Are my mice so weird?

[liamsmom82]

I have several mice (6 males and 3 females). My males are in 2 separate cages (4 are littermates). In my cage of adult males, the black Satin (Bubba) was introduced to our albino (Jenkins) with no problem -- I had gotten him a buddy before being told that I shouldn't.

Now, NONE of my male mice have had ANY problems with each other, whatsoever. They cuddle, groom and eat together, run on their wheels together etc.

My females, on the other hand, are... well... horrible. They're mean (aggressive to hands being in the cage, even when just refilling food dish), and are homocidal. I used to have more females, but these 3 have killed 5 female mice. They have no problems with each other though, just these 3.

My question is... how is it that male mice are supposedly so bad with each other, but I've had no problems (even introducing adults together), and my females can't be trusted with other females?

[Punkygirl0101]

I don't necessarily agree that male mice will ALL kill each other,and female mice will almost always get along.

I have had male mice that did kill each other (They had lived alone for a long time, and got into each others cages and the larger one killed the smaller one.). And I have had male mice that lived together peacefully. BUT I have also had females who just did NOT get along with certain females. I had a bonded group of 3, and then added another girl to the mix..and the "Leader" of the group didn't like her, they fought constantly...so I kept the new girl out of their cage, and got her her own friends.

so it doesn't always work out the same way..Mice have individual personalities just like rats, humans,dogs,cats,etc.

[pinkie1205]

Are the female mice actually fighting to the point where there is blood?  If they are then you should separate them as soon as possible.
If they aren't drawing blood then it's probably just dominance issues (females go through it too) and they can't straighten themselves out.

[leaveittoweaver]

It could have to do with cage size. If your trying to put too many mice in a small space the three will kill them to make more room probably. And it sounds like they have an already established colony. I would just leave them alone and not try introducing them to other mice.