Dead pinks?

k had a litter of 8 pups born on the 14th and on the 15th when i checked on my mice there were 4 alive 1 missing and 3 dead. ? is would you keep and feed the 3 dead pinks or would you pitch them. my mouse house is air conditioned and maintaind at 68 deg. all the time.

Thanks

Eric

Do you know how closely related the parent mice are? When inbreeding gets too close internal birth defects can occur. I do not know however if I would risk feeding pinks that may have died of an illness. What do others think?

i dont think i want to feed them either just curious to see what others think. i know for a fact they are not close like mother son, fater daughter, or siblings. i made that particular tank from a male of of one litter and 4 females of another litter, the closest they could be is cousins, but my original stock came from a huge tank i hand picked all my sexes. this is her first litter i was kinda supprised to see any alive.

thanks for the reply

If it's her first litter, it could very well be cannibalism. It would account for the missing pink, and she may not have begun to eat the dead ones yet... I had one female who, with her first litter, would chew the head off one.. Then chew the skullcap off another... Then move onto another.. Eat one until there was nothing left but some skin... She rarely sat down to eat the entire baby in one sitting, though she had no problem finishing off another girl's litter a week before this, without leaving any evidence... (That female, of course, has since been culled--I let her have a second litter, and she ended up cannibalizing that one, too, making a total of 3 litters dead at her paws.)

If this is the first litter your colony has had, leave the girl alone and just wait to see if she eats her next litter. She could be a down-right cannibal, or she could just be stressed by her first litter.

Of course, that's just my take on it. This could very well be something completely different.. This is just my experience on the matter. =P

Oh yeah. I wouldn't feed them off. Just to be on the safe side. =/

I dont feed already dead ones either, Just a me thing. If it is her first litter, it might just be the first litter thing. It happens. Nothing to back this up, but it "seems" I dont get as much cannibalism when I feed higher fat to expected moms.

Like Floof had mentioned if she eats the second litter then cull her she might just be a cannibal.

Just thinking about it a little more, Those dead but not eaten babies could have been born like that, or birth defects(often happens in first births)and just died.

As far as inbreeding... These are mice you can go many generations before major problems start happening

k thanks everyone. didn't want to feed them and didnt even keep them. i figured if something was rong with them not to live they werent good enoough to feed. this was her first litter and was just chalking it up to canablism. just wanted to see if anyone fed the pinks that didnt make it.

Thanks

Eric