Pinky Feeding Frenzy

[jwsporty]

What the heck happened? I had a nice little pile of pinkies one day and the two days later, NOT a single one was left. Cage conditions have been exactly the same, lots of food and water, no new animals added, short of a normal weekly cage cleaning, all conditions were fine. Regular routine. There wasn't so much as a drop of blood to be found anywhere. Any ideas what sent them into this Pinky Buffet?

[ReptiZone]

Stress and fear are the first things that pop in my head

[Linds]

Was this her first litter?

[jwsporty]

Hey Linds,

Nope, all the girls in this colony have produced at least one litter each and all the variables have remained constant. Fresh bedding, fresh food, fresh water, all toys and hides clean in bleach , rinsed and dried, same locale in the house, same pen. Stress and Fear, I can't see working their way into the equation, as they are totally out of the way from other animal activity (Back room, under a work bench, basement temps. Just strange.

I have since picked up two more colonies. Separate tanks per colony, of course. The original colony doesn't seem any the worse for wear.

Unfortunately I actually had to buy more food to keep up with the demand but that's o.k. The production/comsumption will be fixed shortly..;) Meanwhile I will be keeping a close eye on this colony and by George, if it happens again, they are all going to be snake food..;)

[wyz]

That's what made me quit breeding those freaks :)

I had 2 colonnies working fine and 1 day I forgot to feed them enough and they started eating their babies.. Ever since, even if I fed them non stop, I was allways having problems keeping all the pinkies alive.

Finally I decided to spend more time caring for my reptiles than with my feeders and I'm now buying frozen mice over the net. Best move I ever made :) I think you reall have to put on paper how long you spend taking care of feeders VS how much it would cost buying them from someone. I never realize how much time I was loosing just to save a couple bucks. It's not everybodys case, but it worth a try.

WYZ

[Lisa]

We're considering killing off our mouse colonies for this reason too.

[marisa]

I don't understand why I am not getting more of this problem. I believe I have gotten VERY lucky this year with the mice I started off with, because all my mice since (8 months worth of snake food and breeders) are from those orginals, and I have had only ONE incident of eating, and the pinkies were stillborn.....I don't get it...not complaining but don't get it. LOL.

Maybe the pinkies were ill. Its not always something we did, or the mothers. Maybe the pinkies were dying off on their own and she ate them to clean up the area. They do that. I would say let them go at it once more like you mentioned. If they eat the next litter, toss them. If not, then you can at least believe they had a legit reason for eating them and they probably won't do it again.

Marisa

[jwsporty]

Good thought Marisa, I would not have considered this possiblility. I will keep a close eye on things.

[TardGirl]

I have had this same thing happen to me before. I hade about 40 mice and they always had lots of food and water, but after a while i saw that there were a few babies missing, so i started to give then even more food. But it seemed that once the had the taste for there own kind they would not stop, the one day i went to give them some food and water and there were about 5 dead adults in the cage, the rest of the mice ate everything but the fur and the bones. They were taken care of so well but it seems like they just turned on one another. Thats why i switched to rats. I think my mice were just messed up in the head or something. I hope that you find better luck with yours.