I have a few feeder mice that I plan to breed for my picky eaters and possibly freeze the extras. I have 6 adults total, one with babies, 2 males (separate) the smaller male had the smallest female and the larger male had the 2 larger females since I didn’t want him bullying the smallest girl. I feed them a pellet diet that was recommended from the store I bought them from as it was what they fed their pet mice. I try to leave them with enough for 2 days in case I can’t get to them sometimes as is common for me. Apparently the big male and his group had spilled their food into the water at some point and decided that one of the females would make a good snack. I removed her immediately as she’s still alive and very active, she’s just missing a chunk of her shoulder. She’s been separated for 2 days now but it doesn’t seem to be getting better, also not getting worse, it’s still very red but doesn’t look infected. I know large animal treatment like the back of my hand, I’ve just never seen an animal clean it’s wound and make such noises of pain and just keep on cleaning. She limps on it but does use it, and I’m sure it will heal given enough time. Did they attack her because they were hungry? Will she keep her wound clean herself or should I try to put something on it (I’m afraid to do so since she would ingest whatever I used)? Should she ever be put back with that male? As of now she is in a critter keeper with clean water and plenty of a new food that’s hard for them to ruin all at once and I’m trying to keep paper towel as the base since I don’t want bedding in the injury.
That’s wild Blue. So strange they would resort to cannibalism with food available but I don’t know enough about mice to see any other motivation. Interested to see what you find out.
The food they had when I found them was in the water and basically inedible since it had turned to mush. The other 2 seem happy as can be now so idk what happened
idk how seriously you want to take feeder breeding but personally I do not tolerate infighting with any of my mice. The moment I spot one going after another mouse, it goes right to freezer camp. I expect all my mice to freely get along, and the majority of them do. Even males, which do fight more often. If I spotted a male attacking female mice I wouldn’t even consider keeping and breeding him for a second. They can be selected for temperament so I recommend they either be gentlemen or be food lol.
As for the female you can clean her up with iodine or betadine but be prepared for her to not make it. If you notice her breathing heavily or sitting hunched over, she’s suffering and would be best to cull.
I agree with @zooophagous I would cull the mouse that was aggressive and resorted to cannibalism, since there is a chance it could do it again. And yeah, if you don’t want to see the injured one suffering, it is best to end her misery. Unless you want to spend money on an exotics vet for feeder mice. Even then the vet might not be able to do much, since mice are so small.
She was in with 2 others, idk which or if both were involved. If I ever catch one of them doing such I will cull immediately. The injured one seems to be doing well, I don’t want to cull her yet if she will heal. I could put some iodine on it if that would help but I don’t have the other. She doesn’t seem too bad, not acting weird or sluggish. She’s doing all the normal mouse things of sleeping, eating, grooming, decently calm when being held. If she starts acting like she’s too far gone I will definitely take her quality of life into account and dispatch her. I’ll try to post pics of her to see if you think it is too bad.
That’s probably the best I’m going to get from her. I didn’t realize how difficult it was to take pictures of a mouse!
I would not feel obliged to cull the aggressor/s in this situation, since resorting to cannibalism when without food is a natural response for them and does not necessarily mean that they have a poor temperament. Mice have an extremely fast metabolism and can become desperate for food very fast. While I don’t think it’s wrong to nurse the injured party to health, I personally would cull because I wouldn’t go to the trouble for an animal that was going to be food eventually anyway. I cull feeder mice at any sign of ill health. If you wanted to go the vet care route, oral meloxicam is commonly prescribed for pain in small mammals. A vet might also prescribe oral antibiotics. Both medications would probably be sweetened and flavored so that your mouse views them as tasty treats. I should also mention that I have seen mice survive much more serious wounds before, so if the wound does not become infected, your mouse may have a better chance at survival than you might think.
I was hoping for her to be a breeder. Do you think that injury would affect her later in life or hinder her from breeding and raising litters successfully? If you do believe it best for her to be dispatched, it is feeding day and she would be taken.
Unless she has some special quality that made you want to breed her, I would say it is better to feed her off and replace her. No shortage of breeder quality mice out there. That being said, if she survives the injury, it don’t see why it would affect her ability to breed and raise litters, as long as it doesn’t affect mobility.
I offered her to 2 snakes but neither would have her. I put her back in the bin where she came from and saw the male attempt to attack her again. (There is food and water in there so he wasn’t hungry.) I pulled him and offered him to one of the snakes that refused the female and it took. The attacker is gone and the snake that had been fasting for 3 months ate. I call it win win.
Good for you! I have been breeding mice for quite a few years. It is best to cull aggressive males. I have had a few start to eat the pinkie mice and have had to separate all the pregnant females . they seem alot happier without the males around. You can keep females in groups of three or four and they will all help feed babys. I feed mine dog food, decent quality, and fruit and veg, mostly kitchen scraps and they are doing really well on it with babys coming about every 18 - 20 days. the females visit the males and I take them back to the ladies house as I notice they are pregnant. Also it is best to have bottle or tube type waterers. That way the food doesn’t get wet and moldy.
I know I’m probably the only one, but I’m secretly rooting for the female to have recovered and gone on to be a successful, happy breeder.
Yeah… I’m a softie. 
Her wound never healed right and she always had a limp so I did end up culling her and every mouse I had at the time. I have restarted with a new pet/feeder line who have yet to be aggressive with even other males. They are from a no bite/chew/fight line. Of the 7 males I picked up only one has been even slightly mean to each other. (Tubs are in progress, I just had to pick them up a certain day before I had them done.)
I’m still thinking about how I should go about breeding because I have a few different color/pattern males I’m trying to replicate. For now the pairs (if a pair) of males are in a tub together with at least 4 females each. I do plan on having auto water so I don’t have that again with cannibalism.
A pair of female babies
One of my favorite males (there’s another similar to him that will be with him for breeding as long as they are good with each other)