# Aggressive mice



## freckles24 (Apr 10, 2018)

I'm just wanting a second opinion on this but...

I got 2 female mice on 4/8 and they are full grown and not very tame. Then I got 2 6wk old female mice from a breeder (super sweet and tame) on 4/11. Upon introducing them in a bin they got along but once in their cage they attacked the smaller younger ones. I should've know with their age gap and size it wouldn't go well. They are know separated back into their pairs in separate tanks. I got in contact with the breeder and she still has some of the litter mates. Should I get the litter mates to put with my new ones or should I keep trying to get them to bond?

I'm thinking I will leave my 2 adults in a cage by themselves and then get 2 more littermates and then have a cage with 4 babies that get along.

Any advice?


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## Cheshire Gleam (Aug 15, 2016)

Did you clean out the cage before introducing them? Mice are territorial and defend their homes from invaders. Giving the enclosure and everything inside a good wash with clean bedding should help. They'll likely fight a bit for the first few days as they establish their new hierarchy but there shouldn't be anything to worry about so long as blood isn't drawn. Be aware some mice are inherently aggressive and aren't suited towards communal life. Your situation doesn't sound like that to me though so I'd give it another go while monitoring. You could of course do what you suggested and have two separate bins of mice too.


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## freckles24 (Apr 10, 2018)

Cheshire Gleam said:


> Did you clean out the cage before introducing them? Mice are territorial and defend their homes from invaders. Giving the enclosure and everything inside a good wash with clean bedding should help. They'll likely fight a bit for the first few days as they establish their new hierarchy but there shouldn't be anything to worry about so long as blood isn't drawn. Be aware some mice are inherently aggressive and aren't suited towards communal life. Your situation doesn't sound like that to me though so I'd give it another go while monitoring. You could of course do what you suggested and have two separate bins of mice too.


I cleaned out their bin and everything. The smallest of all of them (Fable) was bit at the base of its tail by the smaller, older one (Daisy) and bled. That was Wednesday and you can't even see the mark today. I'm just overly worried. The other new one (Willow) does a lot of panicked squeaking when the other mice are in the cage. I'm not sure what that's about.


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## Cheshire Gleam (Aug 15, 2016)

Oh, that's no good. Their wounds do heal quickly, luckily and Willow is most likely frightened by the other mice. If you don't want to risk the younger ones getting hurt, maybe the four young mice and two adults in a separate enclosure would be best, at least until they're older. I've had no serious injuries from introducing young to old but I've had an old mouse of mine bite my pew that was around the same age as your new ones at the time so I know what you mean, very worrisome especially with how small they are.

Did you see who bit Fable? If you did, you could take her into a separate bin so when you reintroduce her, she might be less aggressive towards the new comers. Another trick I learned from having rats that works for mice also is if you put them in their enclosure without any toys, hides, things they can fight over, it works really well for bonding them. They're frightened by the open space and rely on each other for comfort, think it's called stress bonding. Keep food, water and bedding in there with them and once they become used to each other in the empty bin, you can try introducing one toy at a time for them. Try to have multiples of wheels and a few hides so they don't feel the urge to compete for them. That's all I can think of for now, good luck bonding your mice, hope it works out!


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## freckles24 (Apr 10, 2018)

Cheshire Gleam said:


> Oh, that's no good. Their wounds do heal quickly, luckily and Willow is most likely frightened by the other mice. If you don't want to risk the younger ones getting hurt, maybe the four young mice and two adults in a separate enclosure would be best, at least until they're older. I've had no serious injuries from introducing young to old but I've had an old mouse of mine bite my pew that was around the same age as your new ones at the time so I know what you mean, very worrisome especially with how small they are.
> 
> Did you see who bit Fable? If you did, you could take her into a separate bin so when you reintroduce her, she might be less aggressive towards the new comers. Another trick I learned from having rats that works for mice also is if you put them in their enclosure without any toys, hides, things they can fight over, it works really well for bonding them. They're frightened by the open space and rely on each other for comfort, think it's called stress bonding. Keep food, water and bedding in there with them and once they become used to each other in the empty bin, you can try introducing one toy at a time for them. Try to have multiples of wheels and a few hides so they don't feel the urge to compete for them. That's all I can think of for now, good luck bonding your mice, hope it works out!


Thank you! I should've used names in my first post because now it's confusing haha. So about three hours ago I put Willow, Fable, and Thistle in a big (18"x 30") cleaned out plastic bin with water and food in it. They did great! I also did the pure vanilla thing on the 3 and I could tell Thistle was really confused. Now those 3 are in the cage and sharing food and everything it's been about 2 hours so I'm hoping it stays like this. I tried putting Daisy in the empty bin with them but as soon as I put her down she ran full speed at Willow. So back into the time out cage she goes. It's weird because I'm 90% sure Thistle is the Alpha of the pack but Daisy is the mean one. 








This is a screenshot from a really cute video I took of them tonight so it's pretty blurry. I'm trying not to get too excited that they're getting along but this is such a relief.

Thank you for all your help! I get really into my pets lol.


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## Cheshire Gleam (Aug 15, 2016)

Adorable picture, glad to hear it's working out! Good idea with the vanilla, too. I feel the same way, every little thing that could be wrong with my pets sets me off. :lol:


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