First litter

[tai_pan1]

I started a 1.3 mice breeding colony in early December and my first litter was born last night. The litter looks like it is 10 and it looks like all 4 mice are working together to keep the babies warm. I have several questions. How soon can we touch the babies without worrying about them getting eaten? Is 10 too many for a mother to care for? What do I need to worry about?

Any help would be appreicated.

Mike

[lanalizard]

10 is a good number...there is nothing you can do right now..do not touch them unless you are going to feed them off because the mother's MIGHT/or most likely eat them. Wait until the eyes are open and they can eat for themselves (roughly 2 weeks)

[lanalizard]

oh and if one mother decides to eat one, DONT feed her to a snake in spite of it..(like someone on here already did). this does not mean that she is a bad mother at all..this maybe her first litter and usually they do that. Just go with the flow and let things happen naturally without disturbing it.

[vanderkm]

Congrats on getting the first litter on the ground. Ten is easy for a female to handle - no problem. You might want to avoid handling them for 5 days or so unless you need pinks to feed. You can easily pick a few out without distrurbing them, but I would avoid moving the litter or doing a major cage cleaning until then. Moms are a bit nervous with first litters and may eat them. Once the colony has reared one group of young they usually settle down and it is no problem to take the parents and litter out for cleaning, even when the pinks are just a day or so old. For the first cleaning, you might want to just remove the adults to a holding container, and remove bedding from around the litter without moving them. As long as the nest is not distrubed, the parents don't seem upset with the change.

Mary v.

[Lisa]

you may want to remove the male, maybe any non pregnant females

[tai_pan1]

Thanks for the advice. I won't do anything for the time being, I still have plenty of frozen TV dinners for my snakes.

Don't worry Lanalizard, I won't feed any off if they do decide to canabalize. My daughter (10 y/o) has become attached to my breeders. She helps me take care of them, and I think she would be mad at daddy if I did that! LOL!

Lisa, everytime I look in, the male is keeping 2 or 3 of the pinks under him (keeping them warm?). The other females seem to be doing the same thing. If they are all still there in a day or two, do I still need to worry about the male?

Thanks everyone!

Mike

[Cas]

You shouldn't need to remove the male, he'll help take care of the babies. The only real reason to remove him would be if you want to give the females a break between litters..... and it will already be too late to do that, as the male will usually breed the female again within hours of her giving birth. (I personally leave the males in all the time.)

Dawn

[tai_pan1]

Well, she should be well on her way to her next litter then cause I left him in.

[Linds]

I agree with Cas. Removing the male, or any other members of the colony, is completely unecessary unless you wish to give one of the members a break from breeding. You can touch them as soon as needed, no special attention needs to be paid, just go about your regular feeding and cleaning regimen. It's an old wives tale that mother's will eat their young if you handle them.