First batch of eaten babies
I have quite a few pregnant females and last night one of them gave birth (for the first time as far as I know). This morning I went in to change her water and saw blood on the bedding in the tub. Then I noticed there were little body parts everywhere. She has one baby left.
Has anyone had this happen and had the one (or how ever many babies) live and thrive?
Re: First batch of eaten babies
Mice are pretty high-strung, and mothers will do that when they are stressed, which is very likely if she delivered in a cage where other mice were present. Her cage mates might have also eaten them. It's best just to eliminate as much stress for pregnant females as possible. Once you know a mouse is close to delivering, place her in her own private cage where she can raise her babies, and she will be very unlikely to cannibalize them.
Re: First batch of eaten babies
She was in her own cage, but I'm thinking because she was in a tank right by the drier that she was stressed from the noise/vibration.
I just don't seem to have luck with babies this time around. A day later two more litters were born. One of them got their tank flooded 'cause the mom pushed the bedding up against the water bottle. No one died, thankfully, but the mom was sooooooo stressed out when we were changing the bedding.
Re: First batch of eaten babies
The only time I have a problem is if a water bottle empties or the ball in it gets stuck and they don't have water for a few hours. Otherwise, I have one male to five females who all stay together and raise each others babies and their cages get cleaned every day or every other day whether there're babies or not, no one seems to mind. If a mom eats babies and they're aren't any obvious things wrong, she gets fed off and replaced, but I haven't had to do that in a long time. Good luck :)
Re: First batch of eaten babies
Thanks everyone!
We have a tub of 4, 3 females and a male and I've had zero issues with them. There are two litters in there right now and one on the way :3 They're all taking care of the babies and it's going awesome XD
I check their water every day so I don't think it was lack of water. It may have just been a first time issue. If she does it again she's gone.
I've finally got rats so I'm gonna start breeding rats instead. They're easier! And they're so cute and fun to play with XD