Do mice kill each other?

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 Ball 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?! They were only alone in there for an hour.

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

Short answer, yes...

Mice are evil encarnate.

Yes I believe they do...I had a bunch of mice for my BP when I was in high school, and i had no job so no money to feed them all the time and i learned that they do get that hungry:(

I guess they are doing their friends a favor because they know what their fate will be if they live long enough to go into your snake room

If mice get dehydrated they will kill and eat the weakest in the bunch. They do this to hydrate themselves. If you have mice that won't be fed off for a while, be sure to keep plenty of water available to them.

Mice dont have to be dehydrated, they are evil little suckers.
Thats why I only breed rats, they are much friendlier to people and each other.

All rodents will kill each other if left with no water, that much is true. But mice will kill for dominance, new members or babies are usually the targets, really nasty.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Mice dont have to be dehydrated, they are evil little suckers.
Thats why I only breed rats, they are much friendlier to people and each other.

All rodents will kill each other if left with no water, that much is true. But mice will kill for dominance, new members or babies are usually the targets, really nasty.

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I would breed only rats, but its so inconsistent with the requirements needed for my corn snakes.

When I used to have mice (which I have to get some soon) they ate each other a lot for no reason.
Had food, and water. Just pecking order I suppose.

In colonies, to keep down cannibalism, add a senior level dog food like Science Diet or Wellness to their diet. Make sure they have plenty of water as well and things should be fine. I've had groups of mice for ages now that breed well for me and only eat babies when the litter timing is off and there are still fuzzies in the tub. The offspring, when weaned, are combined in a large tub and only wrestle for position and mating.

As for feeders from the store, they're usually not fed or watered much if at all because the store expects to sell them quickly. When I pick up store feeders, I take my own critter keeper boxes with bedding and some food inside. Then the mice spend their time digging for and eating the food instead of each other.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Mice dont have to be dehydrated, they are evil little suckers.
Thats why I only breed rats, they are much friendlier to people and each other.

All rodents will kill each other if left with no water, that much is true. But mice will kill for dominance, new members or babies are usually the targets, really nasty.

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I only breed rats now too but back in the day I used to breed mice on a large scale and never had them kill each other for dominance. Not to say that it can't or doesn't happen but I never had it happen to me.

I hope you didn't leave them in a hot car for an hour. Feeders or not, they still deserve that respect. No offense intended, that's just what stood out about this to me, and that could have stressed them enough for one to kill the other.

I've only had my little mouse colony for a couple months, but haven't had any deaths that I'm aware of. Females are separated out once they're preggers to have their litters and raise them, then they're put into communal groups for a few girls' nights out and a break before it's back to the dating scene. Males are always kept lone unless in with a female, since they tend to bicker constantly.

The ONLY two times I had an issue with feeding was when I left home for four days. The person in charge of feeding and watering my mice... well... didn't. I came home to 20 dead mice, some all that were left were their spines. They did not have water or food so it was understandable why they did what they did.

The second time, I had them a wee bit over crowded, But I do not think that is your case. Other than that the only time I would see them fighting is either when introducing a new mouse to the colony, or if males were competing. Did these two mice come from different tanks? Where they both males?

Yes, mice can and will kill each other.

However, I doubt that is what happened in this case. I believe you live in the same general area I do (NoVA). The temperature on the date you posted this got up to 89F, and the "feels like" was WAY hotter than that. Plenty hot enough for a car left in the sun to have reached lethal temperatures. You are probably lucky they didn't both die in the heat.

As far as the eaten eyeballs, it was probably as a source of moisture for the surviving mouse to try to deal with the heat.

Now, I'll admit I left my newly purchased snakes in the car on that same day. But it was after the sun was almost down, rain had started so temps had dropped and the sun wasn't shining anyway, and it was for a brief stop. If you left the mice in the car in similar conditions, I'd go back to the original theory of one killing the other.

Alot of times mice, and rats, will kill each other if they feel one is sick. Even with proper food and water they will kill it and eat it, and make a nice little 'art' exibit out of the body.
Mice are evil, though. Like little angry Ferretts. I get them for my BP for the same reason, picky eaters... I also get hoppers for my Hognose. They will just kill whatever they can. If my BP is not interested and i have two live hoppers in the feeder they will kill each other out of pure boredom.
Rats are much smarter but still do the same thing. Usually it's a personality thing but mice have one personality, EVIL!
Also, keep in mine most feeders are largely inbred and will suffer from ALOT of mental and physical damages because of it. Homoicidal Canibalism can be one of them.
(i named one of my rats Hannibal because he ate his little sister two days after i got them)