Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi i have a 1.2 trio of mice in a 10 gallon aquarium. now the other day my female had her first litter. she had 3 babies. now the next day i could only see 2 so she ate one and now today she ate the remaining two. oh by the way right after she gave birth to the babies i put the male in his own cage. but i left the other female in because some websites said it would help out in the rearing and it did. until the mother ate the babies. i never touched the babies or anything i just checked to see if they were o.k. 3-4 times a day by just looking into the aquarium. can any one tell me why she ate her own young?

P.S. im sure it was the mom who ate the babies and not the other female because i seen her snacking out on them. 1 more quickie. do i have to remove the male when they have babies?
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CHONG188

never remove the male!!.. i cant stress this enough to all first time mice breeders.. THE MALE WILL HELP RAISE THE BABIES.. plus you dont have to worry about him getting his ass kicked when you try to re-introduce him..

secondly.. mice stress VERY easily.. so checking on them 3-4 times a day WILL make most mice eat their babies.. i check on my mice ONCE a WEEK.. cleaning day.. other times i just simply leave them alone!... it works

third.. was she a firsttime mother?.. if she was.. then its common for this to happen.. its soemthing you should expect when breeding mice.

so.. for advise.. put the male back in the cage.. and leave them alone!.. clean em once a week.. water and feed them normally.. but dont mess with them too much

best of luck

dan

okay just so we dont get confused these are my mices names
blackie-female who is pregnant
brownie-canibal mom
whitie-male

okay so i stuck brownie in with whitie to get pregnant in the seperation cage. in an hour ill put whitie with blackie so when she does have babies probably tonite i imagine he can help rear them. i also added a make shift hide out of an old kleenex box. And yes that was brownies first babies ever. i know aquariums arent good so i think im gonna make a rack with 2 tubs soon and each tub holding a 1.3 group of mice.

p.s. with my tub plans how many babies can i expect to come out of each tub each week?
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CHONG188

>>okay so i stuck brownie in with whitie to get pregnant in the seperation cage. in an hour ill put whitie with blackie so when she does have babies probably tonite i imagine he can help rear them. ...

No, no, no. What you need to do, is get the trio all set up together. All that switching around and separating, is only going to stress them - as Sartori already told you. The mama that cannibalized her babies, will make strange with the other female if they're separated for more than a few hours, and getting them re-introduced to each other will result in them fighting. If you don't plan on keeping them together EVER, then it is okay to set them up in separate tubs.

>>p.s. with my tub plans how many babies can i expect to come out of each tub each week?

With a pair, you'd probably expect to obtain a litter about once a month, but that varies. Three weeks is minimum. A 1.2 trio, will yield about two litters per month. To obtain approximately one litter per week, you need a 1.4 or 1.5 group. As you've been told, they do best if they're as undisturbed as possible.

"Brownie" will learn from experience, and will almost surely not kill her second litter. If she does, or if she kills Blackie's babies, then it is time for Brownie to fulfill her ultimate destiny, and become a meal for a snake.
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tricia

probably just first time mom stuff. I had my first 3 litters (not from the same mom) eaten, but after that it didn't happen any more. Now the mice are breeding machines . I check on them (just pulling out and looking at the tub) at least once a day and it doesn't seem to affect them.
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-audri
Webpage/Pics

I couldn't agree with Satori more. The only thing I would add is that mice and rats are prey. They are not fond of being in the open. There natural predators are hawks, owls, from above; dogs and cats from ground level; and snakes and lizards from dirt level. A glass sided aquarium is easy to clean but is the one type of cage I would recommend putting hides in.

DeMak