Agressive mouse? Help!
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Agressive mouse? Help!
by freckles24 Wed 11 Apr 2018, 10:54 pm
I recently adopted two female mice from a girl who said she had had them for 3 months and got them from Petsmart. They get along great except the bigger one (Thistle) barbers the smaller one (Daisy). I've read basically everywhere that female mice should be kept in groups of 3. So I found a breeder in my town who had the cutest long haired mouse for sale. When I showed up to pick up my mouse (Fable) the lady was like, "how many do you want?" and I said I had only brought enough money for one but she said I could have two because she would rather them be pets instead of feeders! Now I have two adorable long haired mice and two adorable short haired mice.
Now for the behavior part of the story. I put all 4 mice into a big bin that none of them had ever touched before and they acted great. I was worried about Thistle reacting poorly to the newbies but everything seemed fine with her. They were all sniffing butts and what not. I cleaned out the bin I keep them in (26" x 18") and re did everything and put all of them in it. Immediately Daisy ran after Willow (one of the newbies). I knew there would be chasing but then Daisy attacked the other newbie (Fable) and bit her tail at the base making it bleed a little bit. The bleeding stopped and it looks fine, but I don't want this to be a normal thing. Right now the newbies are hanging out in a hide and Thistle is running in the wheel. I removed Daisy and put her in a time out carrier because I just can't trust her not to hurt the others. I guess I will be setting up a more permanent time out cage.
The one plus side about these newbies is that they love being handled. The breeder I got them from must have interacted with them a lot.
To sum this up:
Why does Thistle barber Daisy but seems completely fine with the two newbies?
Why does Daisy act like such jerk to the newbies but loves Thistle?
Will Daisy be okay on her own? She has always been with Thistle.
How do I make all these fur babies love each other?
Sorry for the long post, but thank you so much for reading!
Now for the behavior part of the story. I put all 4 mice into a big bin that none of them had ever touched before and they acted great. I was worried about Thistle reacting poorly to the newbies but everything seemed fine with her. They were all sniffing butts and what not. I cleaned out the bin I keep them in (26" x 18") and re did everything and put all of them in it. Immediately Daisy ran after Willow (one of the newbies). I knew there would be chasing but then Daisy attacked the other newbie (Fable) and bit her tail at the base making it bleed a little bit. The bleeding stopped and it looks fine, but I don't want this to be a normal thing. Right now the newbies are hanging out in a hide and Thistle is running in the wheel. I removed Daisy and put her in a time out carrier because I just can't trust her not to hurt the others. I guess I will be setting up a more permanent time out cage.
The one plus side about these newbies is that they love being handled. The breeder I got them from must have interacted with them a lot.
To sum this up:
Why does Thistle barber Daisy but seems completely fine with the two newbies?
Why does Daisy act like such jerk to the newbies but loves Thistle?
Will Daisy be okay on her own? She has always been with Thistle.
How do I make all these fur babies love each other?
Sorry for the long post, but thank you so much for reading!
freckles24- New Member
- Join date : 2018-04-11
Posts : 14
Re: Agressive mouse? Help!
by Jadamouse Thu 12 Apr 2018, 1:59 am
welcome to the forum 
daisy being agressive towards the newbies is completly normal, and it should calm down over a week or so of them living together, however if she is drawing blood they need to be seperated. dont leave thistle with the newbies and have daisy on her own if this happens, keep the pairs seperate in 2 different cages for a few weeks and then try to introduce them again. daisy is most likely the more dominant over thistle, and this could be why she is attacking willow. mice often need time to sort out their pecking order and it is possible that daisy and willow are fighting to work out who is alpha.
daisy should really not live on her own because she will get very lonely and bored, so if there are bad fights, seperate them back into pairs if you get what i mean.
hope this helped a bit
daisy being agressive towards the newbies is completly normal, and it should calm down over a week or so of them living together, however if she is drawing blood they need to be seperated. dont leave thistle with the newbies and have daisy on her own if this happens, keep the pairs seperate in 2 different cages for a few weeks and then try to introduce them again. daisy is most likely the more dominant over thistle, and this could be why she is attacking willow. mice often need time to sort out their pecking order and it is possible that daisy and willow are fighting to work out who is alpha.
daisy should really not live on her own because she will get very lonely and bored, so if there are bad fights, seperate them back into pairs if you get what i mean.
hope this helped a bit
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Jadamouse- Sr Member
- Join date : 2018-04-02
Posts : 127
Re: Agressive mouse? Help!
by Peachy Thu 12 Apr 2018, 6:12 pm
Mouse relationships can be so complicated! Often when it's only two mice, behaviors like grooming can get excessive. I would bet Thistle is the dominant one over Daisy. With more mice in the colony, the dominant behaviors are divided up among the mice, making things like barbering less likely.
Daisy needs time to get to know the new mice and settle who's who within their hierarchy. Separating her for a time out was absolutely the right thing to do since blood was drawn. If Thistle is getting along with the new ladies, DON'T separate her. Give Daisy a few days to a week on her own. This will make her a bit lonely and more likely to accept new friends, and it will also give you a chance to tame her a bit more. Intros with tame mice will often go much smoother. After her time out, reintroduce in neutral territory and see how things go.
Daisy needs time to get to know the new mice and settle who's who within their hierarchy. Separating her for a time out was absolutely the right thing to do since blood was drawn. If Thistle is getting along with the new ladies, DON'T separate her. Give Daisy a few days to a week on her own. This will make her a bit lonely and more likely to accept new friends, and it will also give you a chance to tame her a bit more. Intros with tame mice will often go much smoother. After her time out, reintroduce in neutral territory and see how things go.
Peachy- Moderator
- Join date : 2016-04-06
Posts : 3165
Re: Agressive mouse? Help!
by freckles24 Fri 13 Apr 2018, 12:47 pm
I put Thistle back with the new mice and she snapped at them. So now they are separated in pairs into separate cages. I got in touch with the breeder and I’m going to buy 2 more of littermates of the new one. The more I think about it the less I think Thistle and Daisy should be with the new ones. Thistle and Daisy are not tame what so ever (they are a rehome from Craigslist) they are also full grown. The new ones are so tame and sweet. They are also about 6 weeks old. I think I’m going to give up on getting them to get along for now and just have two separate cages.
freckles24- New Member
- Join date : 2018-04-11
Posts : 14
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