The Mama's and the Papa's (Feeder mice; 640x480 pics)

Well, only 9-days since the first (9 pups) litter was born. Here are some updated pics:

The litter of 4 (8-days old):
http://www.subliminallusion.com/imag...-1.5wks-01.jpg

The litter of 9 (9-days old):
http://www.subliminallusion.com/imag...-1.5wks-02.jpg

On the litter of 9, I'm proud to point out the cute widdle white diamonds on some of their heads - just like their mommy. *sniffles*

The dads will be removed in a couple of weeks, and the male and female babies will be isolated after they're weened (another 2 - 3 weeks or so). The parents are eating rodent mix, lab blocks and puppy kibble.

They're very cute.

I probably wouldn't use puppy food because it's usually very high in protien which can be harmful to rodents.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

They're very cute.

I probably wouldn't use puppy food because it's usually very high in protien which can be harmful to rodents.

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ACK! Yet another hotly-debated (or so I remember) aspect of feeding mice. Noted, and applied. No more puppy kibble :)

I noticed the rats getting scabby when I used higher protien dog food.. with the switch, it went away.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

I noticed the rats getting scabby when I used higher protien dog food.. with the switch, it went away.

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By "switch," do you mean a switch to dog food with lower protien? If so, which dog food do you feed your mice?

If you can stay under 20% protein for mice and under 18% protein for rats, you will do fine. I bought a bag of Wellness Senior for my rats today and it is 18%(they didn't tell me it was so darned expensive!! *sigh*). The last bag I bought was Iams Weight Control and it was 19% and it didn't cause any breakouts. Iams, Eukanuba, Dog Chow Senior, really any of the seniors(NO OL'ROY or Kibbles N Bits mess)


IAmKaervek, why are you removing the males? The momma mouse is already pregnant from him being left in there after she had the babies. They have a heat cycle right after the babies are born. If you put the male back in with a group of females, they will more than likely kill him.

If you have two extra tubs, put the weaned females in one and the males in the other. Don't worry about separating the moms and dads. The babies can be separated at about 4-5 weeks old and placed in different tubs.

If you can, stay away from that mouse mix junk. The alfalfa in it is being wasted, and nothing in it is very healthy for them to eat. Stick with the dog food and lab blocks and you won't have as much waste.

Yes, the switch to lower protien. I use Nutro brand Lite variety, and Authority adult lite variety. Mix 50/50

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

IAmKaervek, why are you removing the males? The momma mouse is already pregnant from him being left in there after she had the babies. They have a heat cycle right after the babies are born. If you put the male back in with a group of females, they will more than likely kill him.

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The reason I planned on removing him is so that he's not present when the new litter is born, which should be in about a month or less. Not to mention the information I got here:

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If you do decide to leave the father with his family, I would recommend doing so for only one litter - which means that you will probably get two litters of mice in a row, as the mother will conceive again after the first litter is born. This can work very well - the father generally spends much time looking after the babies, reducing the load on the mother. When the babies are 4 weeks old, you can separate the sexes, leaving male babies with their father, and females with their mother. I have done this on several occasions, and in each case the family of father mouse and two or three sons lived together very happily. The sons rarely fought amongst themselves, and they never challenged the father, even when he became elderly and weak. It seemed that living in this more natural social structure was a good influence on the behaviour of adolescent male mice.

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I can then reintroduce the male to the female after her 2nd litter is around 4weeks old when the pups will be split up. Does this sound OK?

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

If you have two extra tubs, put the weaned females in one and the males in the other. Don't worry about separating the moms and dads. The babies can be separated at about 4-5 weeks old and placed in different tubs.

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But shouldn't the female be given some "time off" after giving birth to a litter, like mentioned above? Removing the father for a month (1 week prior to birth and for 3 weeks after)?

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

If you can, stay away from that mouse mix junk. The alfalfa in it is being wasted, and nothing in it is very healthy for them to eat. Stick with the dog food and lab blocks and you won't have as much waste.

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Yeah, the rodent mix I have is what I purchased when I first got the mice and didn't research what exactly to feed them. Now I'm just trying to get rid of it - they can waste all the alfalfa they want. The bulk of it gets tossed out with the substrate weekly anyhow :)

I never remove the male.. and certainly would not recommend it. Sooner or later, the ladies will murder him! Picking out lumps of mouse flesh with picked clean bones and tail sticking out is not fun. :bleh:

OK then, lol. I suppose he stays. He's a great Mr. Mom, anyway! Amazing how helpful he really is.