Problems re-introducing Emily and Gerty. =(

Subject: Problems re-introducing Emily and Gerty. =( Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:08 pm

Emily and Gerty are both females (for anyone who does not know). They were bought from a pet shop where they were housed together. I am not sure if they were from the same litter or not. When we got them home, they bonded almost immediately, pretty much never fought at all, and were constantly grooming and loving eachother up.

Shortly after we aquired both mice, we discovered Gerty was pregnant (she had been pregnant from the time we got her at the shop), and when she gave birth to the litter, we seperated Gerty and Emily. We seperated them because Emily appeared to be a bit aggressive towards the babies (definitley not Nanny material!).

Gerty and Emily have been seperated for almost 1 month exactly now, and today was the day to reintroduce them to eachother in the brand new 55 gallon tank that we got for our Female mice to live in. The tank at this time was empty. It had been washed completely, and had new things put inside, so it would be neutral ground for them to be reintroduced to eachother.

First I put Emily in the tank and let her run around alone for a few minutes. Then I introduced Gerty into the tank. For the first few minutes there were no problems at all. They sniffed eachother and chased eachother, with no squeaking at all. They both went to the food bowl, and Emily was even trying to groom Gerty, although Gerty would not let her.

After about 10 minutes of this, the chasing began to get a little aggressive. Emily has never been a very "friendly" mouse, but she had never had any trouble with Gerty. Emily chased Gerty and then began to fight with her. There were squeaks but I was not sure where the squeaks were coming from (whether it be Em or Gert). I stopped them by putting my hand into the tank. They both went seperate ways, but within another 5 minutes they were at it again, fighting.

Emily seemed to be the one instigating the fights, so I removed Emily from the tank and put her back in her old cage. Now I've added the baby girls back to the tank with mom, and there have been no problems at all. Emily is still in her own seperate cage. There was no blood drawn, but I am really worried and scared to try and reintroduce Emily and Gerty. I'm worried Emily will harm the baby girls, especially.

I am going to leave Emmy in her own cage until I have adopted out the 3 baby girls that I am not keeping, and try and reintroduce again when I have my final 4 Female mice that I will be keeping. Do you think this is a good idea? Do you have any better ideas for me? What are some reasons for Emily's aggression towards Gerty?

Hope someone can help ... thanks!!

PS: If it is unclear, my final four mice will be: Emmy, Gerty and 2 of the female babies.

The best thing to do is wait until the babies are full grown, 10-12 weeks old(this will also prevent Gerty from protecting her babies, she'll now know them as tank mates). Sometimes if they are smaller they get picked on. Then to introduce keep doing what you where doing. I would start in a nutral place like a play cage, bath tub or even introduce in your hand. After they have had a chance to play nice then I would try in the tank again. Make sure everything is washed 1st, I use vinegar to remove any scent left behind. A fun trick is to put a drop of pure vanilla extract on each mouse. Then they all smell the same and when it wears off they usualy don't seem to notice a new member. Then if someone is acting up remove the aggressor, giving her a time out for a few days helps. Sometimes it is hard to introduce a new member to a group. Sometimes my girls will chase each other around, as ong as they don't draw blood then they should be ok. Filling the tank with toys, hiding food around the tank and rearranging helps keep them busy.

the vanilla extract trick worked wonders for my mice and also my rats. Pharfly stole all my ideas! lol Wink

Thanks for the info!

Well Trained Mousie Number of posts : 224 Registration date : 2009-09-22

A constant guest is never welcome.
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» RE-introducing females AGAIN :)
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» Is Emily a male or female ??