# Mouse question???



## DRich (Nov 19, 2010)

I have several rats and mice. Recently I purchased 3 more mice from the pet store saving them from being feeders. But now I am facing the possibilty of one of them being pregnant. Her sides are starting to bulge out, both sides. If she is, I just want to know can I leave her in the cage with the other 6 female mice while she has her babies or should I isolate her from the rest for a few weeks to see if she really is. I know the gestation period is 16 - 21 days so I figured she would be due in a week or two considering the rate she is blooming. Some sites I have read state that other female mice will actually help the mother with feeding while others say that they will be eaten. I know the mother will eat her babies if she feels they are threatened. This is my first time with mice. Any help will be appreciated.

Dave


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Sorry Dave but what I am assuming is that mice are more communal than rats and can probably all stay together. Did your little girl have her babies yet? Gestation is the same as mice, BUT read up on when to separate out the boys as they usually wean a lot younger than baby rats and you don't want more meece babies.


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## Meep (Jun 21, 2010)

Mice aren't really communal, especially males. If you put two males together they'll battle to the death. I think rats get along better than mice, from past experience anyways. 

But if it was my mouse I would seperate them if you don't want to take the chance with her eating her bubs. Its not a pretty sight to wake up and find no babies at all or body parts. :-\

How did things go??


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Meep said:


> Mice aren't really communal, especially males. If you put two males together they'll battle to the death. I think rats get along better than mice, from past experience anyways.
> 
> But if it was my mouse I would seperate them if you don't want to take the chance with her eating her bubs. Its not a pretty sight to wake up and find no babies at all or body parts. :-\
> 
> How did things go??


No I realize that about the males, but I am talking a colony of females. Do breeders separate them like we do rats?


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## eluin (Jan 25, 2010)

Good breeders do. Anyone else probably doesn't care. Are you getting them from a breeder or is this a rescue project?


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## DRich (Nov 19, 2010)

Thank you all so much for your reply's. As a matter of fact she did have them and she did eat them. I did some further research and it appears that some of the females usually eat there first litters anyway or maybe she felt they were threatened. So sad, but that is there way of living I guess. Anyway's, I really wasn't ready for soo many more. The rest are all doing well.

Dave


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## DRich (Nov 19, 2010)

Well the mother died tonight.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Oh no I'm so sorry. If she was sick she may have eaten them because her body couldn't support a litter.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Thats why I don't get mice anymore. They die so suddenly. They are truly frail and it crushes attached owners :/


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Oh I didn't know that they died suddenly often, that sucks


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## eluin (Jan 25, 2010)

I tried to rehab a mouse once and it up and died for no reason I could see. I was guessing internal injuries from being batted around like a cat toy, but it could have been anything. My mentor says that mice and cotton tailed bunnies are the hardest things for rehabbers to work with successfully because they are so delicate. More often than not, they'll die for no reason.
I did the feeder breeder thing (no flames, I'm reformed now), so I can kind of tell you some things not to do from that. Male mice will kill and eat each other. Females can stay together, but leaving the babies alone for the first couple days is the best thing for them. I never had a litter eaten, but I did have males kill each other and the girl that gave me my starter mice said that was normal. I wasn't working with the best information in the world, so I thought she was right and it was normal. Boys can do this trick where when you pick them up, they suck their balls in and look like girls. Be really careful sexing them. The sack is still there, but it can be flat against their body like a neutered rat. Don't let that fool you. They are just trying to be tricksy so they can get in with the girls.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Mice die very suddenly sometimes, ones that seem young and perfectly healthy. I have had mice die at a year old to 2.5 years old. I have a semi-paralyzed girl in with Mini my natal, and you would think she would die, but she doesn't. Don't worry she saw the vet and there was nothing we could do for her. No pain involved at least.


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Oh no  I am sorry to hear that happened to the mother and babies. 

About male mice being together... When my sister purchased a two mice a couple years back the person(petco/petsmart salesperson) that sold them to us informed us we should have bought two for company. So we brought home two males, in the same tank both of their lives and never had a problem with them fighting.... Glad petstore employees know what they are taking about.


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## begoodtoanimals (Dec 6, 2007)

The only males that lived happily together were litter mates who never have been separated and kept isolated from females.


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## ratfan06 (Dec 31, 2010)

My boy, Bandit, was bought from a PetSmart. He was only about ten to twelve weeks and had already started fights with the others. They had him separated and told me straight out, he was great with people, but definitely not other mice. I have heard of the rare occasion when two males, (littermates or father and son), have gotten along for life. Those are the exception though, not the rule.


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