Feeder might be breeder

We picked up four feeders from a different petstore today since we didn't want to drive out to our usual store and the feeders we have in the tank are still growing (all are above 15g now).

We weighed the feeders to get a better idea of which mouse should go to which snake and one mouse was 18g, two were 27g and the other was 33. The 27 gramers and the 33g mouse were the same size, length and body build wise but the 33g mouse was very fat. It is a female and we suspect she's pregnant. Is there anyway I could post a picture of her for you all to see and perhaps get some opinons on her status as pregnant or not.

We are going to keep her in her own tub for two weeks to see if she does give birth to any babies. If after two weeks, we have no babies, she might be raised up to be a future breeder. If she does then we'll let her raise the babies and then put her on vacation until she's old enough to have more litters. We don't know her age, so maybe having other people take a look at her will give us a better idea of her age and whether she is pregnant or not.

Here are pics of the female mouse.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...breeder004.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...breeder001.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...breeder010.jpg

I would say she looks preggo to me. Do you have any aspen to keep her on those pellet dont look comfortable.

Richard

I said the same thing bout my pellets and I gave my rats some socks to nest with.

The way I've been determining for sure if a girlie mouse is prego is hold her up by the tail. If she looks like she's packin' marbles either side between her rib cage and hips, she's pregnant. I'll also gently run my fingers over those lumps - if they feel quite firm, ding ding! Depending on the size of the mouse, the same mouse may not look pregnant just naturally sitting in the cage.

Yea, she looks like it to me, too. My rat Maisy is preggo with her first litter- and mine! :D I'm excited- and I think she is too!! We still have two weeks or so to go though (but shes already agining!) your mouse looks pretty ready to pop!

I could dig up some old socks that my fiance can't wear anymore because they have holes in them now. lol. We gave her some cardboard to chew up and make a nest out of. Would toilet tissue work well for a nest?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

Would toilet tissue work well for a nest?

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Absolutely. I give my mommas TP* or kitchen roll/paper towel, either of which I rip up a bit.

*Prolly wanna stear clear of highly lotioned TP if that's what you have.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cassandra

I give my mommas TP or kitchen roll/paper towel, either of which I rip up a bit.

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Can you tell I married a Brit? :D

If you've got an old phone book around just rip thin strips of that up for her. Rodents love the stuff and momma rodents do like it for nest building. It doesn't make a good bedding for them as it can get nasty fast but a handful or two is all you need anyways.

She looks preggers to me (I'm no mouse expert though lol).

Well the majority of people are saying she's preggers. Ok, how long do you think till babies? One week? Two? I gave her tissue paper and she made a little sleeping spot out of it. She's started to chew up the cardboard.

Ok I say 3 days until she give's birth.One thing with mice is that they like to feel safe and hidden. and they dont like bright light at all.

Richard

Oooh, I feel an office pool coming on...

More than 3 days...more like a week is my guess. They get really hooooooge before they pop.

I'd show you my preggers girl, but I think she's gonna blow tonight or tomorrow, so I don't want to disturb her. She's made a serious burrowed nest in shaved aspen and TP. =)

And don't worry that when she does give birth, you may see what looks like quite a bit of dried blood/etc. on the TP. It seems pretty normal. =)

She's not making any mad dash to build a nest. Who knows, she might just be a fat girl. I guess we'll see.

So far we have:

Halfdawg for 3 days
cassandra for 1 week

Any other takers? No real prize except the knowledge that you are the best at guessing mouse due dates. lol.

i'll up half dawg by one day tops. Late Late Monday night, or Tuesday when your away from the house.

Halfdawg: 3 days
cassandra: 1 week
littleindiangirl: 4 days
My fiance: 5 days

We checked on Mama as she is now called and she has gotten bigger and she has constructed a fairly large nest. I would take pictures but I'm afraid of stressing her out. We are hoping to have little babies by the end of the week. :D

Checked on Mama again and she is not leaving her nest for anything so we have our fingers crossed that she will have her babies soon. Never thought I'd be excited about a pregnant mouse. :P

She has a very large nest and is pretty much ignoring her food. I put her away in the dark for the remainder of the night. I will check her in the morning.

Now, when she has the babies, how long should I wait before disturbing them?

unless you need pinks for snake food, i'd leave her alone indefinitely. How big do you want them to get? Are they food or pets or some indefinite mix?

If she came from the same place as the other two (like, same container in a pet store) it's likely that the other two are pregnant too, if you haven't already fed them off.

Anyway, unless you want them for pets, leave them alone except to clean when you have to. when they get big enough, feed them off. Mice have more cannibalistic tendencies than many other rodent species, and your scent could cause them to go off the deep end. If they're to be pets, you can probably handle them once they start getting their fur coats, and def. by the time they open their eyes.

OOO! I change my bet. (since we were so horribly wrong) Tonight or tomorrow morning, again, when no one's around. :D:D:D

She was HUGE the last time I checked her. She looks like she's carrying around two golf balls in her belly. She has only left the nest to drink.

The babies will be a mixture of feeders from different stages, depending on how many survive. We are in need of pinkies and adults right now so some will be culled at the pinkie stage, and some will be grown up to be feeders as adults.

Any tips on humanely culling pinkies? I refuse to whack them against anything. Thats just too brutal for me. A CO2 chamber could be built tomorrow if needed.

Checked on her and she is actually in the process of giving birth. I called my fiance up to have a quick look and then we left her alone to finish giving birth. I counted at least three so we have our fingers crossed for more.

littleindiangirl, you and my fiance were right on! :banana:

Ok, a total of 5 babies, all with milk bands, so she's defiantly nursing them. We gave her some more food and will be giving her extra things to help her stay healthy while she nurses.

That's great news!

The generally accepted way of putting pinkies down is by putting them into a freezer. The colder the better. Pinkies are not susceptable to CO2 like older rats and mice, so this will be the best way. (CO2 creates an acid in their lungs, and it takes a very long time for them to pass)