Our mice buried their dead cagemate ...?

It's not uncommon to hear about mice and rats burying their dead. Not too long ago I walked in on one of my rats burying the other.

Animals do it as a natural reaction. Mice make nests and stay there for quite some time, and corpses smell really bad after a while. Burying the body reduces the smell. It's really nothing to worry about. I'm really sorry about your mouse though. You must have loved her very much

i had 2 rats and the oldest got a tumor and died very shortly after diagnosed in her cage the youngest rat had buried her too...was awfuly sad she was seeming to be pretective and aware when we took her away rats don't like being on thier own but we give her lots of attention n seems fine now...I'm sorry for your loss.....it must be just something they do.

Lesley x

Maybe it is instinct? The sight of a dead mouse could encourage predators in the wild, so maybe that is why they do it. We cleaned out mice at college once, and we uncovered a dead mouse in the bedding.

Not really sure why they do it, Maybe just sad seeing the body or something.. But one of my rats died other week and it did the exact same thing, So don't think its that uncommon.

This happened to one of my gerbils. Unfortunately by the time I got her out, the others had eaten a substantial part of her. It was awful.

They often eat them unfortunately.

Sorry you lost one of your pets. Mice are nice little things.

im guessing it wasnt really buried, sometimess when animals die, they struggle, and he might of slipped underneath the bedding and eventually died D= im so sorry for your loss

where did they get the spades i wonder

they