Babies getting ate

[Raptor]

My breeding pair is 1.2 and kept in a ten gal aquarium and are fed large parrot food. I'm not always home, so I don't always know when breeding goes on and my females don't get overly huge during pregnancy. So, knowing if they're pregnant or not is fairly hard. Usually, the other female in the tank will steal the newborn pups and start eating them. I'm not really sure why this is happening. My only guess is that there's not enough protein in their diet (even though I've read in numerous places that high protein = bad for mice). Still, I'm half considering adding a few bits of either dog food or cat food into their diet.

Suggestions, with the exception of completely changing food. If it's not at wal-mart I can't get it (wal-mart has hamster/gerbil, different types of parrot food, and small containers of mouse/rat food that wouldn't last two weeks). The nearest decent petstore is 45 minutes away in a part of town that we normally don't go to. Additionally, ordering things online is out due to no paypal/credit card.

[Mike Schultz]

Have you considered a home-made food mix?

[singingtothewheat]

Well. I know sometimes the mom will eat her first litter. I had that with a rat lately. Are you seeing one mouse/ rat doing this exclusively? More than once? She'd be feed off if I had her.

I'd try a different diet. I like the Harlan Teklad 2018 and get it in a 33lb bag.

[Raptor]

I fed off one female that did it, but the one that did it this time has had pups before and was a pretty decent mother.

As I stated in my original post, if the food cna't be bought at wal-mart, it isn't an option. Besides, 33 pounds is an aweful lot for less than 20 mice (not to mention, would eat up what money I get which is needed for food at college).

A homemade diet might be feasible. Do you have any links to recipes?

[singingtothewheat]

No i don't but check out the feed store for hog food. There is a post somewhere on here about using a hog food and it working fine. I did check into it but couldn't find that brand and the brand I did find wouldn't work with my feeder bins.
I have also had a friend who is a long term breeder tell me that the really cheap aldy food brand dog food works just fine

[Raptor]

Hog feed isn't an option. Parents have goats and accidentally giving the goats hog feed wouldn't be too good of an idea, I'm sure. Besides, I think that the hog feed only comes in 25 and 50 pound bags. I'd need something around 8 or 10 else I wouldn't be able to use it fast enough and I'd end up with stale/moldy food on my hands.

[GoingPostal]

I guess I don't understand the question, you realize you are feeding them improperly but don't want the answer to change food? Do you have a bank account? It's not difficult to set up a paypal card or get a debit going on. Or maybe a friend/family member will order for you if you ask?

Homemade mix is an option but is spendy and way more of a pain in the butt. You can't just throw a little of this and a little of that, it needs to be balanced or you will continue to have the same problem. You can try mixing in dog food, senior diets have low protien. They smell a ton worse on dog food IME though.

Most lab blocks come in 50 pound bags, you can freeze it for 6 months to a year depending on brand but the price and effect on production would be worth it even if you are wasting some. I only have about 20 breeders, plus 20 or so feeders at any given time and go through about 15 pounds a month. If there's a feed store near you (look on dealer websites to locate) they could order some in for you. I get Mazuri 6f for $23 a bag and buy 2 bags at a time, the nearest dealer to me is an hour away but it's still more cost effective to go that way.

[Raptor]

My mom's name is on the bank account and she doesn't want it linked to the paypal, nor do my parents like ordering things online. Additionally, I rarely have money since I'm either paying for tuition/books, or having to buy food ate the cafeteria since both days I'm at the college I'm there for a minimum of ten hours. $20 is all I get every two weeks and the money has to last else I have nothing to eat (no, I can't take a lunch pail with me. I already carry 25 pounds worth of books. Anymore weight and my poor luggage bag will collapse). Additionally, freezing isn't an option because the freezer on the backporch is full (step-dad refuses to do anything with the bee hive stuff, even though nothing is done with the bees anymore). Which is why I want small bags, however, I simply don't have the money to pay $5 plus tax for a two and a half pound bag (that, and the mice refused to touch the lab blocks).

More than anything, I'm wanting to know if there's anything I can supplement with. The food I use is either http://www.hartz.com/Hartz_Products/...rrot_diet.aspx or Ultra-Blend Gourmet Diet for Parrots (couldn't find a website that had it).

Trust me, it's a fairly frustrating situation. Admittedly, there's a petstore closer by, but it's a family ran one with a very had history of not taking care of their reptiles (once went in and found two dead snakes on display).

[kc261]

I'll skip the lecture about not owning animals you can't properly take care of. I was once a young person who was much more of an animal person than either of my parents, so although I don't think it is a good decision, I can at least understand how you can get there.

I think in your situation, the best thing may be to switch to dog food. It isn't the best diet for mice, but it is readily available, not too expensive, and plenty of people have successfully raised mice on dog food, so at least we know it can be done reasonably well.

I'd also suggest separating your females once they are pregnant. This shouldn't be necessary, but it might help you get past the original hump. It can be very hard to get a mouse colony started sometimes, but most people report much more success once they are on the 2nd generation.

Good luck, and keep asking questions. We'll help you as much as we can.

[Raptor]

I can take care of my animals fine. It could easily be that these have the genetic predisposition to eat babies. The one that I fed off, and the other that did the munching last night both came from the same pet store that sells feeders. SInce the store gets their mice from the same supplier, there could be a chance that the two are related.

Additionally, I have a very hard time telling if the mice are pregnant or not. The one that had her litter last night only looked pregnant last night (Which is surprising since she ended up dropping about 14 pups). Perhaps it might be easier to keep the male seperated from the females and drop him in for 24/48 hours (females would cycle in the presence of the male, happy time ensues, etc). Then I'd have an idea of when the pups were due.