Never "rotate" mice!!
I have found the baby eating is common in an inexperienced colony no matter where I get the stock from. I don't mess with them trying to prevent this anymore - they usually get it right the second time around. It's important even if they are eating some of their babies not to disturb the colony by removing or adding any mice at this time. Let them get the practise of being mommies with any of the litter that survives the pinky eating - even if you need the pinkies for your snakes. Wait until they have the second litter to start removing any babies. You can always use the survivors from the first litter later on to feed bigger snakes or start another colony.
The more you mess with them, the more stress it causes - resulting in more baby killing.
In my colonies the first litter is a "free pass" but if a female is still eating babies by her second litter, she gets culled.
Males will often kill babies that are fathered by a different male, but will help the females take care of the babies if they are the sire, so it is very important to leave them in with the same females all the time. If they are removed and reintroduced they will fight.
Hope this is helpful..
|