Gestation period when raising up a litter to weaning?

[Amanda E]

I've found out that the gestation period of mice is about 20 days. Does this still hold true when the mother is raising up the whole litter to weaning age? In otherwords, will the female still give birth to a second litter of babies when the first litter is 20 day's old, or will the female delay giving birth a few days?

I know I'll need to buy supplemental mice from a vendor at the next show I go to until my mouse colonies are fully up and running, but if my one female doesn't give birth at least by day 25, my hatchlings are going to be missing a meal. I REALLY hate the idea of buying pinks from the local petstore until I get to that next show. It'll just kill my wallet.

[Jason B.]

I know in humans when a woman is lactating it is usualy a natural form of birth control not totaly reliable of course. don't know if the smame is true in mice , but it sounds like your mouse is alredy gravid anyway. Just thought it might come in handy for future breeding if that is even the case with mice.

[Quigs]

no, mice run back to back if you let them. I haven't observed actually day counts but I have noticed the male in mating females as close as an hour after giving birth! And she'll still run about 3 weeks til the next litter is born.

Hope that helps a little bit.

Quigs

[Krenna]

I've found out that the gestation period of mice is about 20 days. Does this still hold true when the mother is raising up the whole litter to weaning age? In otherwords, will the female still give birth to a second litter of babies when the first litter is 20 day's old, or will the female delay giving birth a few days?

Yes, my female gives birth every 20 days and I use her to raise babies from other litters, and also her own. We left 2 with her this time around and she is due in 3 days with another litter.

My female gets pregant right after she has her babies. :eek1:

I kick out about 24 + pinkies a month :)

[sojkas]

AFAIK mice do not have ability to delay pregnacy -> like gerbils have.
The only way to stop them from get pregnant is to remove male and put him with female the day after she gives birth.