Sneaky Mother?

My first litter of babies ever, came along a few nights ago.When I cleaned the tank today, and took the babies and nest out I saw blood, does this mean that a pinkie was eaten, or is it from birth? I only found 3 babies so I was kind of disapointed. There is not alot of blood, and if they ate the some babies would there be some left overs, or do they eat it all, or does it vary?

All or some of the first litter gets eaten quite often, it's not unusual at all. My first breeder mice left just a few body parts when they ate their first litter. Mice will often eat their pinks if they are not feeling secure enough, it's a way of recouping the energy they've used to produce them. Just wait til they make a new litter, it may be a one-off, although I had to move mine into a quieter area (my bedroom!) before I got more reliable pinky production .

I too have had first time mothers eat most or all of the very first litter, unless there was an older female nursing and willing to foster the little ones. I've also had them eat numerous litters if the colony is stressed out for nearly any reason. Sometimes over-crowding will cause them to eat young mice too and in very rare cases defective babies will be eaten.

To help prevent the mother from eating their young, I typically avoid touching the baby mice until their fur starts coming in. I pick them up with a tissue and put them back first before the mothers. This seems to have prevented repeat offenders from eating their young here with ours.

Jenn

Picking them up with a tissue is a good idea. Thanks for the explaining, hopefully we will see morepinkies next time. Do you think it would be good to let the first litter grow to weanlings so the mother can become good at mothering?