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Why would my pet mice have eaten each other2007-11-24 22:19:33

I HAD 5 pet mice, 4 females and 1 male. 3 of them had lived happily together for a year, and the 2 other females had been in the tank for almost 3 months with no problems. I opened up their tank yesterday and found the bloody tail of one female, and the half eaten carcass of another. What could possibly have made them turn on each other like that?

These are the only slightly out of the ordinary things that could have upset them:

-I just removed a litter of 10 nearly full grown pups. This is not the first time I have done this.

-I had forgotten to feed them that morning. They usually get fed twice a day, but I had slept in that morning and had not fed them. They DEFINITELY weren't starving.

-I hadn't cleaned the tank for a longer period that usual due to finals. I was only about 4 days overdue, and it wasn't too dirty.

- I recently got a cat that likes to sit on top of their tank and watch them. He's been around for nearly a month and they didn't seem bothered before.

Answers:

Have been raising mice over 14 years and I know your frustration. Here are some ideas of what may have occurred.

Empty water container

Not enough protein in the diet or lack of some other nutrient.

It takes a lot of nutrients to feed babies every 3 weeks. Sometimes, that is why mice will eat the whole litter at birth.

I do not disturb the bedding of mothers with young. I just scoop around the nest.

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she might of called her some name and pissed her off

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The cat thing may have done it. When under stress, rodents will turn on each other.

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Well, when there is one male and numoruse females. they do seem to fight... females are not as territorial as males but they are more agressive when it comes to if they are pregnet or not.

mostlikely the female or male that attacked them had a fight and one got killed the other moderitly engered... mice can turn on each other if they have had a bad enough argument...

[yes mice to argue and it can commence to fighting or killing!]

the most i can think of is that they probably had a fight and they tryed killing each other... I would just remove the hurt one and put her/him into another cage. so if she/he did cause the fight. the others will be safe. or if she didnt you could get the the bottum of who really did.

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Maybe they got in a fight over who gets the guy or something to do with u taking the babys... :)