TABLE 1.

Troubleshooting table.

Step	Problem	Possible reason	Solution
5	A majority of CD-1 mice fail to pass criteria for inclusion	Old/large screener mice; insufficient acclimation period	Change the screener mice and extend the number of days of screening
6	CD-1 mice show aggressive behavior but do not induce susceptible populations of defeated mice	CD-1 mice have been used for more than three consecutive social defeat batches	Replace CD-1 mice
8,9	Defeated mice show excessive wounding	Duration of daily defeats are too long; specific aggressors repeatedly overachieve	Switch from 10- to 5-min daily defeats; remove specific aggressors from the experiment if they are consistently wounding mice
	Mice escape their compartment between defeats	Too much bedding; too little food/water on top of cage lid; warped divider	Remove some bedding and add weight to lid; check divider for proper fit
	Aggressors appear uninterested in defeat session	Habituation to defeat protocol	Remove aggressor from experiment