fluffycat6 wrote:Help please!!
I have 3 female mice that live together, and I recently introduced a baby. I introduced them on neutral territory and cleaned out the cages and they were all fine for the day. After that night though one of the females chases the baby around almost constantly. They fight and the baby squeaks a ton and runs away, and then the baby gos up and sniffs her again, and it repeats. There’s never any blood but the baby always seemed really stressed because of this so I have them separated and she seems much calmer.
I think it’s a dominance thing, but I’m not sure how to sort it out. I’m going to have to return the baby to the pet store if they don’t learn to get along so any help is appreciated
If mice are similar to gerbils, there's a split cage method you could use to help them get along! Put them in neutral territory like you have and split them up with mesh wire or a mesh divider they can see eachother and smell eachother through, but can't get to eachother through. Three times a day swap which side the mice are in so they get used to eachothers scents and sharing territory with them. Some signs they've begun to bond and you can lift the divider to introduce them without it (still in neutral territory) are:
Sleeping next to the mesh divide together
Sleeping in the same spot the other mouse was sleeping in before them
Trying to groom eachother through the mesh
-if they show those signs or you think they're getting along, remove the divider and watch them to see if they fight. If they don't, you're good to go! If they do fight, just put the divider back in for a couple of days and try again~