# Sudden Severe Aggression



## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

I've had the same set of six does in my large tank for about three weeks. Several days ago, I was showing mice to a friend and she put the wrong mouse back into the wrong tank (easy to do, as both were fawn). That led to about 24hrs of a male running rampant in my breeding-age does tank. Not a big deal, long-term, until today. When I got home from work, I found one doe dead and two others with major tail injuries. All bites, and blood all over the glass. None of the other three does are injured at all, and the two injured does have been removed for healing. In the mean time, I have no idea how to figure out which of the does decided she needed to start killing off her cagemates. How do I figure it out, and what can I do for the injured does? They both have enough bites on their tails that they'll probably at least lose the half furthest from the body. It doesn't look good. Obviously, antibiotics, but other than that?


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Ugh. It sounds like a really awful incident triggered by territoriality and other breeding/hormonal problems. How did the buck come out of this? those girls need a vacation from each other. It's all too often that something like this ruins a peaceable group and sometimes the behavior doesn't go away with the cause...I'd keep a close eye on the ones that were not injured and maybe give them extra food for a few days to make them feel more secure about resources available.

My theory on what happened would be like this:

Six does living in one large tank have been given enough food for them for quite some period of time. Then a buck shows up, meaning that all of them could be impregnated, which would mean there may not be enough food to go around, space would become cramped (don't know how large the tank is...), the babies would not have space or safety...and if the buck remained, things would quickly spiral out of control...meaning that the population had to be reduced.

Gee, it seems like that worked out, didn't it? Though, the buck is out of there now. wonder if any of the does got caught in heat?

Once that kind of aggression has been sparked it may be hard, if not impossible, to get that happy group back together again. I avoid keeping female groups together that include the mother and daughter, because they get really territorial, and won't allow other unrelated mousies to live unmolested, and they sometimes get bitey with ME! Once I had a bitey doe, removed from her tank and put in with other does, attack them, and also continue to strike at my hand whenever I brought in close to them.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

I've got no mother-daughter pairs in the group, though the two injured does are sisters. And I totally understand how they would've gotten aggressive, though the few days wait between removing the male and this spark of aggression makes more sense thinking about how slowly the body changes when they first become pregnant. Nobody's been bitey with me, thank goodness, so I'm not worried about that. I just wish I'd seen who was being so territorial. I did notice that most of the blood is right next to everybody's favorite sleeping spot. I may just take that one away altogether until they calm down. Since removing the injured does and the corpse, I've heard not a peep from that tank. Perhaps the three remaining are fine together. I had been passing around puppy chow along with the regular rations (which are never allowed to run out), since there was a chance that anybody or everybody got pregnant. Perhaps a little more of that and we'll see how it goes. It must've started early this morning, because one of the two does' tail is already turning dark purpley, and the other is just so bad. I'm not sure if it'll be better just to pts them both. So many bites. I'm still in shock.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Perfectly understandable that you'd be in shock. It must be heartbreaking to find such a grisly scene. *hug* I'm sure you'll do whatever needs to be done. Hope you don't have to lose any more mousies.

How's the buck?


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Is it possible to amputate the tail instead of pts? A heated pair of sharp metal shears should amputate and seal the wound. Painful, but fast and better than getting pts. Farmers use to use that method for farm animals way back when. I'd only suggest it as a last resort though.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

The buck is absolutely peachy. I did look him over, and he has a single scab on his haunch, but not the frightening tail-bites the others got. It was Yam, actually, so I'm possibly due for more e-carriers. *sigh*


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

If you can post pics we can help evaluate the wounds. I've had a few females get terrible territory-based wounds and heal from them in about two weeks. There is a higher chance of abcess, but for the most part they can heal up ok. I'd need to see pics.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Mm, unfortunately the camera is in Memphis with my girlfriend, so I'm stuck. They're looking pretty bad. The girls are perking up, but I'm absolutely positive that at least half of both tails aren't going to make it. Actually, looking at it now, one of them is black and the other purple. If it's worse in the morning, I'll just pts. For now, I'm going to stop watching them like a terrified momma hen and go to bed.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

And now they've amputated the damaged portions of their own tails. Or eachothers tails. They've lost a good deal of weight, probably from shock. They're getting good food plus chow, tetracycline in the water, and they're safe. Still no sign of aggression from the three in the bigger tank. I'll keep watching their weights, see if anyone took. I know the two injured does can't go back in with the three, and I wouldn't trust them with any of the other does, either. I guess they'll be a doe trio, both until any of them give birth, and after they've weaned if any do. I just wish I knew who it was. Saw blood on her muzzle. Something.


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

Well-Honestly that's good news...they are focusing on healing. The tails would have likely dried up and fallen off anyway. Once a tail turns black, it's dead, as I'm sure you've surmized. Just keep watching for signs of infection and give them tons of fattening and protien rich foods...at this point peanut butter is even an option, as well as baby food, sunflower seeds...etc...good luck here!!!


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Ooh, hey! I have sunflower seeds for the chickens. No peanut butter I'd feel safe giving to an animal, though; just my roommate's Jif. Bleh! The girls are looking a little less harried today, though they sleep a lot and eat a lot. They actually keep falling asleep eating, passing out in the food bowl.


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Glad to hear that they amputated it for you. It sounds like they will heal up. Does Yam have any damage other than the tail?


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Yam has no tail damage, just the one scab that's already healing up on his haunch. He's in with Lotus (dove satin tan), to see if we can't get more satin tans from her. He's just so sweet grooming her while she eats.


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## Bella (Aug 15, 2010)

Any chance that one of the aggressors was Nita? She tends to be really good until something changes, and then she can snap pretty quickly and its hard to get her back to the calm state. :/


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

I'm pretty sure it was her, actually. I've noticed that now that the others are gone, she's bossing around Vodka (her granddaughter). In other news, the two does with the injured tails are starting to put on weight again, and the wounds are finally starting to heal up. I know tail wounds take a long time to heal, but I'm glad to see they've made it over the hump. I'm working on plans for a shelf that'll allow me more, smaller tanks, so I won't have to use the communal living space for a mess of does.


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