receptive?

i have a 2:1 female to male ratio for my mouse breeding. I just got the trio a couple days ago and i noticed that last night, after the lights were off, my male spent quite a while running between the two trying to copulate. The smaller female mouse didnt put up much of a fight at all and even decided to make some funny faces for the few seconds he was on her :grin01: My second mouse, which is a bit bigger, squeaked and ran every time he tried to mount her.

I am afraid that the smaller female may be sick, it doesnt act like the other two and spends a lot of time sitting still breathing hard. I am afraid that this is why it didnt put up much of a fight.

So my questions:

1. When mice mate, typically how long does the male stay mounted?

2. Will the larger female become "easier to deal with" as time goes on?

3. I know there is somesort of waxy plug that the females get after mating, but how long does it take for the plug to appear and how visible is it?

4. Should i keep the smaller mouse in there simply because she is receptive and i want babies ASAP? (I do not have anything large enough to feed her to at this point)

The mal can stay mounted for quite a period of time. You can normally see when he is getting right in because he stays on her for a minute or so at a time. The closer he is to doign the deed the longer he is on the female.

The larger female should become easier. it may have been the smaller mouse in heat and he was getting confused and having sex with anything that moved lol


The plug is in there straight away but be careful as it can fall out. It's pretty easy to see, it's just like a whiteish plug.


I wouldn't keep the smaller mouse in if she is unhealthy. Healthy mums produce healthy babies. Chances are if she is very ill the pregnancy will be detremental and you may lose her and all the babies.

Give her a couple of months and let her get better before breeding