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REW cannibilize???

chaoticstone

chaoticstone

New member
I did a search before I decided to write this up and found the one about megacolon which concerns me a little. I have to mice colonies set up right now First: 1.4 male being butterscotch, females all being red eyed white. Second: 1.3 Male black and white banded. 2 females the same as male, last female being a black and brown solid. I'll start with the second colony they actually had their litters first, 1BW 1solid had babies the same day 11 total.(1being killed) I left 3 babies with them once pinkies were the appropriate size. Then the last BW I removed when she attacked one of the fuzzy's (I think the baby tried to nurse of her) So she was in isolation and had her litter and it was 9total. Pulled all of hers and put her back in and it was actually funny because she claimed the fuzzy's as hers. So the red eyed whites started to pop.....1st one my wife was actually home and got up at the squeals eating them so she pulled her out and put her in own tub and she had 7 more babies.
2nd REW was eating them again so she just pulled the 4 babies and we fostered them out 2 to REW 2 to first colony (I took dirty bedding and rubbed all over the babies and had no trouble introducing them) She watched to make sure she was done having them. 3rd REW had her litter today and if we counted body parts right it was 8. 4th REW is ready to pop anytime. I'm thinking about pulling her out to let her have her babies. I kind of think it's 1 certain female that is killing everything and I tried to mark the one I thought it was but it didn't work to well lol. Has anyone every had that much cannibalism with first litters. The second colony ate only 1 out of 20, first colony 16 out of 27 have been ate would have been 20 if my wife hadn't pulled the four out. So are whites more prone to cannibalize then coloured? What is every one opinion on the REW colony? Was thinking I should try to figure out which one I thought was eating them but would have to go threw another cycle to figure it out since I can't tell them apart at all. Any info or opinions would be appreciated since I need a lot of pinks since most of mine are going on doubles soon. :uhoh:

Thanks,
Chaotic
 
Cannibalism is very common with first time moms. I usually let them eat their babies for the first litter and most stop doing it after the second one. I don't like to mess around taking their babies or taking them out to have their litters because I feel it stresses them and makes them even more likely to eat the babies. All my mice are different colors but the red eyed whites I have are not any worse than others as far as I have noticed.
I have had an occasional bloodthirsty female I had to cull because she kept eating her own and other females litters, so if you are able to tell which one it is and see her constantly doing it, feed her off...but for the most part it is a new mom thing and they stop after their second litter.
Diet is very important too, if they are on a poor diet they may be eating the babies because of it. Buy quality lab block. have a little patience and if you get an exceptionally good mom (with large litters) raise up some of her babies for a next generation.
Hope this helps.
 
In addition to lab blocks, I also toss in some seed mix to enhance their diet and add variety. It seems to preoccupy the female sometimes and give her a break from feeding the litter. I havent had a lot of cannabilizing, but I did find adding some mixed seeds ( hamster/gerbil mix) seemed to cut down on cannabilizing. But I honestly can't say whether this is the case or not. As far as REW's or mixed colours, any cannabilizing can't be narrowed down to a particular colour grouping that I have noticed.
 
Well I already feed them Mazuri Lab diet and my wife will throw in a mix of her cereral stuff for them that she mixed up for her rats. Has some disgusting cereals in it(sugar free kind) and dried fruits and sunflower seeds etc. So them being on a poor diet isn't anything I'm concerned about I guess I should of wrote that in the first post. Well Last night when I went to check on the ready to pop girl she had 13 babies and I watched the one little umm jerk go grab one up and kill it and go for another. So Kinko got a freshy in his meal last night. I'm pretty sure their still are babies in tank but my wife is sleeping still and I don't like getting yelled at this early so I'll check later.

Chaotic
 
Well it looks like I solved the killing problem last night. She still has 13 pinks and the other 2 moms are helping her out. I never thought that there would be some that would just kill everything no matter what. So my wife is glad that her Kinko helped out with his treat.

Chaotic
 
Mice can be so cruel a couple of my first time mums have eaten their litters and then just when i think I have them all established I caught a pair the other day eating a large pinkie Im not sure which one it was either as I just have lab mice.

Cant get lab block here so mine are all fed on a mix of mice food and other corns, they also have mixed cereal as well.
 
Hmm... that is a wonder... not sure if the colorations have anything to do with it (although it's always been my theory that the red-eyed white's have mental disabilities... but no solid evidence of that).

I just started a colony of 3 brown and one black female, and a brown male. They've been having babies left and right and have not cannibalized at all.

Also, their conditions haven't been amazing either which had me worrying how they would handle their first litters. They were all in a small tub and after the first mama had her babies, I got a mouse set-up off of CraigsList and set them up in that. It smelled like other mice and not only that, my cats won't leave them alone now that they can see them through the glass. They stare and bat at the cage (they can't get in but they sure try to).

The mice have places to hide, a nesting box, a wheel, and plenty of food and water so they have great conditions now in respects to those things (they always had food and water though, no worries)

I keep culling the litters and feeding to my hatchlings, and if a hatchling refuses I just put the baby back. I've had no cannibalism at all... even with the cats, moving them, and switching the babies all around.

This leads me to beleive that you may have gotten a red-eyed white with a mental problem. Even some human mama's will kill their babies because there is just something not right in their head.
 
Your probably right about her just being crazy. I haven't had any other issues in that colony since I culled her. They have 13 babies and it's interesting to watch that even the dad takes turn watching the babies. I also have a wheel in both colonies tubs my wife said they had to have something else to do.

Chaotic
 
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