Okay, getting fed up here

Had my colony for 2.5 months now. NOTHING. I heard the male mating with both the females again last night. I checked Doe A and she had a vaginal plug, Doe B didn't.

I also couldn't figure out why they were so quiet last night after that, but that's because the water bottle with a spring in it I spent 7 bucks on is leaking.



So; suggestions before I just freeze the mice or toss 'em to the cat and say the hell with it?

Do you have all of them in the same container?

Yup, got them set up in a tub that is 6-7 inches high, and has a little bit more floor space than a 10g tank.

How many males/females do you have?

It's hard to give you any help without any information. Reading through this and other forums might shed some light on your problem. Reading into your message it sounds like they may be stressed. Set them up properly and leave them to their business. Seeing you are in Nevada, how warm are the mice?

Age, temps, cleanliness, enough food & water, that oughtta do it.

Do you have some pictures or something of your setup?

I would blame it on the mice not being fertile.

You're sure those just aren't fighting sounds?

I'd get another colony started, maybe it's just bad luck.

Have a group of 1.2, on softwood bedding from PetCo (pine, fir, and spruce) with some clay cat litter on the bottom and a bit of baking soda mixed in for odor control (which does well). Like I said, the tub is 6-8 inches tall, and about 1ft by 2ft, a bit more floor space than a 10g tank. They have two hides, a plastic rodent igloo and one hand made wooden one (popsicle sticks and non-toxic glue).

The temp, for quite a while, was getting to about 75F because of summer warmth, and last week we hit 100F outside, and I know it got to around 78F-82F for a few hours (1-3 hours at the most) for 3-4 days, but nothing higher than that, since I unplugged EVERYTHING and moved the laptop out of the room if I was using it. Typically, it's 68F-73F.

I leave the mice alone for the most part, but once or twice a day I pull the tub out of the 'drawer' its set up in (like a rack, but with a solid top) and check on them, their food, and water. Doing this since I got them, I've figured out their personalities, which might matter.

The buck is a PetCo mouse, so he's pretty docile. He'll occasionally come up to my hand if I'm testing the water bottle, spot cleaning, collecting food back into the dish (they like to dig in it and grab a piece and eat it somewhere else) or replacing food and give my hand a good sniff or lick if it smells good. He doesn't mind the occasional petting on the back, and is relaxed enough to sleep with his head under him or hanging off a hide if he's on it (think: dog).
When I got him, he was 6-8 weeks old. Add 2.5 months and I'm guessing around 16-18 weeks now.

Doe A is a albino from a pet store that doesn't socialize their mice or rats and mostly sells them as feeders. She's a little jumpy and bites lightly occasionally, but she's a lot like the buck; curious about my hand doing stuff in there and relaxed. She has occasionally bitten me pretty hard when I'm trying to get some pieces of food, though.
Also, when I got Doe A, she appeared pregnant. She seemed to get smaller, and a month or so later she appeared pregnant again. Yet again she's gotten smaller. Is it possible she's reabsorbing the fetuses? Also, whenever the male mounts her, she generally lets him do his thing. The other night I WATCHED the two of them mate for about five minutes, only taking an occasional break for a few seconds so both of them could lick themselves.

Doe B is from the same pet store as Doe A and is a brown house mouse lookin' mouse, and super jumpy. Whenever I pick the mice up (see if something's wrong or to move them for cleaning), I scoop up the buck and Doe A in my palm with no problems, but this girl is so jumpy I have to pick her up by the tail. She avoids my hand and at just about any cost, and when she bites (which is somewhat often), I have to make sure I'm not bleeding.
Doe B has NEVER appeared pregnant, and whenever the male mounts her, she never lets him hold on for more than five seconds.

Both does were around 4wks when I got them, so they're about 14-15 wks now.


I am feeding them all a mix of this cat food and LM Animal Farms Rat and Mouse food*. They seem to like both just fine, as I regularly see them all eat a piece of each food. They all also act pretty healthy; healthier than the last mouse I had.
*
Crude Protein min 22.0%
Crude Fat min 5.0%
Crude Fiber max 5.0%
Moisture max 11.5%

Please don't make my type out the ingredients. DX


Also, I DID have the does (the buck did NO fighting) fighting for quite a bit, and now and then I'll hear them squealing about something. It's not often though.

Pictures! ::
Setup:
Buck:
Does:

Ah! And the tub they are in gets cleaned every 5-10 days, depending on how it's gone when food, water leakage, and waste I've missed.

Also, the last two pictures were taken on pine bedding in a holding tub when I cleaned the main one out earlier.

Urgh, another thing. I got a water bottle with a rubber stopper and no ball, and that is working wonders so far. I'd like to marry it.

I also got a weird water bottle that has a tiny hole that only lets water out when it's moved. I'm going to go test that one in the bathroom. I think it'll work well, though.

Everything looks good to me except possibly the cat food. I know lots of people don't use it, I haven't personally. They look healthy and well cared for. I don't think there is such thing as reabsorption, but they certainly eat babies if conditions aren't perfect. They'll do it regardless of how "nice" they are being to each other. They'll even eat their own.

If they're getting big and small again I'd have to guess that that's what's going on, but it sounds like you're on it too much for that. You might try separating the girls when one is going to have babies and see if there are any left over. It's usually pretty easy to catch them before they're all gone, it probably takes a whole day if they're gonna do it. I guess I'll mention again that putting 3 random adult mice together is difficult, but that's what you've got to work with for now.

Really, I'd stop pulling your hair out so much and get 3 additional mice for a different cage. Get them as small as you can and you might avoid these issues.