Spiney Mice

[CaptBogart]

Ok, here's the dilemma... last Saturday I went to the pet store and purchased an adult pair of Australian spiney mice whos young were on solid food. I took them home and the very next morning, surprise, baby mice. (I know they reproduce fast, but damn ) Now I only put them in a 5G critter keeper for overnight till I could get them a 10 or 20G tank. Now I dont want to move them until I'm sure it will be safe for the babies. How old do they have to be before they can be touched or moved without the parents wanting to abandon/kill them, and how long does it take to be able to sex them so I can pull out any males I might have? From posts on here, I'm afraid if my timing is off I could end up with the males(s) killed by the father... appreciate any help with this...

 

[mbdorfer]

Australian? Mine are Egyptian :shrugs:
I have never had an issue with the spiney's. They are not like domestics, I have seen the father pick up a baby in his mouth and take it to safety when my ugly hand was invading their space :grin01:

 

[brandy]

If we're on the topic of mice I would like ask another question. (hope thats ok) but I perchased some mice, not sure what kind I only asked for adult... But a couple of them had it looked like blood bubbles in their buts. so I never fed them Monty in fear of something being wrong with that mouse I was just woudering if anything like that has happened to you and if that was ok?
Brandy and Monty

 

[CaptBogart]

I'll try to move them this weekend, Sunday they will be a week old. The father spends most of his time on top of the hide on guard duty Damn I meant Arabian, but I think they are the same really, at least they look the same in pics.... I seem to do the mixed up name thing a lot ya' know

 

[schilsound]

you know I hear a lot of talk about how you need to leave the pinks alone, changing scent on the mothers, etc etc.

I just havent found that to be true. Perhaps with the high amount of handling and visibility my mice and rats are used to they have become used to it, but at a fellow breeders large rodent barn its the same; no problem picking through litters of newborn pinks, week or olders, monthlings or even right on up to fuzzies- they take culling if their young in stride.

And to forestall that question- Yes; we Do cull the young. taking a few from multiple litters seems to be more condusive to healthier and larger offspring from mothers. Think about it- if a mother has a litter of 18 and she can nurse 12 then 3-4-5 of those young are going to be runts. If they make it through to adulthood they are gonna be smaller, etc. If the mother has to feed 10-12 or 12-15 it means less strain on mom to produce milk, etc.

win-win.

So with that in mind capt I would move mine as soon as I needed, but leaving them a week isnt going to hurt them ulesss they get trampled by the adults.

 

[CaptBogart]

Well that's good to know, the spineys can have up to six young at a time but only had the two. I also read not to have more than five mice in the colony and in big tanks more than one male, but with that few of offspring why waste the space on males? I need a larger space for a smaller production, but I like these as the pinkys are quite large as well as the mice themselves. I will have to start a small regular mouse colony just to keep with demand if I get a few more snakes though, which lets face it, is inevitable....