Fudge being bullied, and possible loneliness.

by Illumimoe666 Sat 26 Nov 2016, 5:05 pm

Poor little Fudge.. hasn't been having the best of luck lately. I know it's quite normal for mice to argue and dominate each other. Which is what my girls have been doing. It's of course not a constant thing, they just been doing it more often in the past few days. The problem is that they've seen to be aiming for fudge I think it's been Lillium who has been bullying Fudge the most for whatever reason (Lillium is one of white mice who has a gray mark on her nose. She's also the most scared and paranoid one out of the group.)
I usually just let it happen since it's normal. And fudge hasn't been the only target, they've been doing it to eachother as well (But again, Fudge seems to be the one getting bullied the most). Now the problem is I noticed Fudge's back was kinda wet, so when I tapped my finger on her back it was bleeding! I'm not sure if the blood was caused from the bullying or from stress scratching.
They weren't fighting at all. I've seen mice fight and it's NOTHING like what they were doing. It was just the typical humping dominance thing. Of course as soon as I noticed she was bleeding I separated the girls. I kept fudge in the main tank because poor thing. She's been through a lot and she deserves to just relax. I also notice that lately when the 3 girls are asleep Fudge may come out more. And Fudge is quite a social mouse, she enjoys company but I think she feels intimidated by the 3 girls. Which is funny because when I first got them Fudge was the one proving her dominance and humping them even tho she's so much smaller than them lol.

Anyways, it's been about a night and I decided to put Wolf (The gray one and the most sociable out of the 3) with fudge. Of course she just was exploring the tank again, but when she got close to Fudge, Fudge seemed to have gotten a bit scared.
And it's not like they all don't get along. Besides the dominance thing, they all get along perfectly fine and sometimes sleep together. I then separated Wolf again for a bit, but now all 3 are back in the tank. They haven't done anything to Fudge. They're all asleep right now (The 3 girls are sleeping in a different area than Fudge). If they start bullying her I will separate them again. Poor little fudge doesn't need to be stressed right now. Especially if she's not feeling well. I feel bad for her.. I think she's kind of lonely. Like I said, they do get along but Fudge seems to be like a fourth wheel, she's not really bonded with them. The 3 girls were together when I got them so they're a trio. And like I've stated before, fudge is a social mouse.

Fudge never really got a chance to bond since when I got her Luna & Sol died shorty afterwards, then that's when I got the 3 girls but Fudge had marshmallow and they slept together since Fudge was familiar with her. But now that marshmallow is dead Fudge is quite lonely. I strongly suspect that Fudge was the runt of her littler. Despite her being a full grown mouse she is so small compared to the other girls, and even tho she is a child-like playful mouse she is sensitive when it comes to getting sick. This isn't the first time Fudge has gotten hurt from mouse dominance. Tho the first time was because of Sol. Tho of course it has never been anything serious and I take care of it right away.

I think the bullying will eventually stop but I just want Fudge to be stress free like she used to be. I want her to be comfortable in her own home. I'm thinking of maybe getting another mouse for Fudge to bond with? If I do it will be a very young mouse like how Fudge/Luna/Sol were when I first got them. Which will also make it easier to tame. I'm just not too sure if I should get another new mouse when i'm in the process of taming 3. I think Fudge just really needs a companion. Thoughts?

Btw this is Fudge when I first got her. She was a small lil bab <3
Fudge being bullied, and possible loneliness. 2wmf668

Fudge being bullied, and possible loneliness. 2wmf668

Fudge being bullied, and possible loneliness. 2qu50r4

That's Luna & Sol in the back Love

by MesaMouse Sat 26 Nov 2016, 7:06 pm

I understand your situation very well. My last colony, 5 ladies, was a blend of a trio (Anya, Buffy and Willow) and a duo (Cordelia and Tara). Just before the introduction, Anya staged a coup and replaced Buffy as the alpha of the trio. When introductions were made, there was the usual expected chasing, sniffing, scuffling but no physical damage. As soon as all of the ladies moved into the 20L (from two 10gs), Anya began to torment Tara, physically intimidating her, chasing her away from food, water, wheel and nest. Buffy and Willow followed suit and Cordelia was sufficiently cowed by the trio so as not to show any affection towards Tara when the others were near. Tara had to essentially live alone while sharing the tank with four others; only Cordelia would come to her at night when the other three were sleeping. As Cordelia settled in and became more confident, she could be seen with Tara during the day in open defiance of the others.

I tried "timeouts" for the abusers, sending Anya and then Willow to live in a 10g away from all of her sisters for a day or two; when they rejoined the group, things would settle down for a few hours before Anya and her cronies would start in on Tara again. It broke my heart to see poor little Tara ostracized as this belligerence went on for weeks -- the worst of it was seeing her sleep alone, out in the open. Eventually, the situation calmed down to the point where only Anya was bullying Tara and after about a month, even she gave up harassing Tara as the latter simply wouldn't fight back. There were a few weird results: one is that Anya eventually adopted Tara as her BFF, Anya and Willow started to harass Buffy and ever after Tara rarely nested with the others, preferring her own company.

It sounds like Fudge may have been the alpha in her former colony and may have tried too hard to become the alpha in this new group, especially if one of them was already filling that role. As long as you can determine that Fudge isn't being physically harmed, leave them all together to settle their pecking order. If she is being harmed, try to determine who is the guilty party and send them off to a timeout tank for a few days: sometimes the punishment of being separated from her sisters is enough to make a mouse rue her actions (so to speak) and play nice once she's allowed back into the colony.

by Illumimoe666 Sun 27 Nov 2016, 11:38 am

Thank you so much! That's very comforting to hear. So far everything seems ok Smile

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Fudge being bullied, and possible loneliness.

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