Had to put down a male breeder mouse...

[CntrlF8]

Well, last night I was checking on my mice and found my oldest male breeder mouse laying prone in the tub. His belly was very swollen, his eyes were goop'd shut, and he was basically unable to move. I did a little investigating and found feces stuck to his butt with a big chunk of a wood pellet in it. It looks like he ate a few pellets of Woody Pet and got his bowels impacted... Anyways, after a little hesitation I went ahead and made the decision to put him down. Cervical Dislocation was really the only method available to me at the time, so that's what I went with.

I was sad to see him go, but it really looked like he was suffering, and likely wouldn't have made it anyways. I can always replace a breeder, but watching them suffer just isn't something I want to do. Now I just have to find an appropriate replacement, and figure out how to get him introduced to them without them killing him (already happened once with this 0.2).

Also, I've been keeping an eye on all of my others. Male, female, young and old. So far nobody else is showing any signs of illness. I did have dreams all night, though, of waking up to dozens of sets of eyes all goop'd over with crud... :-(

[2kdime]

That's got to be sad. Maybe try exchanging that woody pet stuff out for something else?

[Patrick Long]

i hate the neck breaking man...thats just sad. you should look up the diy co2 chamber. it slowly puts them to sleep, just like there getting tired. no pain. maybe just a little better then neck snapping?

[ADEE]

wow, very sad. i agree with switching bedding

pat, at least its fast... i hope to never have to put an animal down like that, in fact i couldnt i would take it to my vet friend and have her put it down if God forbid that day comes with our pet rats

[Ginevive]

Ouch; sorry to hear about that. Maybe take a spray bottle and moisten the pellets a bit to break them into smaller pieces? I am not sure though; if WP can be eaten, I guess that shavings could also. I had an American toad that died of impaction years ago, after somehow eating a small pebble that had been in the dirt in his cage. I am sorry, again.

[CntrlF8]

Ouch; sorry to hear about that. Maybe take a spray bottle and moisten the pellets a bit to break them into smaller pieces? I am not sure though; if WP can be eaten, I guess that shavings could also. I had an American toad that died of impaction years ago, after somehow eating a small pebble that had been in the dirt in his cage. I am sorry, again.

Agreed.. I don't think it's the choice of bedding, it was just bad luck. Sometimes it just happens that way, and there's nothing you can do about it. I wouldn't trade woody pet for any other bedding, even after this little incident. I've had great success on it, and you can't blame a single freak incident on it. If it becomes a problem, though, I'll be singing a different tune...

[CntrlF8]

Well, this incident has definitely impacted my breeding operation... None of my others are sick or anything, but the tub that the male belonged to had 11 pinkies in it on Saturday when I took him out, and only 2 when I checked yesterday. They've never cannibalized before, so I can only assume that his absence is stressing them.

Both the girls in the tub are pregnant at the moment, and I'm just going to let them birth out and hopefully raise the litters they're pregnant with and then probably feed them off. They're nearing the end of their "prime" anyways, so it's time for their daughters to take over...