Mice Mommas

[rabernet]

My second pet store mouse had her litter today, 12 alive, 1 dead that she was eating when I got home that looked deformed. I removed it and she quickly settled into nursing her new brood.

So, I have another momma about to wean hers in the next few days. Would she be able to help the new momma?

I'm off to go do some googling in the meantime!

[rabernet]

Hmmm, this is interesting:

Lactation normally lasts 3 weeks. It is a good idea to wean the litter and sex segregate them at this time. By continually supplying surrogate litters, a female's lactation can be extended up to 70 days.

From: http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/breeding.html

The momma with the older litter has babies that are 3 weeks and 2 days old

My problem is they all look like little girls to me!

[frankykeno]

Don't know if this will help you or not Robin. I don't seperate my rat litters till they wean around 3.5 to 4.5 weeks of age and with boy rats...well...it's pretty obvious. I've had one male that didn't drop his stuff for awhile so got in with the females but thank goodness didn't get any of them preggers.

http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/sexing.cfm

I just hold the boys butt down (sort of under their arm or rather rat pits) and let gravity help rather than by the tail but heck if I know any other way lol and I'm only used to sorting rats not little bitty meeses.