missing fur

[Reptilian]

I bought two breeder mice about two weeks ago. Both are white with red eyes, one is male the other is female.

I just noticed today while refilling their food bowl that the little girl had a patch of fur missing behind her neck. Kinda looks like the little boy was nibbling on her neck.

Do they do that with breeding? The little boy has a very small patch missing on his shoulder blade which leads me to believe rough play. But does that all coincide with breeding?

Thanks all!

[ReptileQueen]

It could be the rough play theory or could it be their allergic to something?
Maybe someone who know more about mouses will be more help then I am.

[frankykeno]

It could be a rough play/mating thing but it may also be patchy skin/fur from too much protien. I'm more into rats but I know I've had a breeder male that grabbed the females so hard behind the head/shoulder area when mating that he slashed them rather badly (he was soon out of a job let me tell ya!) Keep an eye on them, perhaps take a look at the protien percentage they are eating and see how it goes.

[Reptilian]

Well, diet wise I am using a mixture of soy/wheat ceral, rasin bran, cherrios, puffed wheat, dried fruit and nuts, a dog food (kibble and bits). The recipe is on this site and it called for a senior dog food with less than 20% protien. Well at the store i was at I couldn't find a senior food with less than 20% protien so I bought the kibbles and bits and that has 21% protien. They've been on that diet for a little under a week.

I haven't noticed any fleas/mites/ticks.

They're cage is cleaned out weekly and I am using a sample bag of carefresh. The only new thing I've added other than the diet is a new wooden hide that i got from a friend. She doesn't have any problems with mites/fleas/ticks, so I don't think that could be the problem.

I noticed the patch has grown just a bit on the back of her neck. When I did when refilling their bowl was took out all the dog food, just in case....

I am really hoping it was due to rough play...cause I am not sure of what type of treatment to follow other wise.

[SatanicIntention]

Kibbles N Bits isn't even good enough for dogs, not to mention mice. Too many by-products and rendered things, EW. You want to look for a high-quality dog food, such as Wellness Senior, Eukanuba, Nutro Ultra, etc. They don't need any dog food if you feed a good lab block diet(Mazuri, Harlan, etc), unless you want to toss some in as a treat.


I use a bit of the wellness or science diet for the mice every so often, but they mainly get grains and their lab blocks(Mazuri 9F).

A good preventative measure to take would be to go to Tractor Supply or another feed store in your area(preferably a Purina Mill so you can get lab blocks in bulk while you're there), and get a tube of 1.87% ivermectin paste. It's made for horses, and should cost around $5-$6. Give them a dose orally the size of half an uncooked grain of rice. Do that once per day for 2-3 weeks. That will get rid of any mites/lice they have on them as well as the main internal parasites if they have those.

I do this as a precautionary step to ensure any new mice I bring in, don't bring bugs in with them. Makes for healthier mice, bigger litters, healthier babies, and a non-infected colony.