Handling Mouse Babies?

[RR - Mackenzie]

My female mouse, Snowball, had her babies May 17th. There are at least ten! They are all pink, and the Snowball is taking good care of them. I just wanted to know when can I handle them?

[RR - Mackenzie]

Oh, and by the way, how can I change the bedding without her eating them?

[PurplePython]

Honestly I pick the pinkys up day 1 or day 2 (whenever I notice them) and I check them all olut to make sure theres no serious deformities or anything.

The mother didn't kill any of them. I havn't been breeding mice long so I have only done this with 2 litters so far, but none of the babies were killed from it.

My first litter was 10 babies and the mother ate 1 right after she gave birth to it. My second litter is 11 babies but the mother hasn't ate 1 or acted strange towards them at all.

I wouldn't recommend to pick them up this early, but I did it with 2 litters already and had no problems at all. Just make sure your not wearing some weird perfume or have any kind of strong odor on your hands.

[musicalKeyes]

You can pick them early, but it helps to rub the bedding all over your hands. I touch them to count them and check milk bands at day one or two, but I don't usually pick them up and physically hold them until probably after week one. When you clean, just clean around the nest, and I've done this as early as the same day as the birth without any effects. Just make sure before you do anything to the nest or babies or clean, take mom out and put her in a different box. It helps, for whatever reason. When they're older I've picked up the entire nest, babies and all, to clean. Good luck! They're adorable when they all start running around.

[RR - Mackenzie]

Thanks so much guys! i just washed my hands, rubbed hay all over my hands, put mommy in a spare cage (I have her and the babies in a tall and long tub so no one decides to pop out), and picked all the babeis up, and checked them out.

They remind me of little puppies! Their tails are so adorable. There were exactly ten altogether, I could see any runts, and they made so much noise. They were warm, and I'm in love with them. They may be a little ugly, but I decided to call them "Jellybeans" for now.

I am switching my snake to a tub when my snake gets done shedding, and giving the mcie the 55 gallon aquarium (my snake will be eating the male babies, even though I love them all!) and I will be keeping the female mice for Snowball. Ugh, I might jsut keep them all, I have no idea!

I was wondering when can I switch them to a 55 gallon without stressing out the mommy?

[musicalKeyes]

The first time I switched mine was probably a week and a half, maybe two weeks old. If you scoop up the entire nest and just nestle it into a corner in the new tank, she should be perfectly fine. As long as the nest smell is still there, I don't think they care too much

[RR - Mackenzie]

The first time I switched mine was probably a week and a half, maybe two weeks old. If you scoop up the entire nest and just nestle it into a corner in the new tank, she should be perfectly fine. As long as the nest smell is still there, I don't think they care too much

Thanks so much! I absolutely love them, and I know this is very bad for a snake owner, but I get attached to the food I'll probably end up keeping them all in separate cages, or giving them away to friends. I can't stand knowing the animal and then feeding it.

[musicalKeyes]

Thanks so much! I absolutely love them, and I know this is very bad for a snake owner, but I get attached to the food I'll probably end up keeping them all in separate cages, or giving them away to friends. I can't stand knowing the animal and then feeding it.

I have the same problem I just tell myself that if I ever get a cool female, I can keep that one, but in the end it doesn't end up being too terribly hard to feed off the males. Keeping the females is a good idea though, they'll keep each other company, and I'm sure you could find homes for the males if you wanted, they are pretty cute, albeit stinky, pets

[RR - Mackenzie]

I have the same problem I just tell myself that if I ever get a cool female, I can keep that one, but in the end it doesn't end up being too terribly hard to feed off the males. Keeping the females is a good idea though, they'll keep each other company, and I'm sure you could find homes for the males if you wanted, they are pretty cute, albeit stinky, pets

And Snowball is such a sweetie, and mice are very social animals, so I'll probably keep one or two female mice. I have no idea about the males though Wish me luck!

[Tzeentch]

I just started to breed my own mice. I have three pregnant females. No matter how cute and cuddly they look, they will still all get feed to the snakes.