Question about breeding mice

[jwsporty]

Well folks,

The mouse factory is now set-up..lots of good food, space and in a separate room. I am running 1.6 and so all but one female has dropped their litters. NOw I know that it is common for the first litter to be unsuccessful (cannabilized babies, neglect from mother, and rejection from surrogate mothers). The question is when your females are ready to pop, do you remove the female from the general population, let her give birth, raise her babies and then re-introduce into general population...or..do you simply leave the preggy mom in general population and let her do her thing around the other females. I have noticed that the other females appear to "help" out in the feeding when everybody is kept together. You views would be appreciated. I have tried both methods and I am not clear what is the best for highest production given the number of parents I am keeping. Everybody is housed in a large 48x48x24 pen, so there is lots of room for them to do their thing. right now I have about 40 babies and I have not seen any adverse affects, but then they are in pinkie stage. What happens once they reach hopper stage? Will the male try to kill hoppers or am I safe to leave everybody together. All my babies thank you for your response.


Jim