What is wrong with my mouse? Birthing.

[merrill924]

I noticed a day before my mouse gave birth that the side of her face puffed up and her eye was closed. I figure maybe she got bitten and it's infected? Any ideas? Can I use her as a feeder, or will that make my snake sick? (The pink on her head in the pics is from a permanent marker)

Also, I had three pregnant females who all dropped litters within two days. The first to give birth was my fancy and I came home to only two pups. I figured some cannabalism was going on. I seperated my sick (feeder) female from all the others and when she gave birth, I found one partially eaten pup and four dead. The dead ones looked like their birthing sac wasn't broken and they suffocated. Almost all pups still had their placentas attached too. Is she just a bad mom or is there competition between mothers?

Luckily my fancy is taking care of the sick mouse's pups. After all three births, I have 23 babies (6 juveniles and 7 adults). Yipes!

[TripleMoonsExotic]

It looks to me like she was scrappin' with one of her cage mates (and I don't mean ScrapBooking!)...

Generally, mum's will share duties of raising the young. It can take 1-3 litters before everything smooths out (which means don't seperate or feed them off if cannabilism occurs - they'll settle with time).

I wouldn't use the sickly female as a feeder. Not only because you do not know what sort of infection she may have...but the permanent marker isn't exactly healthy either...

[mwr920]

I don't know much about mice, but I agree that you should not risk feeding it to a snake...hope whatever it is that it doesn't infect your other mice.

[Taceas]

Definitely looks like what would be indicitive of an infected bite wound. I had a young female with a similar wound on her genitals that cleared up in a matter of two weeks or so. I just kept her isolated until I could be sure it wasn't something infectious. After it went away and she was re-introduced she went on to be a great breeder.

http://www.mainecoon.net/~rain/Snakes/Rodents/Mice/HermaphroditicMouse.JPG

However blckkat is correct in assuming that separating all of them would be a bad thing. Pecking orders have to be established for a harmonious group to run smoothly.

I'd keep the injured female separate for a few days to see if the wound gets better in time, rather than culling her to the trashcan. If it gets better you can reintroduce her with her cage mates in a freshly cleaned cage. For some reason the cleaned cage distracts them from the new mouse.

And most first time mother mice mess up. Usually most of my new females are in a group with older females that act as midwives and help clean up the newborns and get them breathing, so I rarely have incedences of mother-offspring cannibalism.

I read somewhere that most of the incedents of such cannibalism is not necessarily a product of their surroundings being new/different/threatening its simply that they normally eat the placenta and sac around the young, and basically don't know when to stop eating.

Some new mothers may not have the instinct right away to know to eat the sac around the young and lick the babies like mad to get them to breathe on their own. I'd give them one more shot before throwing in the towel on them.

[dionythicus]

I just have to say....nice ass!!

[Taceas]

And one other stupid little tidbit I noticed in your picture...is there any reason you have a water bowl for the mice instead of a water bottle?

My mice have never managed to drink out of a bowl, and more commonly just manage to fill it up with bedding and their own waste. Then again, I only used it as a temporary measure till I could get to Petsmart for more waterbottles.

Standing water could be an accident hazard to young mice who're getting their legs. Not to mention bottles are a cleaner source of water, at least for rodents.

[merrill924]

Thanks for the advice Taceas.

As for the question about water, both mice cages have a bottle. My sick female is in a small reptile cage that has no place for a bottle, so I put water in a container. Hopefully it is a temporary situation, so I'm not too worried about it. She seems to keep it clean and I change it every day.

I am so glad for this forum. It helps me a lot.