adding another female mouse to breeding group

serpenteye · 10-08-04, 02:33 AM

I have a small group of breeder mice that just popped out a bunch of babies. This group has been together for many months and they all know eachother very well. Today i decided that i needed to get another female to add to the group. But i dont think that they are going to let her live with them. She is pretty young still, so what would be the best way to add her into the group of mice without her getting killed or hurt?

(The group i have allready are two females and one male.)

Thanks very much.

arkuden · 10-08-04, 07:09 AM

ive got the same setup and the little female i added last wasnt accepted for a few days but you can put her in there just fine i think. Ive not had any problems after they all adjsted to her but now shes part of the group.

vanderkm · 10-08-04, 09:19 AM

Some times it works out ok just to introduce them, but more often than not a new female will be severely injured when introduced to a colony.

You could house her alone for a week or so in litter taken from the corners (the places they pee most so she will basically get to smell like one of them) of the colony and then mix litter back and forth on a daily basis to mix scents around and get them used to her scent before she is added. Not great in terms of quarantine practices but you were just going to add her anyway.

Unless she is just hopper sized, adding her when there are babies may mean the resident females are more protective and more likely to attack her. We had most luck introducing new females when there were no babies in the colony.

good luck - hope she does ok, but mice (unless from very gentle, selectively bred lines) are really nasty about changes to their social groups,

mary v.

serpenteye · 10-09-04, 06:00 PM

Thank you very much for the advice, i think that i will keep her alone in her own house and add the shavings. That seems like it will work best. That and i will wait untill there are no more babies. You have been most helpfull, thank you again!

-SH

jadegrasse · 10-15-04, 06:40 AM

I have had good results only after putting the new mice in after cleaning the bin out. If the 'dominate' female starts to pick on her then I spray the female down with a spray bottle and she has to clean herself and by the time she is finished, the new mouse smells old.

Alain

annieb_mice · 10-15-04, 11:51 PM

Try putting some vanilla extract on all the mice or spraying them with perfume.... I've done this a few times with success. I prefer the vanilla extract, but either one will work fine.

After you spray the mice... make sure to thoroughly clean out the bin and add completely new shavings, food, ect....
If you don't want to spray them down... try introducing everyone in a neutral bin.
Take care
Annie B. <:3 )~~