Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We started two mouse colonies a little over a month ago. They both consist of 1.5, and are housed in ten gallon tanks, which are kept in our house. The temp in the house is 70-75 degrees. We keep them well fed on Mazuri 5M30. One of the females gave birth to our/her first litter today. I feel sure this is her first litter as we started our colonies with young mice. One of the other females, a VERY pregnant one, started taking the babies from the nest and eating them. She was the only one I saw raiding the nest, but some of the others joined in the feast once the babies were removed from the nest. Any ideas on what is causing this behavior? Thanks in advance for your help.

I am not sure about mice, but I know from experiences when I was much younger that hamsters eat thier young if not seperated. Not really sure why, but I'm sure it's the same with mice.
Sorry I couldn't help
Robin

i would seperate any expected mothers into different tanks, or at least the male. If i find a cannibal in the act i would immediately remove them and if they ate their own young, then i eliminate the mother, mice are natorious for cannibalism. The male will do the same if their not his, but since i have so many mice i can afford to seperate mothers to be into pairs and if they eat their young they pay the price. Switch to rats lol this is just my method. We each have our own that works for us and by seperating females i've eliminated this nasty problem.
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My roomates are2 boas, 4 corns,Rotti,3cats and snake food AKA the food chain.

>>We started two mouse colonies a little over a month ago. They both consist of 1.5, and are housed in ten gallon tanks, which are kept in our house. The temp in the house is 70-75 degrees. We keep them well fed on Mazuri 5M30. One of the females gave birth to our/her first litter today. I feel sure this is her first litter as we started our colonies with young mice. One of the other females, a VERY pregnant one, started taking the babies from the nest and eating them. She was the only one I saw raiding the nest, but some of the others joined in the feast once the babies were removed from the nest. Any ideas on what is causing this behavior? Thanks in advance for your help.

First time litters can almost be counted on to get cannabalized. Mice stress if you check them too much, if you move them around and if you mess with them. Unless you want to spend all your time setting up and resetting up breeding groups (with adults killing each other too during reintroductions) and not getting babies just leave them alone. You will lose some of the first litters but consequent litters will be fine. It is a first time mom thing. You can avoid it by replacing females with daughters within the colony, rather than introducing new mice. But I really am gonna counter the presented ideas of separating mom mice. It just messes with their colony, extends the likelihood of getting good litters and takes up unnecessary space. Same with moveing a male around. Set up your groups and leave them alone. In the long run you will get more production and less stress for you and the mice.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

I really appreciate your help. Hopefully as they get a little experience things will improve.