Female mice introductions failing

by Kbaldwin0630 Tue 17 Sep 2019, 2:22 pm

I have tried everything I could think of so far. So I'm going to start alllll the way at the beginning. I have a 132 qt tub. Multiple toys, homes, etc. I began with one mouse, Betsy. She was great, so I got her three companions. Speedy, Peachie, and Teddie. Introductions went amazingly with them. It was so easy, no fighting, no territory, no anything. Fast forward 2 months and I was at the pet store getting food for my other animals and saw a completely miserable mouse, just getting bullied by all of the other mice and trembling in the corner of the cage. So I brought her home, named her chip and put her in her own cage to calm down from the pet store. One to two weeks later I began trying to socialize the mice and made a mistake. Instead of taking them out of their respective homes and on neutral ground I put one or two of my other mice into her cage and I'm unsure which but one of them bit her tail bad enough to bleed. I was shocked didn't know what to do. So I did a lot of research and got a tub with neutral ground with new toys with no smells and put them all together for an hour. They did well at first a little chases and that was it. Ive been doing that now for 2 months and everytime they end up fighting. The new mouse, chip has now become extremely defensive and everytime another mouse goes to sniff her butt she thinks their going to bite her and she kicks them off. I want to put them in a cage together so I moved and cleaned their entire cage. Put some of chips cage stuffing in with their new/old stuffing, dabbed pure vanilla essence on each of their butts, put them all into the big cage all at once and watched. First Speedy latched on and got Chip really good. So I took Speedie out and put her in the holding cage for 10 minutes. And immediately after Betsy latched on and attacked her. None of them have broken skin but have scared chip so bad that everytime you touch her back she squeeks. Is it possible to house these mice together? This is my first time owning mice and I'm at a load on what to do next. Please help!!!!

by Javascript.exe Tue 24 Sep 2019, 6:52 am

I had a similar problem with my mice. Iris and Epiphany are stuck like glue, but every attempt to add a third (Luxi) has failed miserably. I tried at least four times, and like you, it always ended in blood. I eventually decided that it wasn't worth the stress on Luxi to continue to try, and since I have an extra ten gallon I ended up separating her permanently. I got her a friend (Hydrox) and they haven't fought at all. Everyone is a lot happier now than they were trying to share an enclosure. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles. :/

by CallaLily Thu 26 Sep 2019, 6:25 pm

I would give her a break from all the stress for a few weeks and then try introducing her to one or two of the calmer, less dominant girls you have. On neutral ground of course, like a completely scrubbed clean safe play space, and watch how that goes. If all seems well after an hour or so, move them into a clean appropriately sized tank/cage with the bare minimum. Bare minimum being hide, food, water bottle, and bedding. As time passes and they seem to be doing well, add a wheel. And then after more time of getting along, add another toy/hide and so on. If at any time a new item causes fighting, remove it and try again later.

You may not ever be able to get them all together but hopefully this way she’ll have a friend or two. I know it stinks to have two cages when you planned on one, but sometimes it just works out that way. Some mice just will not get along no matter what. Hopefully some of your girls are sweeter and you can find a good match for her.

I had to do this with Cheeseburger, Twix, Hashbrown, and Bacon. I ended up with two tanks, Cheese/Twix and Hash/Bacon because Bacon was so beaten and bullied by Cheese and Twix. Hash was the nicest of the three and they lived most of their lives happily together. When they were a bit older (coming up on 1.5 yrs or so) and Twix passed, I was able to reintroduce Cheese to Bacon and Hashbrown with no problems. Sometimes they chill with age, so if it comes to one being left alone down the line there’s a good chance you’ll be able to reintroduce then.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

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Female mice introductions failing

Female mice introductions failing

Re: Female mice introductions failing

Re: Female mice introductions failing

Re: Female mice introductions failing