and they still did it. Its only the 2 mom tho, could it be there tryin persay to protect their babies ???

I dont know i need help lol


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

who exactly is biting the mums or the babies? (not sure from your post)

Babies nibbling at first is normal they are exploring things and lurning, but biting either young or adults is a big no no for me. I would never breed from any mouse that bites.


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## wowwy (Jun 8, 2012)

No lol the mother mice nip my nails and sometimes my fingers. Its not the babies or no one is biting each other lol. When i got the female's they didnt nip at all they just started nipping like 3 weeks after the babies were born.


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## MissPorter13 (Jun 20, 2012)

Could it be that they are mistaking your hand for the food? Seeing as mice have poor eyesight and rely more on smell perhaps handling/holding food before is confusing them by making your skin smell like the food you are offering. You could see if washing your hands thoroughly with an unscented soap before handling makes any difference (and perhaps omitting the hand feeding until they've stopped as mice tend not to be all that food motivated and if they nip you then get a treat, it almost rewards the behaviour!)
Also have you been handling the mothers as much as you did before the babies arrived? It might be something as simple as they need a bit of taming up again, my mice get handled every day but I imagine if that was largely reduced for some reason then their friendliness might diminish too and the chances of getting nipped could go up. Having said that, if you're still handling them as much I would agree with PPVallhunds about not breeding them again, though personally I wouldn't even keep a mouse that intentionally (not reactively) bites me.
Protecting their babies is a possibility but mine haven't done it, so I couldn't really offer a valid opinion on that. The only other thing I can think of is what time of day do you handle them? When my mice have babies I only ever handle them when they're already up and awake or after calling them and giving them a few minutes to wake up properly, without this I find that the handling can shock/surprise them somewhat whilst they're still groggy and sleepy and cause them to nip.

Hope you get to the bottom of it and cure them of the problem soon!


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## wowwy (Jun 8, 2012)

I tottaly understand about holding food cause i was feeding them oatmeal raisin treats and one of the mothers mist the treat and got my finger it was just a small pinch like she was trying to break off a peice of treat. But other then that they dont bite me its more of a taste test so i am going to deffenitly wash my hand before every handling setion. And while the mice are prego i dont handle them cause i dont want to take that risk and i didnt handle them for another 2-3 weeks after birth. So it can be a great possibility that they need a bit of re taming.


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