Winter being attacked.

by Illumimoe666 Tue 29 Nov 2016, 10:59 pm

(Gah, sorry for all the dumb posts. I know I might sound like a idiot, i'm just still learning)
Ayy, more mousey drama! Very recently I got a new mouse named Winter.. A baby (Baby as in not full grown) feeder mouse.
She is SUCH a good girl! Right away she acted like a tamed mouse! She has NO fear of the scary hand trying to pick her up. Right away I knew she was a social girl. After a bit I little by little introduced her to my 4 girls (In neutral territory of course!) and they got along PERFECT. There was no scared mouse and right away started falling asleep together.
After a while longer I cleaned the main tank to make it neutral territory and put them in one by one.

Of course they got along and right away little Winter called it home. Everything was going great until Tulip (Who i'm going to describe one more time, is part of the trio I got a couple months ago and is the most scared of humans. While she's not aggressive she does NOT like me and is so afraid. She's mostly white but has a gray marking on her face)
Tulip started attacking Winter. At first I thought it was just normal dominance but I quickly realized it was fighting. After one more fight I checked on Winter and while she didn't seem that affected she had a bit of blood. So of course, I got Tulip and separated her with her sister Orchid so she wont get lonely (Orchid is her Siamese sister). A couple hours later I decide to put them back and everything was ok!

For a bit, eventually Tulip started attacking her again. This time I separated her alone (I didn't want orchid separated for long since she didn't do anything wrong). She was separated all night/morning until about 4 am I decide to put her back, and again, everything was fine for about a hour or two but attacks started again! I finally decide to separate her for the rest of the morning and noon. Around afternoon I put her back, there was one more small fight until I decide to take out one of their main sleeping places which all the fights they had previously were taken place in. It was fine for a while, I was gone all afternoon so i'm not sure if there was any fights or not. Currently there has been maybe one or two small fights, and blood drawn.. again.

(As I was typing this another small fight broke out. But at this point it's quick nips and such. I broke it up quickly)
And then I finally realized, the fights break out when they're alone! Like if the other girls are sleeping and maybe Winter is eating and Tulip is running on the wheel or something Tulip will go up to Winter and sniff but like a split second later she starts attacking. This never happens when the other mice are around. And I mean Winter still sleeps together with Tulip (When the other mice are there.)

I'm actually surprised, I thought Wolf (The dominate one of the group and most likely the alpha) was going to attack and hump Winter but none of that happened. Tulip is actually quite submissive, at least I think so.

Usually these types of fights happen if there is a territorial issue, but they are in a 100% cleaned new area for them that they discovered together. And before when my old mice fought because of territorial issues it was different.
The type of fighting that Tulip is doing is more quick and short. One thing I noticed about Tulip is she seems to be prone to jealously. Yet Winter isn't getting any extra attention or anything from the other mice.

I just find the situation bizarre, They get along then Tulip enters b*tch mode (Im not sure if im allowed to cuss on this forum sorry lol)
Another thing is I think Tulip was the one previously bullying Fudge. I'm not too sure what's going on with her, she used to be more submissive and just followed along but she seems to be asserting more dominance now. I know typical fights are normal but the problem is blood is being drawn. Fortunately Winter doesn't seem to be too affected by the whole thing, but still. I don't want her getting hurt. I'm not sure if I should separate Tulip for longer orrr. I was kinda thinking on maybe separating Winter instead but I feel bad doing that since she's not doing anything wrong and seems to enjoy her new home & family.

It's very strange, I may have rushed into things too quickly. Tho Tulip is the only one having any type of problems.

~Whhyy cant we be friends why cant we be friends~

*Small update*
Orchid was adorably grooming Winter. Seeing a big mouse grooming a young one is so cute <3 Winters lil' butt was sticking out of a hole and of course Tulip came and tried to attack her lil butt while Winter was being groomed. I tapped on the glass and Tulip ran back to the wheel.
I think it may be a case of jealousy :/

by scaredymouse Wed 30 Nov 2016, 12:36 am

Repeatedly taking out Tulip is confusing for all of them. If there is another fight with blood, you need to take Tulip out and keep her alone for at least a few days, maybe even a week. The purpose is to punish her for bad behavior, she can't have a friend with her. Also, it gives the rest of the colony a chance to bond. So when you put Tulip back in, there is a different social dynamic.

The bratty mice are never the ones we expect. Good luck! Sometimes you have to repeat this process a few times but it usually works out.

by CinnamonPearl Wed 30 Nov 2016, 5:57 am

You can also empty the tank of everything except for a water bottle and food bowl. I find this helps very often. It gives them nothing to fight over. Then slowly reintroduce their toys over the next few days so long as they can handle it.

by Illumimoe666 Wed 30 Nov 2016, 2:28 pm

Great suggestions! Thank you! I did take out most of the things in their tank and it seemed to help. I'll eventually re add everything, but if another fight breaks out with blood I will separate Tulip for longer.

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