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Do mice kill each other? If so, how?

NonVenomous

NonVenomous

Bronny
I warn you, this post is not for the weak stomached.

















My Ball only eats live, so I do what I usually do and I get some feeders for him. I went to the pet store, and ran a few errands before coming home. I left them in the car as I didn't want to take them to the store with me. So I get home, and grab the first one with the tongs and notice that the other one hasn't moved an inch. I feed the python then go to inspect the other mouse. It's completely dead, it's face is bloody, and its eyes have been eaten out by the bigger mouse. What I don't understand is how on earth did it die (how would a mouse kill another mouse)? I know it was alive, I saw it being put into the box alive. Are mice this aggressive? Why eat the eyes? And still, how did it die?!

I know this sounds silly to ask, but I'm really curious and this is a completely new thing to me. *shrugs*
 
yes

Yes mice do attack each other. Females can be housed together, and males have to be separated. Males will of course breed with females, if that's what you want, and male mice will fight and kill each other. I had 3 males mice and didn't know this, and i was left with 1 in the long run.
 
twice I have tried to start a mouse breeding colony
using 1.3 mice.. both times the females ate the males face.
They had PLENTY of food so hunger wasnt the issue..
So... yeah they do kill each other..
 
DaGiant said:
twice I have tried to start a mouse breeding colony
using 1.3 mice.. both times the females ate the males face.
They had PLENTY of food so hunger wasnt the issue..
So... yeah they do kill each other..
Click to expand...

Wow! What an overly aggressive way of showing they didn't find him that cute.:D

Jokes apart, canibalism is pretty common. I once lost an entire litter to their own mother. She ate parts of all the pinkies. Again, food was not an issue.
 
Stress can also be a contributing factor. Make sure you provide some kind of a hide or nest box, any small box will do.
 
Wow. I really didn't know this.

Flagg - I don't do much about stress because they were going to die in an hour anyways. Maybe that's a mean way of looking at things, but it's the truth *shrugs*
 
Mice are VERY brutal animals for something that is so small in size.
In the case of your feeders you brought home it is possible that one died in the trip and the living turned to cannibalize for the lack of moisture in the box.

Mice can be kept together and new females can be introduced but there is usually aggression from the resident mice. This can be avoided about 99% of the time by changing the litter in the colony at the time you introduce new blood in. If you put all of them in a container together they will normally be to interested in the new surroundings to pay attention to the presence of a new companion.

Males work in odd ways (yes even the two legged ones) if you keep them feed well and do not have any females with them the aggression will drop as well. Hope this information helps.

Rich
 
Yeah, mice can be pretty bloody-minded little critters, and bloody-fanged as well. I have kept pet mice for my classroom for years. They're handled regularly by lots of teenagers, and ones I currently have had all been housed together since last Christmas. They'd had their moments, chasing each other around and having what the kids called "squeak battles," but no big deal.

You'll have noted the use of the past tense. I went on vacation in June, and left the mice in the care of my college-age daughter, Melody. She called one night completely horrified by the fact that the mouse tank was "covered in blood," and the most aggressive female was now missing her head. It seems the underlings staged a coup and ate her face.

The remaining trio seem content with the new order. I'm just glad they didn't pull their bloody revolution act in the classroom!
 
Thanks. That makes two good things that came from this incident, then. The first was that Melody had to buck up and deal with the mess since Mom (me) was unavailble for clean-up calls; good for the soul, and all that. The second was sharing a smile. The world needs more of those.
 
Caryl said:
Thanks. That makes two good things that came from this incident, then. The first was that Melody had to buck up and deal with the mess since Mom (me) was unavailble for clean-up calls; good for the soul, and all that. The second was sharing a smile. The world needs more of those.
Click to expand...


For sure!!
 
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