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Removing pregnant females ???

G

graffixcs

New member
Hey all.

I have been reading the posts and now am more confused than ever. It appears to me that most people leave the females IN the colony when they give birth. Is this the case? I have always removed the females prior to giving birth and now am really curious if I need to at all.

Is their any benefit to leaving the female in the colony besides saving room? :shrugs:

Many thanks for any help.
 
I wouldn't ever take a pregnant female out.

1) Other mothers and sometimes the male will help the female with the babies.

2) Taking mice out the colony can lead to problems such as cannibalism and attacks.

3) Female mice go back into heat almost immediately after giving birth. If you're raising mice for feeders, you're missing out on an opportunity there.
 
Hmmmm, that explains alot. I had read that people kept colonies and didn't introduce new mice, I really appreciate you explaining "why". Thank you Joejr14
 
Aye. Pregnant mice have a niche in the colony and they're content. When you separate them into a new environment, they're more apt to be uncomfortable and feel more vulnerable and thats when the chances of cannibalism increase considerably.

Also in the case of first-time mothers, a helping hand from "mid-wife" mice really lessens the chance of that 'legendary first litter being eaten' deal.

Plus as Joe said, they go into post-partum estrus 30 mins to 2 hrs after giving birth. And then weekly if they miss that one. So if you're raising feeder mice, that can be a detriment.

And mice are hard to get back together after being separated for a few weeks. Or at least in my home they do, it's battle royal when you put the same female back in, and ten-fold when an entirely new member is added.

The only time I've ever separated pregnant mice was due to perceived stress at other females stealing her babies and scattering them around the floor of the cage. Between giving birth and having to go pick up her newborns, she was acting ragged. The other one was a female that delivered 22 large babies (large pink size) and was in labor for 5+ hrs.

Other than that, if separating them works for you..then I don't see why you should change. Just for most of us, we have aggressive devil mice that don't like their family arrangement being altered in anyway. :crazy02:
 
What everyone else said... :)

If you're a pet mouse breeder and want your female mouse to have maybe two or three litters, carefully planned and produced, then yes, by all means, take your female away from the male as soon as she starts to show. But otherwise, it's actually KINDEST to the female mouse to leave her with her family. They help her out and keep her company.

I almost NEVER leave a mouse in a cage alone or a rat for that matter. AS I say to my kids: "one mouse gets lonely".
 
Thanx to everyone for their input. I can definately see a change in my ways coming. Unfortunately I have 1 mouse that I swear is about to explode !!! She will have to stay there now as I realise I have caused her enough stress.
 
Good call leaving her be.... if you put her at "exploding point" back with a colony she's been away from for a while, they'll just all eat the babies.

Raising mice is an art!
 
Ummmmm ........ that particular female JUST gave birth to 18, yup 18, younguns. Now I hope Murphy will bugger off for a few days. :)
 
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