wound on end of pet mouses tail

Question
Hello Natasha,
My daughter has a pet mouse, Mighty she had had him for about 6 months.
he has been fine, very active.
He seems to have bit his own tail last night, and is acting strange. We had a
cardboard tube in his cage, and we are not sure if he got stuck, but we
removed it yesterday. There is blood in the cage, and we will not let her
change the bedding for fear he might bite us if he is sick. Any suggestions???

Thanks,
Amanda

Answer
Extra comment:  If he does not have a wheel it is likely he bit himself out of sheer boredom.  He needs a wheel and other toys to amuse him, especially because he lives alone.  Good luck!

Dear Amanda,

Does he have food?

The mouse couldn't have hurt himself on the cardboard tube; however depending on the style of wheel, that might have been it (if he doesn't have one, he needs one).  He might have got it caught on something, like if he climbed on top of the water bottle or something.  I don't know how much blood and where, but let's hope it's just from one tail injury. Do give him the tube back.  They really like them.

Handle the mouse at first with gloves on, leather better than cloth but anything that a little mouse's teeth wouldn't go through.  See if he acts normal when being handled.  How was he acting differently?  Did anything else happen recently?  Had he gotten out of the cage at all?  Scared by a cat or wild mice?  Mice have delicate nervous systems and something might have freaked him out.  Unfortunately you can't rule anything out, like being a little crazy.

But I would like to hope that it was a one-time thing and he will be fine now.  Just use the gloves for a couple of days until you feel safe with him.  I think he will be ok.

If he is still not ok after a day, still acting weird, bites himself again, or you want to answer my questions, I can think about it further.  

Don't worry about the tail too much-- it will heal itself and mice barely feel their tails anyway.  Sometimes I gently tug on my mice's tails just for fun because they don't even notice!  (But they will break off, so still never pick him up by his tail except at the very base and then put your other hand under him right away).

I wish little Mighty good luck.  If he has only been with you for 6 months he might well have another year and a half yet to go.  

squeaks,

Natasha