bleeding??

i dont know if anyone will respond to this in time... but before a mouse gives birth, do they start bleeding from their.. well, you know, where the babies come from?? i picked up Nibby about 10 minutes ago to check her out, and i noticed some blood on my hand. it was just a little smear, no huge drops or anything. but it's coming from her "opening" and i dont know what that means. :? does it mean she'll be giving birth soon??

also, she has a wheel in her tank. is it ok for her to be running on it 24/7 while she's pregnant? just curious :)

one more thing. will it be bloody and what not when the babies are born?? i'm assuming it will be, just like a human birth... i dont have any experience with breeding mice, so i have no idea what to expect. :)

thanks!!!

How long is a gestation period for a mouse ? didnt she just get pregnant ?

The bleeding is normal. She should have her babies very soon. Don't worry about the wheel, she'll figure out that she needs to stop running on it when the time comes.

A mouse's gestation can be as short as 21 days.

Oh.. and if you get to watch them being born, it's a little bloody, but not a lot. Mama mouse will probably pull them out, one by one, and clean them off.. that's how the rats are anyway.

21 days.....thats amazing.

Rats are the same, they usually have a gestation of 21-23 days, with 21 being the majority. I thought it was 17-21 days on mice...? Yeah, the average is 20, sorry I had to look it up in a school book :) I should have baby ratties(pets-hairless) in 2 weeks and baby mice in 3 :) Whee!

The babies will be hairless ??

Thats so cool, you gotta get some pictures.

Adult hairless rats are so cool/funny looking they look like pinkies on steroids

We have 3 of them, 2 males and a female. I have pictures of 2 of ours, Willard(black rex dumbo) and Elliott(Mink Bareback hairless dumbo-who isn't quite hairless yet). They are baby pictures, but cute nonetheless.

Elliott:
https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...44/Elliott.jpg

Willard:
https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...44/Willard.jpg

They are both going to be huge though, only 2 months old now.

Is there any reason why you wouldn't want to use hairless rats as feeders? One pet store around here has them.. I considered buying one.

thanks Shelby!! she's building her nest like crazy now, so i hope i get to see it maybe tonight. blood doesnt bother me at all, and i'm going to try and take some pictures. im excited!!

It's neat to watch. I've seen my rat give birth twice out of four times. She's about to pop any day now. :)

So, all the cute pinkies are born.. then you gonna pop them in the freezer? :P

Good luck angela !

I would love to see some pics.......Im sure my corn Ruby would too :twisted:

When my hamster had babies, i gave her a bunch of cotton to build her nest with,poleyester fiberfil works great too.I fill my hamsters hide with it and hes always in there, its so nice and comfy.

But thats only if you feel like spoiling her :wink:

I can't say I ever feel like spoiling a mouse. lol

Rats are very innovative when making nests. Sometimes she plops all her babies in the food dish, and once she ripped all the duct tape off the lid of her cage (to keep her in, she was chewing holes in it!) and made a duct tape nest. Not sure the little ones appreciated that one.

Oh, and I do have a better lid on the rat cage now. :p

Congrats on your nesting mouse, Smash. I noticed that they will get HUGE just ebfore the birth, almost like they swallowed a pingpong ball. Is she like that? It is also less stressful if they have something to hide the babies under; my mother mice are given a half-log hide for this. They will actually urinate and defecate outside of the nest to keep things clean! This makes cleaning a snap; you can just scoop out the bedding from the outside of the nest and not disturb the babies.
I did not notice much blood when my two mouse mamas gave birth. I suspect maybe they lick it up to keep the nest clean?
Good luck with your mama!

Hairless rats at petstores usually cost more than fancy rats. Petco tried to sell me one for around $20-$25 bucks but I wasn't going to have it. They aren't very good to breed either, since the females sometimes won't lactate. We're hoping Harry does. If you want a hairless rat as a pet, I say get one from a breeder. Pet store rats have so many problems (mainly internal parasites, URI, etc). I got one rat from Petco, Lloyd(girl), and when I did a fecal, there were so many tapeworm eggs and coccidia, you could barely see the slide underneath. Nasty...

For using them as feeders, I wouldn't. The cost would be too high and since they don't have hair and hair is a source of protein for the snake, I don't see them as being very healthy. They also don't get to be as big as haired rats, at least ours aren't. They burn fat like crazy, so 2 out of 3 of ours are lean and trim, with the exception of Elliott, and he came from a good breeder who fed him... Alot... :) Anyway...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shelby

It's neat to watch. I've seen my rat give birth twice out of four times. She's about to pop any day now. :)

So, all the cute pinkies are born.. then you gonna pop them in the freezer? :P

---

see... here's the thing...
Cody pointed out something to me. Apollo eats small mice, the size up from fuzzies. the mice that Nibby has are going to take at LEAST 3 months to get to that size. by then, i'll probably have become attached to them, or at the least, Apollo will have moved up a size. so.... i'm not quite sure what i'm going to do with the babies yet. :?

the pet store i buy my mice from is willing to take them. so... maybe i'll do that. i dont know

Thanks for the info on hairless rats. I still want a dumbo and a rex for a breeder.. dunno how I'll get them though.

Smash, by the time the third or fourth litter comes along, I think You'll have no problem dispatching them and turning them into mouse popsicles. Course, I'm not a big mouse fan.

I think my rat will have her babies tomorrow..

Quote:

---

the pet store i buy my mice from is willing to take them. so... maybe i'll do that. i dont know

---

Maybe trade weanlings for half as many of the size Apollo needs?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marla

Quote:

---

the pet store i buy my mice from is willing to take them. so... maybe i'll do that. i dont know

---

Maybe trade weanlings for half as many of the size Apollo needs?

---

thats what i was thinking too. :)

Good luck. That would be a good deal for both of you. :)

i'm just updating... no babies yet. i'm so impatient, i told Nibby she has to hurry up. hehe... i put a little box in there for her and made some holes so i can see if there's babies in there without disturbing her. *sigh* she's not having them fast enough! :)

i breed rats as feeders for my BP on a regular basis it's probley the best way i think that way you know how healty your rats are.
but i would consider not messing with them for a day or so after birth do to that she could eat them do to stress or fear,but the are bald and blind and take about 2 weeks to open there eyes and start growing fur,but there cute as it gets when there babies

I can't speak for mice, but my rat never minds me handling her babies right after they're born.