• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

5 babies disappear.....

T

tigerlillyrk

New member
Well I checked on my fuzzies yesterday and today I go to change the bedding and there's 5 of the 9 missing? There is no sign of blood at all and I checked in every piece of shaving....how is this possible???
There's also two adult females and a male and both the moms had babies in the litter...
 
I would bet they were eaten by one or more of the adults. They can do that without leaving any evidence. I always try to separate the moms out and put them in a private little cage before they deliver, so that their stress will be minimal, and so that the adults that don't need to be there will not have any chance to cannibalize the babies.
 
idk it just seems weird cuz 5 went missing within less than 24 hours and they are like 2 weeks old now and i dont understand why theyd all of of a sudden get stressed out of no where because i check on them everyday since they were born pretty much. ive also been feeding them so theyve had plenty of that...
 
Hummm was there any major temp changes. If the temps dropped to much they could of passed then got eaten.

Are the fuzzies still nursing. Mom could of dried up or is not producing enough milk for the whole litter. Is this her 1st litter.
 
No major temp. Changes and they seemed all fat and healthy and moving the best they could for fuzzies. There's also different sizes in what's left so o don't think one whole litter got eaten I think some out of both litters went missing. It's both of the moms first litters but they share the burden because both their litters were in the nest and I always see them nursing the babies. They started off with 12 in all and I had fed off 3 and then the 5 disappeared. What's really bothered me is there is no trace...not even a foot or a tail.
 
Mice can be sadistic little beasties, i have had them eat the babies past fuzzy stage. It took a while but I think i finally have it down to some that are good mothers. I don't separate the mothers out mine usually pool together and take care of the babies. And have seen it to where the one that had the babies not take care of them at all but another female in the cage. I feed rodent block plus keep a dish with seeds and hamster food in the cage with them. And have noticed that sometimes big disturbances while they have babies will cause them to eat them. If I need feeders I will use long forcepts to take them out so not to get scent all over the nest. Good luck with them, it too me months to get a good colony going that were not all cannibals.
 
Buzzard said:
It happen like wendhend said. Try to determine who the cannibal is and eliminate it.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that about the babies, they probably did get eaten though. It may be hard to find the cannibal, A recent experience taught me that, The other night i went to look at the Pinkies and saw the 2 mothers fighting over the dead baby.
It should get better the more she breeds though, if this is her first litter she was probably stressed.
 
Rave said:
Sorry to hear that about the babies, they probably did get eaten though. It may be hard to find the cannibal, A recent experience taught me that, The other night i went to look at the Pinkies and saw the 2 mothers fighting over the dead baby.
It should get better the more she breeds though, if this is her first litter she was probably stressed.
Click to expand...

Patience is bummer but with some mice your so right rave.

If its not diet it has to be stress. Stress can come from just about anything from a new fragrance you started wearing, messing with them,to cat and dog smells ect... Rave,crotalis,and wend all touch on this. This to me sounds like what is happening.
 
You may also want to try offering hard boiled eggs often. My rats LOVE them, and they are a wonderful source of protein and fats and general good stuff. I recommend you give them all a piece of yolk so everyone gets some though, because my rats will fight over that, so I figure mice will too.
 
I also suggest the hard boiled egg, just in case it was a lack of protein or some other vitamin like that. Give them half of the egg and that should be more than enough for all three. If you find that it disapears too quickly, give them the other half.

Also, some of the babies could have been ill. With baby mice they can go downhill so fast it's scary, perhaps the mothers sensed this and killed them.

Could also have been stress, even a tiny bit of stress like putting your hand in the cage for too long. I say try to find out who did it and don't breed her again because she may kill her babies every time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top