Hair Loss!

Question
I breed mice for my local pet store. Out of the blue, I have decided to keep one as a pet, and I don't know much about problems, since I usually sell them...

I had a young male "left over" from a litter. The male from my 1 male/3 female harem died, and I put in a new male. I kept a close eye out, and sure enough after about 1 week, the little male was "kicked out" of the nest and I saw 1 or 2 patches missing hair. I knew that the new male was beating up the young male, and that is when I decided to keep him!

I put him in a separate cage right away and all seemed fine. He has been by him self for about 2 weeks, and the hair loss on his back and back legs is horrible! I tried putting some neosporin on, but it doesn't seem to have helped. I hope he isn't chewing his fur off because he is bored, as I don't really have any options on getting him a friend, unless I decide to breed him when he is older.

Other than the massive hair loss, (there are scabs from it) he seems to be fine. He eats, drinks, plays on his wheel,and chews his toys.

Any ideas?

Answer
As I'm sure you're aware, mice are social creatures and need the company of other mice. The hair loss is probably due to stress as he is lonely. I understand keeping boys together can be tricky if they haven't been brought up together.

Just to clarify, are you saying that the little male was kicked out of a cage with a new male and 3 females? If so this is because he the new male is very territorial of the females. He wants to make sure that all the babies are his and may even fight to the death to make sure they are.

I'm sure you can find a buddy for your mouse. Try to find one of approximately the same age and size and preferably from the same litter. Make sure the cage is big enough for each to have their own territory and there are plenty of hiding places such as boxes and tubes. As an extra precaution feed them plain boiled rice for a few weeks to ensure they don't fight over favorite tit-bits of food.

Massage olive/sunflower/ground nut oil on the affected areas to stimulate blood flow. It will also be therapeutic for him to lick it off and the oil will do him good.

It's a good sign he's eating and drinking and it's coming out the other end. You could breed him when he's older but it's a long time to wait for him. I strongly advise you find him a friend now, you could even take him to pet stores to find which mice he gets along best with.

Please feel free to ask any more questions. Good luck.