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Baby mice?

_lululovesmice_lululovesmice Legacy
in Breeding
Hi,
My female mouse mated with my male mouse and has looked pregnant for a while. She has always been a small mouse (I don't know why) but she does look bigger than normal so I'm pretty sure she's pregnant.
Today I checked on her and she looks smaller than yesterday. I'm scared to lift up their nesting box because I think she may have already had the babies. I've read that if you disturb them, the mother can eat her pinkies so I don't want to check. Also I'm pretty sure it hasn't been 21 days yet (usually when the mice give birth after breeding). I've also read that you can handle the babies after 5 days after birth so maybe I should check them then. What do you think I should do? :?

Comments

  • _racingmouse_racingmouse Legacy
    Posts: 328
    I`ve never bred mice or had any experience with raising them, but I would be inclined to listen for any little squeaks coming from the nest. If the mum looks considerably thinner than she was when you thought she was pregnant, then chances are she has had babies, but you should be able to tell by her behaviour what`s going on. Is she staying in the nest? Can you hear any squeaking? Is there any blood spots on or around the nest area/on the bedding?

    You didn`t say if your male and female were together due to mis-sexing or if you wanted them to breed? First thing to do though is find out if there are any pinkies and if you hear or see any, I would leave them alone for a few days yet and just make sure mum has plenty of food and fresh water. I think it`s about a week before safe handling or checking is done, but as I said earlier, I don`t breed mice. So hopefully someone with more information on this can advise.

    If you do have babies, you need to mark on a calendar which day/date they were born as any male babies will need sexing and separating out at four to five weeks of age or you will have more babies on the way, which would be bred back to their mother, so not the best idea.

    There is also a chance the mother has killed and eaten them as this can happen if she`s too young or isn`t a good mother. Just nature though. x
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