Hi all. Be warned- this is going to be long! I got a male mouse yesterday. He was too cute not to get. I don't want him to have to live alone. If I were to get an older female who isn't likely to become pregnant, would the chances be good that they'd get along? I'd be willing to keep any babies that might happen if the female is fertile, though I'd worry about an older mouse having babies. Anyway, my only other options would be to get another male and see how they do, which will more than likely end up being the same problem doubled, or I figured out a system where no one would be alone- get three females, let one stay with the male. The other two females have each other during that time. Male and female have a litter, and dad stays with them and helps mom. Five week-old boys go to live with dad, while girls stay with mom and other 2 females help mom with second litter. Boys from that litter go into a third group. Quite a few mice in the end, but I figure that one's pretty sure-fire. I'd rather get an older female, but in the event she did become pregnant I'd take the male out so the already-old female wouldn't have back-to-back litters, and he'd be alone all over again. Anybody have suggestions? I'd hate for the little guy to live alone all his life.
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Kadee Sedtal
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male mouse question
Replies (2)
A male and older female may get along fine, but it really depends on how old the female is, if she gets pregnant or not. If she is too old, she may not conceive, or she will and may have more risks having babies. Also, an older female who has never been bred, may be a bad mother as well, eating the babies, or not nursing them properly.
Another thing, if the female is significantly older, she will die of old age before the male, leaving him older and once more alone. It may be better to just get him neutered then you can keep him with females around his own age.
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PHLdyPayne
We got two more males today who have been living together, I would guess they're littermates. Our Vivaldi is still pretty young, so we tried them out in our rats' old cage, which is plenty big for four rats. They seem to be doing fine other than making my laundry room smell like EVIL. One of the new guys is a blue merle with a white blaze, and the other is a fawn satin with ruby eyes. They all make for a pretty attractive bunch! They've got two wheels, four houses, and tons of toys, so there shouldn't be anything to fight over. I'm going to be watching them very closely, although since they're all so young hopefully there won't be any problems!
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Kadee Sedtal
