# Mean mouse!



## AyJay658 (Jan 15, 2012)

I am introducing four of my girl babies to my two existing girls as I mentioned in another post. Is it common to get clashes between mice? One of the new young ones keeps trying to nip at one of the older ones. She seems to be picking on her. The other mouse seems really distressed by it and I don't want to let her suffer. Should I just give up on the one that is picking on her? I can swap her out for a different baby. I realise she might be establishing dominance but my mouse seems really scared of her. Then one of the other new ones decided to join in. This particular baby is the nippiest to me as well. The rest just taste and nibble my fingers but this one proper goes for me if I put my hand in the cage! What should I do?


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Personally, I don't keep nippy mice. That said, I understand not everyone culls for temperament. If you have a choice, I wouldn't introduce an aggressive doe to a group of others. It is common to get some clashes, even nipping, but it should settle down. If you have several hours to sit and hang out in the room with them, that's a great time for introductions. Try introducing on neutral ground, in a clean cage with clean bedding, so that nobody feels like the space is already theirs.

I recently had to move a large group of young does from three recent litters into a grow-up community tank. We immediately figured out which two were the troublemakers (fortunately not any of my keepers! just longhair rejects) and they've been moved into their own tank until they become feeders. I simply won't put up with mice who attack others.


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## AyJay658 (Jan 15, 2012)

Hi thanks for the reply. Does it make a difference if she is not drawing blood? I have been sitting with them in a neutral box for about an hour each day and some other problems have subsided but this one seems to just keep going! I can easily swap her out for another one but she is rather gorgeous. Fawn satin, and long haired. Do your trouble makers usually draw blood or are they just bitches to the other mice? lol


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

There's both, really. Some are just not nice. They pick on the others, which causes them stress. If they're not hurting the other mice directly, they're still not really good for them. The others are the ones who hurt other mice more directly, the ones who are aggressive to the point of drawing blood and eventually doing serious damage to the other mice. I don't keep either around, personally.


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## love2read (Aug 30, 2011)

I'm going to have to agree with Laigaie on this one... I don't tolerate biting or fighting. If I have a mouse that nips me or attacks other mice then it gets put on the list of mice that are going to the pet store or wildlife rehab. :/

Does she get along with males? If so, then if you really want to keep her as just a pet then you could breed her and cull down to just 1 or 2 does and keep her and her daughters together. That way she won't be lonely and you won't have to worry about her picking on her cagemates(since they'll be her own daughters).

Other then that it's kinda lose-lose to keep her because either 1)she'd hurt and/or stress out her cagemates or 2)she would get depressed because she'd have to stay in a cage by herself.  Sometimes the thing that seems the cruelest is actually the most humane.


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## Gill (Sep 16, 2011)

I'm with Laigaie on this. I won't keep nippy mice either. I had to put one buck down as he turned vicious after I used him for breeding. Unfortunately one of his daughters inherited this trait, only it was me she attacked, not another mouse. She bit me hard when only two weeks old; jumped down to the floor, and scuttled under the freezer. I thought I had seen the last of her, but, two days later, she reappeared in another cage. I thought it was a one-off, but she bit me again today (both times hard enough to draw blood). I'm not going to give her another chance.


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

There is a really big difference between introducing mice and having some problems for a couple days vs. a mouse truely attacking and meaning to harm. If they are not drawing blood, it's likely that they are just working out their heirarchy and it may take a day or so to calm them down until they are situated and adjusted. That being said, if you do see blood take the agressor out.

Also, if the mouse is biting you, as in rushing in for a big chomp if you even lift the lid, you may choose to euthanize or whatever you feel comfortable doing. I am convinced that mice this aggressive to humans have a neurological problem of some sort.


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## AyJay658 (Jan 15, 2012)

That is all fine. Thanks a lot everyone =) Well I still have all her brothers and sisters, they are going to the pet shop next week so I will just put her in with that bunch. I know I shouldn't anthropomorphise but the mouse she keeps going for is a bit of a poorly sort and I feel terribly sorry for her when she is being forced to defend herself. She does not bite back. She is also a lot older than this little mouse so I would have thought she would naturally be higher in ranking? Correct me if I am wrong though. 
She has never bitten me hard enough to make me bleed (I was not sure if this was possible though!) But she does bite harder than the others who come over to taste my nails and give me a nibble occasionally (is this something to worry about?) I will be up to a total of seven mice after this! 4 new girls, 2 of my original girls and 1 boy (although I am dying to keep another of the boys!).

One last question. Will two boys who have lived together all their lives and are brothers fight at all? I do not want to open the cage one day and find one dead! If there is any risk at all I wont keep two. 
Thanks


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## candycorn (Oct 31, 2011)

Yes the boys will sometimes fight out of the middle of nowhere. And it is oftne to the death. I would seperate.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

There are times when they're fine forever, but mostly it seems they're fine until One Day. And on that One Day, something bad happens for whatever reason, and you're lucky if you've still got two bucks. Personally, since I raise feeders, the males who don't get culled (particularly small litters, usually), and are going to go as feeders, are kept in the group from when they leave the litter until they go. I've not left them any longer than I think 13 weeks old, and even that might be stretching it.


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## MoonfallTheFox (Nov 12, 2011)

To comment on the mice which bite people- some mice do not do it because there's something wrong with them. I was bitten repeatedly and badly by my favorite mouse, a male named Augustus. In most cases he was trying to tell me something when he bit. (Get out of my nest, etc)

Usually he gave warning. I think I was to blame and I have escaped getting bitten for quite some time, he is a very sweet and loving boy when I respect his boundaries.


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