Will They or Won't They?
Abstract
Spiny and Furry mice are naturally aggressive toward one another. My report shows a unique contradiction of this normal behavior.
Problem Statement
Animals of the same genus but different species tend to be aggressive with each other.
Hypothesis
When nursed and raised together, a spiny mouse and furry mouse will live together in harmony.
Materials
3 baby spiny mice
1 baby furry mouse
2 small cartons of soymilk
2 glass eye droppers
1 small carrying cage (a 5 gallon size)
mixed rodent seed
1 20-gallon fish tank
1 water dispenser
Procedure
First the cage was prepared for the babies� arrival. One baby spiny mouse and one baby furry mouse were put into the cage together, where they will live together.
The following are daily and weekly needs that must be met:
Daily: Feed each mouse soymilk with dropper every hour during the day, at night every two to three hours. Seed and water dispenser are introduced on the 7th day. The water in the dispenser is changed every day. On the 14th day hand feedings are discontinued. Each of mice is handled for feeding as well as for exercise and play. The mice are brought back and forth from home and school settings each day so that care can be continuous.
Weekly: The age is rinsed out and fresh bedding is put in.
Data & Observation
Day 1: Eggbert, the spiny mouse, born Sept. 5, 2000
Day 2: Take Eggbert from mother and feed with dropper every 2 hours, day and night
Day 3: Eggbert doing well, although he is small and fragile. Butterball, the furry mouse, is 2 days old and is placed into cage with Eggbert. The mice sleep together.
Day 4: Comparisons are made between Eggbert and siblings. Eggbert is found to be much smaller and less active. Butterball is doing fine. The mice continue to sleep together.
Day 5: Eggbert becomes less active, and refuses to feed. During the night Eggbert is cold and shivering and later falls on his back and dies!
Day 6: Eggbert�s brother Roo is taken from mother and joins Butterball in the cage. These two mice sleep next to each other.
Day 7: Butterball continues to do well, but Roo appears malnourished as compared to his siblings.
Day 8: Roo was placed back with mother to nurse. Mother bites Roo on his leg. Gilbert, Roo�s sibling, is placed with Butterball. Gilbert does not need soy feedings and begins eating seed immediately. Butterball continues soy feedings every two hours, although she begins to eat seed. Gilbert and Butterball are next to each other while sleeping.
Day 9: Both mice are off soy and are eating seed and using the water dispenser. The mice appear to be friendly with each other; they clean each other and sleep together. Roo cannot be found.
Day 10: Gilbert and Butterball continue to thrive and are very friendly with each other. They eat, drink, sleep and walk around together.
Day 11-21: Gilbert and Butterball continue to do well.
Day 22: Roo is found in another cage with a new litter of spiny mice. The mother of this litter adopted Roo. Students recognized Roo because he had a scar from his mother�s bite on his leg.
Day 23: Gilbert and Butterball develop habit of jumping on water dispenser and trying to gnaw their way out of the cage.
Day 29: Gilbert begins gnawing on student�s hands when picked up out of cage. Originally, Gilbert only backed, and only Butterball burrowed, but now both mice exhibit both behaviors.
Results
After finding out that baby spiny mice do not do well nursing on soymilk, the experiment was successfully completed with a spiny mouse and a furry mouse living together.
Conclusion
Our question was whether a furry mouse and a spiny mouse could live together in harmony. The experimenters placed two babies, one of each kind, together in a cage and maintained a regular schedule of feeding and care. The spiny mice were found to need their mother�s milk, not soymilk, for the first week of life. In the second week it was obvious that the two different mice shared the cage in a friendly manner. They slept close together; they ate together, drank together, and walked around together. In the end they also copied each other�s actions, such as gnawing on the same things, vocalizing in the same way, and burrowing in the same part of the litter. There were no aggressive behaviors seen during their time together. The hypothesis stated that when nursed and raised together a spiny mouse and a furry mouse will live together in harmony. The hypothesis was only partially proved due to the fact that a non-nursing mouse was used in the final experiment.
Sources of Error
As was proven during the experiment, soymilk is not a good replacement for mother�s milk. During the procedure, due to malnourishment one spiny mouse died and the other had to be returned to its mother. Therefore, the animals used in the final experiment were a nursing furry mouse and a seven-day-old spiny mouse.
Abstract
Have you ever wondered if two different species of mice can live together? Well once you read this you are going to find out.
Problem Statement
Will an Egyptian Spiny mouse and Furry mouse live together in harmony without their mothers?
Hypothesis
They will live and grow up in harmony together always.
Materials
3 baby spiny mice
1 baby furry mouse
2 small cartons of soymilk
2 glass eye droppers
1 small carrying cage (a 5 gallon size)
mixed rodent seed
1 20-gallon fish tank
1 water dispenser
Data & Observation
Day 1: Eggbert born; Butterball born.
Day 2: Eggbert with mother and fine. Butterball fine.
Day 3: We take Eggbert away from mother and we take home, Butterball drinking water.
Day 4: Eggbert is getting weaker. Butterball playful.
Day 5: Eggbert not moving around a lot. Butterball fine. Take home Eggbert.
Day 5: (night) 3 am feeding. Eggbert is shaking, then squeaking, then shaking, and then he falls on his back and dies.
Day 7: Get Butterball; put him in separate cage.
Day 8: Get Roo. Butterball fine.
Day 9: Roo does not grow. Butterball acting like Roo is brother.
1 month later: Put Roo in with mother so she can feed. Leave in cardboard, so mother can feed. Come back and find out that mother bit Roo. We put Roo aside for one day in separate cage. Butterball big and sweet.
Day 32: Can�t find Roo. He is lost.
Day 33: Get Gilbert. Butterball likes him better. Eat seed and water.
2 weeks later: Found Roo, but he is grown. Keep him in cage with mother and family.
Day 47: Butterball fully-grown and so is Gilbert
Results
Butterball got along with all three mice. Let�s hope that Eggbert is resting in peace. Roo was a very lucky little mouse. He stayed alive because of his family. Gilbert and Butterball are very best of friends. Gilbert is very active and playful.
Eggbert was not the strongest mouse out the whole pack. He was the weakest. Roo was about to die because we gave him soymilk instead of having his mother. Gilbert was already mostly grown so he was the strongest out of the three. Butterball was a very friendly little mouse. He made friends with all three of them.
Conclusion
Have you ever wished upon a star? That is like taking care of mice. The mice were like my very own children. I woke up for their feeding, I skipped lunch to make sure they were ok and I loved them dearly. I learned something from Eggbert�s death. One, never take a baby away from its mother before it is ready to. Two to give them as much love as they deserve and most of time that means a lot.
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