holy babies!! and a pointless mouse question

[Colin Vestrand]

so i have two females and one of them was very pregnant, the other looked a little chubby but not necessarily pregnant. this morning there were 15 little babies in there in a big pile with both mice nursing. the last time they were pregnant they had their babies on the same nite and both definitely looked pregnant.
the questions are... do mice usually have their babies on the same nite??
and, if not, could one mouse have 15 babies?

[SatanicIntention]

One female may have popped while the other female may only be a week or so along. Yes, one female can have up to 20 babies, but I've seen that 10-14 is the usual amount.

[Regal Boids]

Yup 15 one can have. One of my mice had 16 for her first liter!!!

[Colin Vestrand]

so how could it be that they are both nursing the babies? or does one just think she's nursing them?

[SatanicIntention]

Are the babies actually latched on or is the one still-pregnant mom just sitting on them along with the nursing mom? Usually they will share the babies if kept together.


Although, that one female could have already given birth to her babies, but being inexperienced, ate them. Who knows, they are mice, and they do weird things... I have two moms right now that I can put any babies(from feed store, etc) and they will nurse and raise them. Very good foster moms. Others you can just look at them wrong and the babies will get eaten. Weirdos..

[Colin Vestrand]

you ain't kidding there! today i walked in to find the wonderful little foster mom with intestines hanging out of her mouth. four babies were completely eaten... i took out the surviving pinkies, which sucks because i needed fuzzies. oh well, they'll have to do. the good news is that i put the male back in with the females right after that and he immediately copulated with both of them; few more weeks and i'll have some more babies.

[sweety314]

Are the babies actually latched on or is the one still-pregnant mom just sitting on them along with the nursing mom? Usually they will share the babies if kept together.


Although, that one female could have already given birth to her babies, but being inexperienced, ate them. Who knows, they are mice, and they do weird things... I have two moms right now that I can put any babies(from feed store, etc) and they will nurse and raise them. Very good foster moms. Others you can just look at them wrong and the babies will get eaten. Weirdos..

Soooooooo true! Greeeeaaat big tank, 3 females, all popped at once. Did they nest in diff. areas? NOOOOOOOoo-ooooooo. So I had 30+ in ONE pile. Left 'em alone so as to not create the eat 'em syndrome. Went back later... Only SIX left. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Now they're separated. Hopefully I'll have more babies soon!! Kishnah is sucking up 2 pinkies (sometimes both rather large sized) every 5 days like an Italian eating spaghetti !!! < I'm part Italian > This last time, he didn't even grab it and scuttle off...he just moved right under it and started swallowing it out of my fingers. Good thing I bought 100 of the little blighters right off the start.