Bleeding mouse ear (bloody ear picture warning!!)

by pleasehelpmeandmymice Mon 01 Mar 2021, 11:20 am

Hi, I have two great female mice, toast and pickle, but toast has recently had a mysterious ear injury. Im not sure what happened to it exactly but I originally thought pickle had been biting her. This confused me because I thought that female mice weren't typically aggresive toward each other unless there is the presence of babies, but there is definitely no babies. I separated toast and pickle in hopes of toasts ear getting better, but it never did. I had them separated for about a week and there was no progress or healing of her ear and I actually thought her ear was getting a bit worse. Seeing this, I thought I actually stressed her out more and I thought she was maybe grooming herself too much and it was stopping it from getting better. I then put toast and pickle in the same cage again and toast seemed so so happy to see her. She was jumping all around and looked so excited and would stay close to pickle at all times- at this point I was relieved because I thought this meant pickle wasnt biting her. I put them together last night- this morning, however, toasts ear is worse than ever. I will attach a picture, but know it does look pretty gross and bloody so look at your own risk. I immediately separated them again so if it really is pickle I can stop it for now. Im looking for a pet mouse vet now but It might take a couple days to make the appointment, etc so i made an account on here to get advice now if anyone has any. Im almost starting to think toast has a bad case of stockholm syndrome. I know I have to be making some mistakes here and I apologize because I feel so so so so bad for my little mice but im trying my best to make them happy and I would love some help or advice or even some theories on why this is happening. Greatly appreciated

Bleeding mouse ear (bloody ear picture warning!!) Image010

(ps this is this first time i have used this forum site so i am not sure if i attached the photos correctly)

by River Mon 01 Mar 2021, 1:19 pm

It doesn't look to be a bite wound or anything, I'd second overgrooming.

There are a few things that can cause this. Anything from mites to an ear infection and more. Since she's not letting it close I think the best thing you can do right now is try and keep her distracted. Change the toys around regularly and scatter feed or feed through foraging toys. It might also help to deepen the bedding; anything that can keep her feet too busy to scratch is a good idea.

I keep a terracotta plate in the cage filled with treats or under the water dish to file down claws. Anything along those lines is a good idea for itchy mice. Maybe a sandpaper bird perch? They're not ideal for birds, but for a mouse it could do wonders... Bleeding mouse ear (bloody ear picture warning!!) 71LLpS0gHOL._AC_SL1500_

Bleeding mouse ear (bloody ear picture warning!!) 71LLpS0gHOL._AC_SL1500_

by pleasehelpmeandmymice Mon 01 Mar 2021, 9:53 pm

River wrote:It doesn't look to be a bite wound or anything, I'd second overgrooming.

There are a few things that can cause this. Anything from mites to an ear infection and more. Since she's not letting it close I think the best thing you can do right now is try and keep her distracted. Change the toys around regularly and scatter feed or feed through foraging toys. It might also help to deepen the bedding; anything that can keep her feet too busy to scratch is a good idea.

I keep a terracotta plate in the cage filled with treats or under the water dish to file down claws. Anything along those lines is a good idea for itchy mice. Maybe a sandpaper bird perch? They're not ideal for birds, but for a mouse it could do wonders...

Yes thank you so much, ill definitelyy consider the terracotta plates or perch, I've thought a bit more and it might be due to an allergy to the aspen bedding (i was mixing it into their normal bedding recently just to not waste it, but im stopping due to toast obvously). thanks again so much for the advice!!

by Dee67 Tue 02 Mar 2021, 2:09 am

I hope Toast and Pickle are back together again, they sound like they really love each other. I love their names!

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