Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have recently experianced cannibalism 3 times in my mouse colony, in every case only the head was eaten.

Is there a reason why only the head was eaten ?

I would have thought that there is more meat on the body if that was what the other mice was after.

The mice are kept in trays 18 X 12 X 4 and are fed on dried dog food supplimented with dried bread, biscuits,the odd piece of sliced fruit and a handfull of mixed seeds twice a week when i clean them.
I find that if i give the "extra's" when i clean them the females dont seen to get stressed out as much because the are more interested in the food than in their young getting moved.

Looking at the records of each mouse tray it seems that in every tray that cannibalism has happened there has been a low output compared to the other trays and every tray is/was under 3 months old.
All cannibalistic trays has been replaced with youngsters from other trays.

Has anyone got any ideas on this ?
Thanks
Peter

in my experience,

if they were babies that had their heads eaten, it was inexperience of the adults or stress related.

if they were adults that had their heads eaten, they died and then the others feasted, rather than the others killing an adult and eating its head.

good luck
Denver Tom

The brain is very tasty, and nutritious. (Even humans eat cow brains though I don't think it's permitted any more because of the Mad Cow outbreak). Maybe the brain has something in it that they are lacking in their diet. Just food for thought (no pun intended).

MissHisssss

np

How do the little mice, reach the food way up above their heads?
I know how the racks work. I know that the food hopper has a screen mesh bottom for them to eat through. But I can't imagine it would be easy for them to stand and eat so far above their heads like that.

I love the rack you have pictured. I want to build one. It looks perfect for rats since they are bigger and could easily reach the food. But the mice are so little. Maybe they are not getting enough food. Just a thought.

Also, I should mention that I feed Harlen Teklad lab rodent foods to all my mice and rats. They love it. I am just curious why so many feed dog food. In this case for example. Maybe they are not getting something they need out of the dog food.
As far as expence. I get a 50 lb bag of the real stuff for $10. Even generic dog food isn't that much cheaper. And they eat every litte bit of it.

Just curious,
Troy

I have to agree about the dog food, I feed Mazuri 6f and it is not that much more than the cheap dog food and my mice are doing great on it. I switched to dog food for a while and found out that not only did I have "greasy" mice, but they started eating their babies and their general health declined. I still give them a few pieces of dog food every now and then as a treat but I am sticking with Mazuri as the main diet.
-----
1.3 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brooksi
0.1 Goini
0.1 Goini x Brooksi
1.1 Blairs Grey Banded
1.1 California Kings
1.0 Normal Corn
1.0 Pastel Motley Corn
0.1 Okeetee Corn
0.1 Emory Rat x Corn

I feed dog food to my rats.. I don't think I would with mice though. Mice are a little less omnivorous than rats are. But most do it for the protein needs of their mice.. plus the cheap dog foods are mostly grains with only a bit of meat by products. What makes it good for rats is that they have almost the same nutritional requirements of a dog... (A very small dog but still) Dogs are not simply carnivores.(Unlike cats who plant material is NOT good for) Wild dogs.. as well as coyotes, foxes, even wolves will eat fruit and some plant material. Domestic dogs are even more so. They've been habituated to human foods.. and that includes vegetables.(This has also happened with rats...) A dog can actually be maintained on a vegetarian diet... however.. if you don't know what you're doing... you can make the dog sick. *L* Sorry.. off on a tangent..
-----
Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
2.2 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 1 het Blizzard (Lilith) and 1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
5 Gerbils
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Sahara and Hercules)

Holy Cow... where do you all live to be buying 50# bags of mouse food in the 10$ rage? I have to pay over $20 for mine? Lucky you. I feed mostly the Mazuri 6f, with a handful of Super Game Cock seed and cheap dog food mixture three times a week as a treat. I originally added a little dog for because I had a few mice with dry scratchy skin. It really helped.

I LOVE these forums,
MissHisssss

I have watched the littler mice (hoppers) eating, they just leap up and hang upside down from the mesh !!!!! I also wondered how they was going to eat but have no worries now.

I use dog food because it is SO much cheaper than lab chow here in the UK. A 10kg bag of dog food costs me £5.00 ( about $8.50)and the lab chow (20kg) was about £25.00 ($41.00)
This bag lasts me for about 3/4 months, I have just bought the 4th bag in 11 months.

Every thing here in the UK is really expensive (Gas $8.80 a gallon) even hatchling amel corns are £75.00 ($123.00) at my local reptile shop here Frozen mice prices have just gone through then roof due to a national shortage £0.70 each ($1.15)and live mice are £1.25 each ($2.06)

I sometimes look at price lists from Glades herps and DRIBBLE at the prices and what i could buy with a handful of ££££

Peter