Momma eating babies

[Clint Bundy]

For some reason my mother mice will almost always eat their babies. They are all in seperate cages. They are all fed plenty rat block and water changed daily. I am taking the best care for them that I can but they seem to think they need to eat their young. What is going wrong?

[Shenzi Sixaxis]

Is it just one? Sometimes a doe will eat every baby she can, including her own and those that are not. Find out if it's just one or two or the whole group. If it's one or two, kill them off. If it's the whole group, you have to be doing something wrong.

One thing you said was "rat lab block". Mice and rats are very similar, but sometimes rat and mouse food has too much protein for one species and not enough fat or something. If you are sure the whole group is cannibalistic, try another litter while adding some critter or wild bird feed to their food. You can find that at Walmart for a good price, and it's generally very high in fat, so good for the mothers (though you may find a lazy and over weight male after a while, heh).

If you still get cannibalism occurring, cull the whole group and start another. In fact, try starting two groups, that way you don't waste more time if another group is cannibalistic and the other is not.

Another thing, some first time mothers will eat their babies out of inexperience. It's POSSIBLE all your mothers may be doing that if they are first timers.

Another thing, try keeping them all together. Mothers may be overwhelmed while alone, and a whole group will take care of the babies. The male will even sit on them to keep them warm while the mothers eat, drink, rest, groom, or socialize.




But I do hope this helps. I couldn't even get two groups of mice to drop babies for me.