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Mice eating babies…

702marine

702marine

New member
So one of my pregnant mice had her babies and I found the two other female mice eating the babies. It’s not a matter of food they have plenty. I had to separate them and there were only two pups left that she is taking care of now. Any ideas of why they would do that or how to make sure it doesn’t happen again would be a great help.
 
It's a territorial thing. You are probably not going to get them to stop doing it. The one way around it is to keep them separated or kill off the group and start over with a group of young ones.

Wayne
 
I have a few females that do the same thing, but do not eat their own babies. I just separate them out when it's time for them (or any of the female roommates) to give birth.
Some females just seem to be more 'pre-dispositioned' to view other (unrelated) babies as threats to their own territory/babies.
 
I guess I will just keep them separated. They have all been together for a long time. I have been pretty lucky with everyone getting along until now.
 
We just had our first litter of mice babies and they ended up doing the same thing. So now we have the pregnant ones separated out from the others to see how that goes. Only time will tell. I wish mice were as easy as rats.
 
Does anybody have any pics of there setups for the mice that are by themselves? I have a good setup for the group. When it comes to separating the mothers with there babies it gets to be a lot of stuff to buy. Ideas and pics would a great, thank you all...
 
I don't have anything extravagant. Just ten gallon tanks, water bottles and we use crumpled or shredded paper and macaroni boxes for them to build nests in. We also buy Carefresh for substrate.

Tanks are around $10 at walmart, $2 for the water bottle and depending on the size or type of litter you use $7 - $20.

Sorry I am not more specific and didn't provide a pic.

Wayne
 
You use litter? Do they run around on just that? How well does it stop the smell? I have been using pine shavings just because it helps with the smell, but if it doesn’t hurt them to be on the litter and it helps with the smell I will switch.
 
702marine said:
You use litter? Do they run around on just that? How well does it stop the smell? I have been using pine shavings just because it helps with the smell, but if it doesn’t hurt them to be on the litter and it helps with the smell I will switch.
Click to expand...

Maybe I misspoke? When I say litter, I use that word in a general sense. Substrate, Litter, bedding means about the same.

I use a product called care fresh. Its a type of bedding

http://www.google.com/products/cata...log_result&ct=image&resnum=3&ved=0CD4Q8gIwAg#

Here is a quote from their bag:

Eco-friendly pet bedding is cedar and pine FREE and absorbs 3 times its weight in liquid! Natural, biodegradable small pet bedding is made of virgin cellulose fiber for superior odor control Sanitized at 360° to reduce bacteria, mold, and fungus Control offensive small pet cage odors with this earth-friendly, recycled, and biodegradable small pet bedding. Light, fluffy, natural fiber bedding features superior odor control and absorbs up to three times its weight in liquid. Made from virgin cellulose fiber, an alternative to pine and cedar wood shavings, which provides outstanding odor control and lasts longer between litter/bedding changes than other
Click to expand...

Sorry bout that!

Wayne
 
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