New Mice!! :))

[TheShortBus]

my buddy who works at pet co called me last night and said they had two prego mice in the back room that were ready to pop. he knew i just started breeding asf rats so he asked if i wanted them. i said sure and picked them up today.

when he said they were "about to pop" he wasnt kidding. once i arrived back at my apt i opened up the box to see them both having there litters at the same time!! lol was the weirdest thing ever. one had 5 and the other 7. i think the one who had 5 didnt want anything to do with them or something because i noticed she wasnt around them much.

i got there tub all set up and checked one them every few hours. tonight i came to find that the one that had to bigger litter was goin over to the other pile of babies and taking them to her hole she had dug for hers. so now shes taking care of all 12. i know that its common for asf rats to do that, but i didnt know mice did, so was new to me.

[Clear]

I am also new with mice. I had 2 of my females give birth at the same time, all the babies are in the same nest and it seems both are taking care of the babies.

I have 3 tubs.
27 in first tub
7 in second tub
7 in third tub
All new mothers and I believe in the second and third they are eating a few of the babies.

[truthsdeceit]

It's pretty normal for mice to syncronize births, especially if they were impregnated around the same time and live together.

My mice tend to share the load taking turns in the nest, and sometimes they seperate the babies back out into two nests. It's amusing to watch them fighting over which nest the babies belong in, one removing them and one putting them back. Don't worry if your mice do this, they won't hurt the pups, just leave them alone and they'll settle down.

Important:
A note on mice that were pregnant in the pet shop. They we're likely impregnated very very young. This is hard on them so be sure to supplement with high fat/calorie foods like puppy chow or sunflower seeds to keep there body weight up. Young mice often have trouble keeping healthy litters because of their own ill health. They just can't keep weight on.

[TheShortBus]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!.....


so i went to the store to get some rat feeders tonight, and was talkin to a guy who worked there and told him about my mice. and he said i should go ahead and get a male for the two of them before they get to comfortable and dont like new intruders. so i got one, they didnt seem to mind him much, gave him a few bites at first, but then they left him alone. i made sure he was cool with the babies as well, he just sniffed them and then left them alone.


well i just went a checked on them to make sure he wasnt messing with the babies and came to find one of the moms killing all of the babies!!! she destroyed them!!

was so weird i guess it was cuz i introduced the male to them, but i knnow it wasnt him who killed them, cuz i cought her in the act and she was the only one with bold on her...

[truthsdeceit]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!.....


so i went to the store to get some rat feeders tonight, and was talkin to a guy who worked there and told him about my mice. and he said i should go ahead and get a male for the two of them before they get to comfortable and dont like new intruders. so i got one, they didnt seem to mind him much, gave him a few bites at first, but then they left him alone. i made sure he was cool with the babies as well, he just sniffed them and then left them alone.


well i just went a checked on them to make sure he wasnt messing with the babies and came to find one of the moms killing all of the babies!!! she destroyed them!!

was so weird i guess it was cuz i introduced the male to them, but i knnow it wasnt him who killed them, cuz i cought her in the act and she was the only one with bold on her...

Yeah, I wouldn't have introduced a male to a new mother. All the males want to do is mate so they tend to chase the females around who in turn nip and bite in protest. Any stress on the mother can cause her to cannibalize her babies especially if she thinks another batch could be on the way. So it's not weird that she did this.

Now that you've got them together either leave them that way always as a colony or figure out a rotation system for the male that keeps him away from new borns.

Lots of people have success with colonies, you just have to be prepared to lose one or two litters at the beginning and leave them together always don't fiddle with them once you've got them set up.

I rotate my male through 4 different sets of female and it works too, Advantage being I control how many mice get prego and when. Here's my method: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77619

Good luck with those mice!