mouse babies being eatin!!! WTF??

[Andys-Python]

I'm new to breeding mice and discovered my baby mice being eatin by the adult mice in the colony. This has happened more than once now. The first time, I thought it was because I disturbed them. The second time, I thought maybe the cage needed cleaning. This time, in a quiet place - undisturbed, in a cage that was cleaned the day before the births, all the babies are gone! I removed one adult that I caught doing it, but obviously there is more than one in the colony of 6 females and 1 male.
Do I have too many in the colony? The container is a LARGE opaque plastic bin with a mesh wire top.
There is an overabundance of food and I give treats of carrots, lettuce, apples, raisins and waffles!

I'm doing something wrong here - HELP!

Andy-

[Andrew21]

What is the main feed? Protein is important. 6 females sounds like a lot to me. But people are very succesful with that ratio. This will probably end with you culling all the mice and starting over from scratch..

[Stewart_Reptiles]

There is an overabundance of food and I give treats of carrots, lettuce, apples, raisins and waffles!

Over abundance of food does not mean quality food. What is their main staple diet?

Mice are more prone to cannibalism than than rats however here are some of the top reason for cannibalism.


Low quality food (low protein food with fillers that have zero nutritional value)
Lack of water
Overcrowding
Stress

[Andys-Python]

I'm feeding rodent food from Walmart along with science diet dog food at 16% protien. I thought I read that if you suppliment with dog food, it should not have more than 19% protien. Maybe this was for rats - I can't remember now. I find myself second guessing everything I'm doing now.

I have several very pregnant females in this coloney. Should I house them seperately now?

Should I get more protien in their diet? Maybe add some nuts??

Andy-

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I would encourage you to dump the walmart rodent food (pet store food pretty have zero nutritional value)

See if you can provide them with Mazuri or similar lab block designed for feeders.

As far as separating it can be done, some people do harem some, run a male through the tubs where females are located. It's really a matter of preference.

Personally I like to run 1.2 or 1.3.

Make sure to provide the right food and make sure they are not overcrowded, then see how it goes.

If it does not work start from scratch with new breeders.

Mice breeding can be more tricky and it can take a few attempts, took me to attempt to build a solid colony that produce well and that does not cannibalize their youngs.

[Andys-Python]

I would encourage you to dump the walmart rodent food (pet store food pretty have zero nutritional value)

See if you can provide them with Mazuri or similar lab block designed for feeders.

As far as separating it can be done, some people do harem some, run a male through the tubs where females are located. It's really a matter of preference.

Personally I like to run 1.2 or 1.3.

Make sure to provide the right food and make sure they are not overcrowded, then see how it goes.

If it does not work start from scratch with new breeders.

Mice breeding can be more tricky and it can take a few attempts, took me to attempt to build a solid colony that produce well and that does not cannibalize their youngs.

It's not rat breeding, is it!

I think I'll break them down into 1.2 and 0.3 colonies and see what happens. I'll also get the Mazuri food for them. I think they sell that in bulk at the reptile shows around these parts. There is usually one every weekend or so. I've had some success with other colonies, so I can always grow more and feed the cannibals to the snakes if I have to.

If they 'get a taste' for babies, is it best to get rid of them??

Andy-

[GoingPostal]

I've never had much luck with mice that eat their whole litters ever being good moms so I just cull them. If they have a large litter or are new or really stressed they might eat a couple but I don't usually have many losses anymore. Sounds to me like better food and some separation would help, I tried doing 1.5 in a large tank and had no luck at all, I run 1.2.

[Skilla6000]

Right now I'm running 1.6 colonies I have experienced 1 baby being eaten. And that's it they're all doing good. I remove the male when the females are about to pop I have a bunch of baby mice born and only 1 baby being eaten. I feed hog grower from a local feed shop aswell as dog food ontop of the mesh... I also feed mealworms every now and then I started a colony of those just for my mice ( they're spoiled) and that ms about it try to offer them mealworms they're good in protein also remove the male good luck

[Skilla6000]

Also forgot to add I run 1.6 in the dish washing tubs from the dollar store... Too much room might stress them out.

[PhoenixGate]

I successfully bred mice for about 3 years before getting rid of my whole colony. I was in college at the time and just didn't have the time to properly maintain them so my roommate didn't complain about the smell.

I ran 1.2, 1.3 colonies with a high rate of success. Where are you keeping the tanks for the mice? Are the females related? I've found anything over 1.3 causes problems. As far as I can tell from your post, the females are getting stressed out and eating the babies. The males make great caregivers, I saw my males helping care for the babies if I didn't get them out of the tank before the girls gave birth.

The best thing to do is to separate them into colonies of 1.3 or less. I kept my males in with the females for two weeks and then removed them to their own cage. Do you have more than one male mouse? Sometimes if the females smell a male mouse that is not the father of their babies they will get nervous and reabsorb their babies (if pregnant) or eat them if they have already given birth. The females should be related or raised with each other. Keep the same group of females together at all times, and I would suggest removing the males after two week so the females aren't constantly pregnant. If they are pregnant with another litter I have found they will wean the first litter to early or simply kill them if they feel there isn't enough food. They will also sometimes eat the babies if their tank is not clean enough.

When reintroducing the male for another breeding cycle, remove the females to a holding tank and clean the crap out of the tank everybody is going to live in. If the tank smells predominantly like the females, they will believe its their territory and harass and/or attack the male as an intruder. If the tank is mostly clean and the females have no babies, they will think it's neutral territory and after some squabbling accept the male. Also, rearrange the permanent furniture in the cage and clean out any hides you may use for the females.

Back to my first question, where are you keeping the tanks? If there is too much traffic in the location you are keeping the mice (you, other pets, even places there there is loud noise like close to the tv and/or speakers) that will make them nervous and cause them to occasionally eat the babies.

The last thing to do is, after you trim down the colony sizes, quietly observe the females when they have babies. Remove any females who seem to eat the babies for no reason. I had one trouble-maker in my first colony that was constantly getting into fights with the other girls, and later freaked out and ate the babies for no reason. She was retired early.

I want to stress keeping the girls in a given colony together throughout their entire lives. I noticed a definite bond between all the girls in my colonies. The mice definitely become familiar with each other, and having strange females grouped together is another point of stress.

Hope this helps.