Had to kill my breeder mouse

[Shelby]

I just opened my breeder mouse cage, and one of my three females (my oldest one, though still not an old mouse) was huddled in the corner. I picked her up and she felt quite skinny. Then I looked at her head, and her whole face was swelled up, her eyes were kinda gooey and gross. Now, just a few days ago, she was fine. Though.. she had a litter, and I never saw a trace of any of the pinkies (I figured they ate them)

I just introduced two new females about a week ago. Maybe has something to do with it..

Either way, those new mice I got aren't as big as my old one, so I don't know if they can have a litter yet.. probably.. but I hope soon.

So.. I just gassed my breeder female mouse. Didn't want her to suffer any more.. she looked pretty bad.

Upon closer examination, I also discovered a sort of growth under her right fore leg (her armpit if you will) I know tumors are common among mice, but I'm not sure if that was it.

Puzzling.

[SatanicIntention]

Might have been a mammary tumor, but those aren't usually malignant, they just keep growing and growing not causing any harm. Maybe the other 2 gave her something that they carry and don't show signs, but she caught it and showed signs of whatever it was. Maybe Mycoplasmosis.

Breeder females really should be alone if possible, and introducing those 2 new ones was a bad idea. It probably stressed her out and they either ate the babies, or she did out of fear. The reason it's best to keep them alone is that other moms may steal the babies, and then the babies would die because the stealing mother wouldn't be able to provide enough milk for all of them. Or the other mothers would kill the babies, which sounds like what happened in your case.

If it's possible, and you have another cage, I would probably separate the remaining 2 mice and just cater the male to them That would most likely be your best option and there wouln't be as much of a risk of stolen/eaten babies. Hope that helped a little and I'm sorry for your loss. I know your sandboa was looking forward to those babies

[Shelby]

Hmm.. don't most of you keep multiple females together, then separate out the one that is pregnant while she has her babies? I do have one other cage.. so I can do that.

It may be mycoplasmosis.. should I just feed off those mice and get new ones? How should I introduce them next time?

[SatanicIntention]

If they are from the same place and have been kept in the same cage, then I would say they would be fine together, but just until they have babies. When they are getting ready to have them, into a separate tank they go. We kept our female rat in a separate cage for about 2 weeks of her pregnancy, and her babies are now 4 days old and adorable. Plus, I would think it to be alot less stressful not having another grumpy female in there. At school, we have 3 female mice that were kept together, then one had babies, and the other 2 ate the majority of the babies, except for 2. Then mom ended up not caring for them, so my friend took them home and hand raised one of them(the other died).

[Jeanne]

I am sorry about that, but SatanicIntention is right. Separating them as they get ready to birth is a good idea.

For future referance, I have successfully treated mycoplasmosis with the same stuff you can buy at a feed and grain store for chickens, teramycin (sp). You add it to their water, I used 1tsp to 4 oz. of water. Be aware that the stuff will stain your water bottles. And when using it, you should change the mixture daily and cover your water bottle so no light hits the mixture. I have treated them for 7-10 days with this mixture.

[SatanicIntention]

Most rats and mice carry myco, but when stress or other factors are included in the picture, they can sometimes have a myco flare up. Jeanne, I was thinking it's Tetramycin? But yeah, like she said, it is light-sensitive and you should cover the bottle with foil or duct tape, something to keep the light out. This is all just in case you have a myco flare up. Our hairless rats get a little sneezy sometimes, but I just usually get some children's liquid benadryl(bubblegum flavored) and give them a drop. The sneezing and sniffling usually stops within the day. I hope all goes well with your new mice, and no, you shouldn't have to gas them, they should be ok. Just watch them and make sure they don't show signs of anything nasty

[Kara]

I keep up to 8 females with a male, from the time they're initially introduced till the time they're retired & subsequently fed off (usually a 6-month timeframe). I don't introduce new females or males once the group is set up, but have had excellent results letting them birth & raise babies together up to the point of weaning the babies. I'm currently weaning between 200 - 500 mice a week with this setup (well, 200 setups).

There's certainly more than one way to skin a cat...er...raise a mouse.

Just my $.02

K

[Shelby]

[Kara]

[Shelby]