One of my feeders had babies, please help.

I'm new to this forum and need some advice.

I have had a ball python for about 7 years now. I used to get mice one at a time from a pet store that was right next door from my place of work. A couple of years ago the petstore closed and there was no other petstore close by. As a result I would buy mice 4 or 5 at a time to last a little while. I have sinced learned only to buy females because the males kill each other.

Today I went to my mice aquarium and found that one of the 5 mice just had babies. I never wanted to breed mice. I don't know what to do.

When can I separate the mice and the babies?
How can I tell which one is the mother? (My snake needs to eat and I don't want to feed him the mother)

any advice to a beginner would be appriciated.

If your wanting to feed off some females, look at your females bellys, if the nipples are swollen then leave that one.
Sometimes other mice in the group will nurse too but as long as one is nursing they will be fine.
You can also just wait a half hour and check in on the mice and see which one is nursing and leave that one then. You snake will not starve in that time :P

Just leave her to do her job, you'll have weaned mice in less than 2 weeks and you sure got your moneys worth!
Im not sure off hand at what day mice wean, but as long you see them eating or drinking on their own then they can be seperated.
Then you can grow the babies and feed them off if you like. Saved you a trip to the pet store!

And welcome by the way!!

As far as determining the mother, the above post is correct. My mice colonies nurse communally, meaning that all of the females nurse all of the babies, not just their own. If your mice are mature, which it sounds like they very well could be, then there is a good chance that it will not matter which mice you take from the cage because the others will pick up the slack.

I typically remove my weaned mice from the breeding colony between 3 and 4 weeks old. Most of the mice sites that I have looked at suggest waiting until 4 weeks, but I have had no ill effects from separating as early as 3 weeks.

Hope this helps,

John

Thank you both for your advice. :)

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Originally Posted by John Marker

As far as determining the mother, the above post is correct. My mice colonies nurse communally, meaning that all of the females nurse all of the babies, not just their own. If your mice are mature, which it sounds like they very well could be, then there is a good chance that it will not matter which mice you take from the cage because the others will pick up the slack.

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This is not true. Unless all the females are pregnant and nursing, they will not be able to help nurse the young of another female, and it very much matters who the real mother mouse is. You can find out who the mother is, but either watching, to see who nurses, or lifting the mice one by one, and checking their nipples. The mother mouse will have bare spots around her nipples from the babies nursing.

The best thing to do, is to just leave them all together, until the babies are weaned at 4-5 weeks. :)

Think of it like getting some free mice. Just keep feeding and watering the mother, and you'll have a fresh batch of mice ready to feed in a few weeks.