One of my newly formed colonies has so far eaten all of their babies, about 4 litters, but I don't remember exactly. Needless to say, I am not happy, especially since all of the females are 2nd generation, and I thought it was supposed to get better! (The other colony I formed on the same day had all 2nd generation mice, and that one is doing great, so the rumors are at least partly true.)

Yesterday another litter was born, and when I found it there were 6 live pinks, and at least 4 half-eaten bodies. I decided to try an experiment and left 2 pinks with the colony, and put 2 each in 2 other colonies. I thought about putting them in colonies that had pinks only a few days old, but decided to put them in colonies that had fuzzies so I'd know which mice came from which parents more easily.

The 2 pinks left with their parents have now both been eaten. I think my next step will be to remove the male and see if the females will raise the babies ok or not.

The 4 pinks put into other colonies have now been there for about 24 hours, and seem to be doing fine. All 4 had visible milk bands, so I know they are nursing ok.

Has anyone else tried this? What were your results? I sort of thought with mice the "intruders" were likely to be eaten, and it would possibly upset the foster colonies enough they'd eat their own babies as well, so I'm pleasantly surprised with the results so far.