Despite my best efforts, my mice have thier own plans

by scaredymouse Mon 30 May 2016, 8:45 am

Despite my best efforts, my mice have thier own plans. And since I love them and care about their happiness... I'm going to have to split my colony and then deal with the upcoming deaths creatively when the time comes. girl_sigh

Things were going well, everyone was in the same tank. My butt biter was under control, mice were snuggling. But when I checked on them this morning, there was blood smeared around the food dish and on the side of the tank. Enough to immediately call it quits. I inspected everyone. There were no visible wounds.. But poor Jellybelly has another scab on her butt, so she obivoulsy got her butt chomped again. Holy Sheep

It's a bummer. Tearful

So, since Annie (cancer mouse) and Bitsy (butt biter) came together as babies and love each other so much, I put them together in a 10g. The are happy, have all the toys they could possible want and they have each other. Bitsy hasn't stopped grooming and snuggling Annie Jump Hearts

. So my new plan... when Annie dies... is to contact my new neighborhood breeder and give her my situation. And see if she has two young mice, on the larger side, who are up for the challenge of coming in and taking charge of Bitsy. Then she'll have her trio. And I'll get two well bred sister mice.

Just so everyone knows how cute they are:
Despite my best efforts, my mice have thier own plans YWazucC

Despite my best efforts, my mice have thier own plans YWazucC

Annie

Despite my best efforts, my mice have thier own plans 3g4GkDf

Bitsy

Despite my best efforts, my mice have thier own plans 1XJ75k0

Then in my 20g tank, I have Gilly & Furgie (over 25 months old) and sweet Delilah, and of course my precious little Jellybean. It's a total pain in the tushie to go through all of this but I regret nothing. Jellybean is so gentle and sweet. She's so special. And, when Gilly & Furgie pass. I will take my time evaluating how Jelly & Dede are as a duo, how old they are, and what kind of mouse I can give them. Maybe an older shelter mouse or another mouse from the breeder.

Anyway, this is some complicated mousie business. Goose never puts me through any trouble... such a good boy Wink

I'm usually pretty good about adding mice to my colony without problems, but I went didn't think about anything when I saw my little baby mouse. If I'm honest, I didn't really think I had much of a chance of it working. But that's okay Bouncy

Edit: P.S. This is why it's always good to have an extra tank or two lying around just in case. Those Petco sales happen several times a year, always a good time to pick an extra tank up Wink

by CallaLily Mon 30 May 2016, 10:47 am

Awww, poor Jellybean getting her butt chomped on. Sad

I've been there and it's tough but sometimes splitting them into separate groups is what's best. You did the right thing and who knows, maybe Butt Biter Bitsy will calm down some before it's time to introduce her to new friends. She's the cutest butt biter I've ever seen. Haha

by Peachy Mon 30 May 2016, 11:44 am

Eek, it's too bad things didn't work out, but your plan for new girls sounds fun!

Hearts

Annie and Bitsy's bond is so sweet. Hearts

by scaredymouse Mon 30 May 2016, 12:43 pm

Everyone is so happy now. Coconuts are full of happy, sleepy mice. I did the right thing for them, no doubt. It's just that poor Bitsy has some tough times ahead that I wanted so desperately to spare her from. But we'll take it one day at a time and live in the moment, mousie style. Mice don't worry about the future! That's silly.

by Windmilla Mon 30 May 2016, 1:08 pm

That picture of Annie with Bitsy... They're so cute together!
Sorry the colony didn't work out after all! :/

Oh, having females really is troublesome, it's an almost endless cycle indeed, and their colonies can be so complicated to deal with!!
But I still loved having girlies, and might do it again :b

by MouseLover Mon 30 May 2016, 2:41 pm

Oh my gosh, Bitsy is SO CUTE. Who would guess that she's such a butt biter Laughing

That's a shame things didn't work out, but everyone sounds happy as can be now Smile

At least your new plan involves new mice Wink

by MesaMouse Mon 30 May 2016, 7:27 pm

Sorry to hear that the grand plan didn't work out but, as you pointed out, the meecers know best.

When I combined my duo and trio in late summer 2014, trio alpha Anya wanted no part of the intruders and turned her two sisters against them as well. After a few separate stints in a "time-out" tank, Anya and her toady Willow realized that they'd better calm down if they wanted the benefits of more sisters to snuggle and play with. Luckily, no blood was ever shed but poor Tara was shunned by the trio, even after her duo sister, Cordelia, was accepted; Tara had to eat alone (after the others, of course), sleep alone (unless Cordelia came to snuggle with her), run on the saucer alone. The crazy thing is that Queen Anya and Tara eventually became best friends and Tara's passing last November was like sudden loss of a linchpin that was holding the quintet together. Anya and Cordelia are the only two left now at 24 months old and both are showing signs of age, Anya more so. They will be my last mice. Cordelia, like her sister Tara, is a gentle mouse and willing to put up with bossy Anya. I hadn't seen this with any of my prior colonies but these remaining two do not spend time together: they sleep in separate hides, Anya eats first, etc. Not that I want to lose either of them, but I think Cordelia would survive longer alone with just me as a friend than Anya would without another mouse to boss around.

by CinnamonPearl Mon 30 May 2016, 7:34 pm

That's a real shame! Despite all the trouble my girls used to give me, I'm lucky I never had to separate them. Maybe Bitsy will be more accepting of Jellybean when she's older and has calmed down.

by Brynne Mon 30 May 2016, 10:28 pm

Mice are drama queens! Their amount of personality per square inch can hardly be matched.

Scaredy, it seems that I have permanenly lost the ability to view any of your photos. In the future, please consider occasionally uploading the best one of the bunch via the "host an image" choice. I know that it's a big ask, but your photos make up nearly half of ALL photos on the site.

Love,

Brynne