Why do they keep doing this?!?

[jamesw]

I have been breeding rats for a long while, and i decided to try mice, i have 2 groups of 1.6, everytime i get apreggo, i put her in her own 6 quart, she waits for a week or two, then eats her babies.
Ive tried letting them give birth with thier tub mates, and they get eaten faster.
Ill give it one or two more litters, then off to the snakes they go.

[Shelby]

With mice, I've found it is better to keep the females and the male together all the time.. upsetting the group is just an invite for them to cannibalize (the adults sometimes kill each other too)

Some mice just aren't good mothers.. though often, they just don't know what to do with their first litter (or two sometimes) if after two litters, they're still cannibalizing, they probably just are bad mothers. Try getting mice from a different source, that can do the trick sometimes.

Make sure they're not overcrowded too.. mice can be finnicky.

[Alice]

I know I've said this before, but I really hate mice!


I have more cannibalization in mice in 2 months then I've ever had with rats. We are working really hard to switch our mice eaters to rats and if that doesn't happen, I'm thinking about just buying what I need each week. That's expensive, but I really hate to see little ones eaten.

[sweety314]

Jeeez and those are fuzzies! It's not like they're brand new pinks getting chomped. Sorry to hear you're having problems. Mine kept eating theirs too...but I'm trying again. I have one preggers mouse now. If she drops and raises, them, I'll try again. Otherwise I'll just convert my two hold outs to rats.

[lord jackel]

My experience with mice is they are very skittish and scary easily. Where as a rat will just move her babies if you startle her a mouse will kill them rather than a predator getting them.


I went through the same thing at first...always getting dead mice, which makes you worry, which makes you check on them more, which makes the mice more nervous, which makes them eat their young more. vicious cycle.

What works for me - they are in dark tubs with nest boxes. 1:5 ratio. The male stays with the females all the time. I have autowatering setup and feed a ton in feed hoppers so basically I don't even look at them till I need to feed a couple off. So far my eatin ration has dropped to near zero.

Best bet just leave them alone - don't even look at them.

[Snikt228]

How do mice ever survive and breed in the wild? From everyones experience with breeding them it seems like they would have gone extinct a long time ago

[jamesw]

My experience with mice is they are very skittish and scary easily. Where as a rat will just move her babies if you startle her a mouse will kill them rather than a predator getting them.


I went through the same thing at first...always getting dead mice, which makes you worry, which makes you check on them more, which makes the mice more nervous, which makes them eat their young more. vicious cycle.

What works for me - they are in dark tubs with nest boxes. 1:5 ratio. The male stays with the females all the time. I have autowatering setup and feed a ton in feed hoppers so basically I don't even look at them till I need to feed a couple off. So far my eatin ration has dropped to near zero.

Best bet just leave them alone - don't even look at them.

Ill take your advice.
Although i dont look at them, ive seen enoguh babies not to go look every day. She had about 13 yeaterday morning, and last night i saved three before she got them, well not saved, because i didnt have another mother, off to the snakes they went.

Ill switch them to dark tubs.

[MarkS]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to lord jackel again.

My experience with mice is they are very skittish and scary easily. Where as a rat will just move her babies if you startle her a mouse will kill them rather than a predator getting them.


I went through the same thing at first...always getting dead mice, which makes you worry, which makes you check on them more, which makes the mice more nervous, which makes them eat their young more. vicious cycle.

What works for me - they are in dark tubs with nest boxes. 1:5 ratio. The male stays with the females all the time. I have autowatering setup and feed a ton in feed hoppers so basically I don't even look at them till I need to feed a couple off. So far my eatin ration has dropped to near zero.

Best bet just leave them alone - don't even look at them.

Very good advice. Mice just seem to freak out super easy. Just leave them in a dark room and don't even look at them unless it's cleaning day.

Mark

[Snikt228]

Very good advice. Mice just seem to freak out super easy. Just leave them in a dark room and don't even look at them unless it's cleaning day.

Mark

I tried that approach when I was attempting to breed mice and it doesn't make a bit of difference.

I was even on vacation during the week of the birth and they still got eaten.

[MarkS]

It's made a big difference for me. One week alone isn't going to make much of a difference, I think they need an environment where they can count on not being bothered, someplace they can feel safe and secure all the time. Where are your mice located?

Mark