Mouse babies!

[WillowDragon]

 



Eight in all, three boys, five girls!  They are 2 days old 

Willow xx

[Sunchaser]

awwwww i normaly don like mouses but they have started to grow on me latly <.<

[WillowDragon]

Hehe... I adore mice, and have lots!  lol

I also adore rats, and may consider keeping them in the future, but at the moment its more practical keeping just the meeces 

Willow xx

[YourLoveOnly]

Awww! And congrats of course =]

[Sunchaser]

do you have pictures of the mamma and dadda? *wants to see*

[WillowDragon]

I have none of the daddy, cos this girlie came to me pregnant, hehe  But he is a big show type Ivory satin.

Mom i have a piccy of, but its not that good... my camera doesn't deal with movement well and mice are always moving!  lol



She is a BIG showy type PEW (Pink eyed White)

So far as I can tell, all the bubs will have pink eyes.

Willow xx

[CutieePiee]

Aww itty bitty babies! Congrats! 

[Silvanon]

Awe, fun fun.  Congrats!

[Ryuukokoro]

They look like little jellybeans!  How can you tell which are girls and which are boys when they're that tiiiiny?

[Chichiri]

*giggles* Funny story.  Artie and I went on a trip in highschool and played a game where we both won a mouse.  Artie couldn't keep her's because her mother wouldn't let her, so I kept it with mine.  The guy assured us they were both male...he was wrong.  They bred, so we seperated them into males and females.  We were wrong and they bred again.  So we seperated again.  Somehow we always managed to leave one female with the males and they bred again.  I started with 2 and ended with 24.  I had to give them to the owner of a pet shop.

Luckily, he said they were so large the chances were they would be sold as pets and not food.  I mean, they were huge.  Though that may not have been true, I pray they found nice homes.

Anywho, congrats on the babies.  All pink and cute.

[WillowDragon]

That is a very common occurance really!  lol

Back in the olden days when i was 16, I bought two mice that were supposed to be females and ended up with 27!  lol

And Ryuu... its all to do with bumps and rear ends  lol  There is a tiny, tiny difference between the length of the gap between bumps and bums in male and female mice.  And more often than not there is a tiny size difference of the bumps aswell.
Its never guarenteed in mice this young, but i will be able to tell for definate in a couple of days because the females will develop obvious nipples once the fur starts coming in.
But not to brag or anything, I have only eer been wrong about the gender of one mouse before!  lol   And he was a runt.

Willow xx

[Ryuukokoro]

Oooo I see! They are so cute. ^^ Are mouse-mommies good mommies? Does she keep them all warm and stuff?

[WillowDragon]

They are very warm in thier nest 

The 'nanny' mouse seems to be doing all the work in this litter  hehe  Mommy speands most of her time sleeping and eating.

Willow xx

[Sunchaser]

... now i want a mousey <.< *grumbles*

i remeber when i had a hampster and we had a male and a female the male was pure white and named Al. Yes odd name for a mouse :-p but we had him and he had about more the one litter. Sad part was he survived 4 wives <.< at the end when he died we gave his last litter away which was mostly boys. i dont remeber what happened to the wife i think she died when al did but not positive.. i was like 5 or 6 when all this happened but i remeber al our white hampster really well.

[WillowDragon]

Four days old! 

[YourLoveOnly]

Awww! That is just so cute ^^

[WillowDragon]

Momma Flora (pink eyed white) and nanny Olivia, who seems to be doing most of the work! lol

Willow xx

[Sunchaser]

*steals teh babies* <.<

[Ryuukokoro]

They look like aliens! XD When do they get fur?

Animal raising is such an interesting topic! I'd love to know more! Like I've never heard of a nanny mouse before. Is it normal for more than one adult female to raise a litter? Do you have to keep adult males separate? Are the moms okay with you picking them up? :3 I likes learning!

[WillowDragon]

The fur starts coming in at around 6 to 8 days depending on the size of the baby, but any dark coated mice's skin will go dark at around 2 to 3 days, thats how I know all these will be pale colours! 

And female mice in the same cage as a litter will start lactating, as with any mammal really, they don't produce as much milk as the momma, but it helps.  I wouldn't go sticking any female mice together, as to whether a doe will be a good nanny depends on if they have experience with babies and if they get on well with the mum!
Different breeders do different things, some keep moms alone, some keep them with another non pregnant female, some keep them in groups of pregnant females (I have two pregnant girls together) but its always a risk. Milk cannabilise thier young at very slight provocation 

Males, if they are litter mates, or introduced young can live together usually without fighting, but normally there is always one trouble maker... and if you are planning to breed them, keep them seperate, cos even the wiff of a girlie and they will be scrapping. Male male are much more terratorial than females.

Again, with the handling of babies, every breeder is different and every mouse if different! Some people say not to touch the babies before 5 days old, me personally I like to handle ASAP and I always have a quick look the first day... one of this litter had died on the first day, and i wouldn't have known that had I not looked. If the mouse is tame, easily handled and comfortable with you, they should be okay with you handling the babies, but always distract them with treats or take them out all together as to not stress them. And never worry about messing up the nest, as they make it again 25 times a day anyway!  LOL

Willow xx

P.S  I will post more pics when thier colour starts coming through!  And one is named! Chemmie has demanded I call the female runt Peptide  lol  Peppy for short.

[WillowDragon]

Willow xx

[YourLoveOnly]

Aww, I still think they're very very adorable <3

[Sunchaser]

aww white and grey babies....

[Ryuukokoro]

0__0 AH SO CUTE!!

They're much cuter with fur on! XD

Do they always stay all bundle up in a pile like that? How much longer before their eyes open? How old are they before they start wandering out and about? Do they play with each other?

(Ryuu will just absorb all knowledge from Willow in the form of a deluge of questions XD )

[WillowDragon]

Hehe, they find each other for warmth, its always better to hold more than one, other wise they will crawl about looking for heat, and they are quite quick now.

The are 6 days old, depending on size, eyes usually open at around 10 to 14 days, and they move around more then!  hehee
They go through whats called a 'flea' stage, what i called a 'little bugger' stage... when its almost impossible to hold them they are so quick and bouncey.
They usually calm down at around three and a half weeks old. 

Willow xx

[WillowDragon]

Should have more babies soon... my girlie Lilly is in labour.



Willow xx

[WillowDragon]

Eight days old! hehe

If I start boring you, please let me know! And its nice to know my mice sexing ability is not diminished, still 5 girls and 3 boys!  hehe

Willow xx

[CutieePiee]

Oh! They're so cuuute at this stage! They look so soft. 

[Poupou]

Awe cute! XD

Quick question - What will happen to the babies when they are old enough..? > . >

[WillowDragon]

This litter I am keeping all off. 

Other litters, I keep or sell, but i never breed if i don't have space to keep them if needed.

Willow xx

[Lectral]

Earlier, I was looking at these, and thinking "Oooo, Willow could sell me mousies!".... until I remembered you live far, far away, and I don't think mousies would like air mail >.>

that and I would prefer ratties, I think.  Mousies be a bit small for me

*snuggles Rodentia rats* >.>

[WillowDragon]

Hehehehe  Is that a hint Lectral... hmmm should I take rodentia out of hiatus and on the secundi?  *ponders*

Willow xx

[Lectral]

<.<

hint hint hint

>.>

[WillowDragon]

Hmm... maybe the rats, i like those lines 

Not happy enough with the mouse lines at the mo.

Willow xx

[Lectral]

ratties!  >.>

Sorry, I have been in a weird mood lately XD

Edit:  that's odd... I thought I won a mouse in one of the last events I saw... but I don't even have a mouse page, so he's definitely not on the forum now O.o

[WillowDragon]

I will have a look in my files... to be fair, I haven't updated the forums in a while 

Totally my fault, real life got in the way for a little while and I didn't pick stuff back up again.
I dunno if i'll time to run these... hmm  I work alot 

[Lectral]

Awww, it's okay if they don't come back.  As long as the forum is up at least, I can still go back and look at my ratties

[WillowDragon]

12 days old, and the biggest pair have opened thier eyes!

Biggest girl: Snowfire 


Biggest Boy: Shadowfax 


Willow xx

[PonyMama]

They are so cute (I like them when they just open their eyes)

[TheKat]

Soooo adorable, Willow!!  I want to get some mice so bad.  My friends and I were getting a group pet and I was like 'guys, let's get a mouse.  They're so cute!'  and they all looked at me like I was crazy and told me if I wanted a mouse I could get one myself.  I might just do that though.  Mice are just too cute!!

[WillowDragon]

Hehe... mice are very cute.

If you are wanting females though, please get more than one, they are very sociable creatures and the girls never do well when they are alone.

And make sure you can tell the gender when you buy them, its very common for pet shops to mis-sex because they sell them too young. You don't want to start with two and end up with twenty seven!  lol

Willow xx

[TheKat]

So if I get females I should get a few.  I'll remember that ^^  And that's also good to know.  Thanks for the tips!  I might come to you with questions once I finally do get around to getting a few.  Hopefully you don't mind XD

[WillowDragon]

I don't mind at all, and am more than happy to help! 

[Poupou]

They are all so cute!!! 

[indigowulf]

Something that very few people know, mice, like some chickens, frogs, and fish, are capable of changing thier gender at need.

This usually doesnt happen from petstore mice, because they have been raised in an environment without needs. In wild mice, the phenomenom is common.

The only one Ive had firsthand witness to was chickens, I had over 200 of them when I was young. I knew each one by name. I had a banty hen, whom was very distinct from the others, who laid and set on eggs.

After we had a raccoon family decimate our chicken population, including 3/4 of our roosters, this little hen (mom had named her henny penny.. lame I know) began crowing and mounting other hens. I cannot prove that she fertalized any, as we did have 1 other rooster remaining. However, all brooded eggs continued to hatch.

Im hoping my mice will breed. I have 2 females and a male together, but so far the male doesnt show interest in mounting them. Id love to add pics to your adorable babies

[WillowDragon]

Hmm... I can honestly say, i have had no males not interested in the girlies... though they do get it wrong sometimes when they are 'inexperienced'  lol

How old are your mice?  And how long have they lived together?  Most mating occurs at night, but if you have them close, you should be able to hear squeaking.

My mouse babies have multiplied. A couple of my expectant momma's have given birth in the last few days 

All the Pink eyed White babies have opened thier eyes now and have started roaming, much to the stress of thier 'moms'  LOL

Willow xx

[indigowulf]

Im actually concerned that his lack of mating enthusiasm may be due to him having a cold. He's been sneezing and all he wants to do is snuggle under the girls or his log. I cant afford to take mice to the vet, theres only 1 around here who even sees them, and he charges more cuz hes a "specialist".

Im just having to make sure I keep them warm and stress-free. They have 3 different types of food at thier disposal at all times. Normal mouse diet food blocks, kitten chow, and ferret food, plus fresh greens and such I give them. Vitamins in thier water. They just got some watermelon the other day, and that brought him right out from under his log. Maybe once he starts feeling better, he will do his thing.

They've shared thier enclosure for a bit over a month, but I do think he has only been "mature" about half that. The girls are older then he is. I wish my poor Lucky hadnt passed on. He was a hair under 3 years old, and the sweetest mousey I ever had. He never hesitated with the ladies lol.

[WillowDragon]

Be very very careful... respitory illness is BAD in rodents, I would suggest getting Baytril antibiotics (Which i believe you can get without a scrip in the States) and seperating him from your uneffected mice, depending on how long he has been like that they might already have it now.

I don't mean to scare you, but I have had experiences with things like that, and really, take him out ASAP.

You could also try childrens liquid echinacia, put one drop on his favourite treat every day, or a few drops in his water. But make sure its the one for children!

I have known alot of breeders who have had to start mouseries over again because of resp diseases.  

Willow xx

[WillowDragon]

Better pics of the mommy taken today... she has ears the size of china!  lol







And a new one of the babies!  Woo!  16 days old now.

[Ryuukokoro]

They look like actual mice now! Hee hee! ^_^ What a lovely group shot! It's always nice when animals cooperate for the camera, eh? lol