When separating hoppers from mommy mice

Ok, so i have a very small mouse colony 1:1 in a 10 gallon tank. My female mouse gave birth to 9 babies (her first litter) and we did not lose a single one. And yes, they will be snake food soon.

They are in the hopper stage now and it will be 21 days next Tuesday and I will be separating them ... My question is, can I keep all 9 buggers in a 10 gallon tank? I mean, they will be fed off weekly (2 at a time). My concern is with cannibalism and/or overcrowding. They will have plenty of food and water ...

Thanks in advance

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Originally Posted by atachamp

Ok, so i have a very small mouse colony 1:1 in a 10 gallon tank. My female mouse gave birth to 9 babies (her first litter) and we did not lose a single one. And yes, they will be snake food soon.

They are in the hopper stage now and it will be 21 days next Tuesday and I will be separating them ... My question is, can I keep all 9 buggers in a 10 gallon tank? I mean, they will be fed off weekly (2 at a time). My concern is with cannibalism and/or overcrowding. They will have plenty of food and water ...

Thanks in advance

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With plenty of food and water (and constant cleaning) yes they should do fine. The bigger issue is that over the next 5 weeks you will have another litter (and this will cause issues). I would recommend you at least remove the breeding pair to a seperate cage and just leave the hoppers in a cage together.

Yes, that is what I am planning to do. Leave mom and dad in a 10 gallon and move the hoppers to another one ... Do you think this would be OK?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by atachamp

Yes, that is what I am planning to do. Leave mom and dad in a 10 gallon and move the hoppers to another one ... Do you think this would be OK?

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I think this would be fine. :)

That should be fine, however you may wish to feed off the males first. A problem I've run into is that the males will fight if there are females in season in the same cage though this doesn't actually happen often especially if they've all been raised together, just something I've noted once in a while.

Thanks a lot. I will feed off the males first.

Plus too many mature males together will make a big airborne musk ball

Haha, I've actually had the opposite effect. Well the mice have.. One male mouse by himself will stink up the whole room whereas 15 male mice in a 10 gallon smell like females. It's odd, but I guess they don't feel the need to scent mark EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN. Ever touched anything in a lone male mouse's cage? Yeah, slimey, pee-crusted fun.

Try 2-3 males with a dozen or so females. "Candy" coated food bowls

It's a Lemon Drop, I promise! Muahaha ;)