Suddenly dead mice... NOW what?

[justincturner]

Okay so I had a cage with two feeder mice inside (1 male, 1 female). I decided to go out an buy three more to see if I would have any better luck breeding them to my 1 male. About 24 hours later, give or take, 2 of the 3 that I purchased were dead, just laying in the cage. This was about 4 days ago, and the other one is still perfectly fine. Could there be an obvious reason for this? Could they have been diseased or something?

I have the two dead ones in the freezer now, should they be safe to thaw and feed to my ball or should I just toss them to be safe?

I'm confused, and novice. Obviously.

[BD1]

Did the two dead ones have any injuries on them, possibly from the third one. What kind of cage were they in, food,water, etc. I wouldn't feed them to anything, just in case they could have been poisoned somehow. Mice are pretty hardy, I would guess the 3rd killed them, but they are social animals and I wouldn't think that would happen. I raised mice and rats for years and never had any problems like that.

[python.princess]

i actually had 3 mice gang up and eat the 4th, who was pregnant. they had plenty of food and water..... but, no, i wouldn't feed one to my snake without knowing why it died.

[justincturner]

There is a big possibility that the two that died could have been pregnant. I bought the three together and they were kept in a cage with 1 male running around. 2 out of the 3 died and the other one is still perfectly fine.

i actually had 3 mice gang up and eat the 4th, who was pregnant. they had plenty of food and water..... but, no, i wouldn't feed one to my snake without knowing why it died.

Is there a reason why they would do that in a new cage and not in their old one?
I've heard of mice becoming canabalistic under certain circumstances, but I don't think I've heard that one.

[MarkS]

If you added the three new mice to the existing two that were already in the cage, my first thought would be that the already established group killed the invaders. I've found that mice can be very territorial and can kill with no apparent reason. When I set up breeding groups I always use a freshly cleaned tub and add all of the mice that I want in the breeding group at the same time so they all find themself in a new environment together. Then I never add new mice to the group and retire the entire group together after about three months. A lot of the times when I've added new individuals to an already established group I've had problems.

[lord jackel]

If you added the three new mice to the existing two that were already in the cage, my first thought would be that the already established group killed the invaders. I've found that mice can be very territorial and can kill with no apparent reason. When I set up breeding groups I always use a freshly cleaned tub and add all of the mice that I want in the breeding group at the same time so they all find themself in a new environment together. Then I never add new mice to the group and retire the entire group together after about three months. A lot of the times when I've added new individuals to an already established group I've had problems.

I agree with MarkS here. Also, if there was a male in the pet store cage the new girls would have smelled like him (especially if prego) and that could have set both the established male and female off.

[justincturner]

If you added the three new mice to the existing two that were already in the cage, my first thought would be that the already established group killed the invaders. I've found that mice can be very territorial and can kill with no apparent reason. When I set up breeding groups I always use a freshly cleaned tub and add all of the mice that I want in the breeding group at the same time so they all find themself in a new environment together. Then I never add new mice to the group and retire the entire group together after about three months. A lot of the times when I've added new individuals to an already established group I've had problems.

I agree with MarkS here. Also, if there was a male in the pet store cage the new girls would have smelled like him (especially if prego) and that could have set both the established male and female off.

I'm pretty convinced that this is what happened, but I still don't understand why there was still one female alive from the "unestablished group". I fed my ball the male, and the "original" female. Only the surviving "new" female is left. I'm going to wait and feed my ball the female this weekend, clean the mice cage and start fresh with a new group.

I should probably beware mixing females that have a male in the cage with an "outsider" male; correct?

[lord jackel]

I should probably beware mixing females that have a male in the cage with an "outsider" male; correct?

You know mice are fickle sometimes it is the case and sometimes the don't care. To be limit as much risk as possible I would get all the females and 1 male at the same time, make sure they are the same size and if possible get them from the same place.

When I got mine they kept the males and females together (primarily a feeder store) so mine were used to each other from the get go.

Good Luck.

[MarkS]

You know mice are fickle sometimes it is the case and sometimes the don't care. To be limit as much risk as possible I would get all the females and 1 male at the same time, make sure they are the same size and if possible get them from the same place.

Yup, I agree with this. A LOT of people have trouble getting started with mice. But once you can get them to breed and have a litter, start your new colonies from your own young mice. They will get along with each other and breed much better. I take all of my weaned mice and seperate them by sexes in grow out tubs. Then when I set up new colonies I take all of the females that I want for the new colony from the same grow out tub and select a young good sized male from one of the male tubs. I put them all together in a different freshly cleaned tub and they usually get along real well and I can expect a nice big pile of pinkies within the month. Often, all the new females will give birth within a few days of each other. If you start with older animals from different sources it can be pretty much hit or miss.

Mark

[justincturner]

Yup, I agree with this. A LOT of people have trouble getting started with mice. But once you can get them to breed and have a litter, start your new colonies from your own young mice. They will get along with each other and breed much better. I take all of my weaned mice and seperate them by sexes in grow out tubs. Then when I set up new colonies I take all of the females that I want for the new colony from the same grow out tub and select a young good sized male from one of the male tubs. I put them all together in a different freshly cleaned tub and they usually get along real well and I can expect a nice big pile of pinkies within the month. Often, all the new females will give birth within a few days of each other. If you start with older animals from different sources it can be pretty much hit or miss.

Mark

Yeah, I started out with one male and 3 females, just to see what happened. I became tired of going to buy feeders every week. I was hoping they would breed, but they didn't produce anything. Then again, I probably should have left the females in there longer. I marked them for death and they were eaten.