Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had to start breeding my own mice..well of course the first litter has come. 8 babies...this morning one baby. If I remember right there is a rule of thumb for breeding mice that you are not supposed to cross. I remember something about one eating anothers babies or something of that sort?? I have one male and 3 females together. Should that be different? Ohh ya and if anyone reads this, that new ban is ridiculous and any congresman that knows black from white will not let it pass. Well lets hope so. Thanks guys!

Mice will not nurse or care for other mice babies! Your babies however, will be safe from the other females if they've been in the same colony! Just don't introduce any new blood! Good luck!

Thanks a bunch. Yea they have been together for about 2 months. All the females were helping nurse and then I woke up this morning and only one was there! I have another one about to pop anyday now. Anything I can do to minimize this risk???

Mice WILL nurse other mouse babies. You just have to find mice that will.
Are you absolutely sure your moms have full and fresh water, as well as lots of easy to access food?

You could just have a "bad mom". I'd take out the baby-eating mom, and make sure there's nothing near the mouse cage that could stress them out.

Keep em fed and watered, and they shouldn't do it again.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

I've never had mice cannibalize, but have had rats. Food and water 24/7 is a good idea. If you wish to play it safe with the one about ta pop just set up a small tank for her and seperate her from the rest.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Mice will take care of all the babies, no matter who is the mom. A friend with a reptile store kept good mothers and bought pinks and put them in. I have seen moms with several piles of 8-10 pinks, she would go from pile to pile and keep nursing.

If mice aren't fed a good diet they will eat the babies. They will start with the tails and feet to get the nutrition they need.

Also if there is anything scaring them they will eat the pinks. No cats, dogs or anything wild can be allowed to come near them. A friend had the same problem, when she moved the mice from her porch to a shed the problem was over. Her cats, dogs and kids would look in and scare the mice.

With good food, water and no distractions, mice will breed in a colony just fine, it is how everyone does it.

I am about to start looking into breeding too and what is a good food for mice? and is it a bad thing to inbreed the mice over? Does anyone know of a good site for info on this?

I have had mixed results keeping colonies of rodents (mice and rats alike) together. Sometimes the females will share the rearing duties quite well, but I usually have some loss in subsequent litters as the older babies seem to push out the younger, weaker babies who then starve. Occasionally, there is outright cannibalism.

As an alternative, the most successful tactic for me has been to raise several (8-10) females for each male, keep colonies of 1.4 together, and pull females that are visibly ready to give birth and place them in a "nursery" bin of their own. Once the babies are weaned, the mothers are returned to the colony. By then, new females are pregnant and it just becomes a rotation.

Since females become recptive imediately after giving birth, some people prefer to leave the females in so that they will become pregnant immediately, resulting in higher frequency of litters.

I still prefer the seperation method as it results in practically zero infant mortality and, at least I think, healthier animals. I say this because the babies seem to grow much quicker this way, and the females produce for a longer period with larger litters. To me, this makes sense as there is less strain on a nursing female that is not depleting her resources to both nurse and gestate at the same time.

I'm sure there are many successful methods, but this is what has worked best for me.