# Ophelia's litter - 2nd generation!



## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Once again I was lucky enough to watch the birth (from the bottom of her tank). I discovered her at three babies and there's a final count of 11! Yikes! I brought them out for a minute to weigh them on a warmed scale (depending on the baby, they range from 9-12 hours old here). Tully was in with her daughter during the birth (wasn't expecting the litter until tomorrow or Monday, oops) and they did a brilliant job of working as a team, cleaning all the freshly born babies. Being a paranoid owner though, I pulled Tully out the moment I had a chance.

6 black eyes, 5 pink eyes. Odd...the predicted colours (black, blue, stone, smoke) don't have pink eyes. 

The pinky on the left is dark eyes right? o.0 It seems lighter than the other eyes.


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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

Lovely babies  It's so hard to choose :/
the question is if you want to see what the red eyed ones are.


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

I wish I could sex them right now. They're not as active as three day olds and somehow that helps...inanimate them. 

I think I should. I didn't see any pink eyes in the last litter because they were all male. That said I run the risk of PEW don't I. : / Well, PEW satin would be pretty.


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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

You can always try sexing them. Practise makes perfekt


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Haha! Very true! And with 11 I think it'd be wiser to get in there earlier to maximize the benefit to the does. I'm just...rereading pretty much every thread in the culling section. My chickenbutt self is wooed by the freezer (I won't).


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Day 2 was a LOT easier to differentiate.


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)




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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

you can really see them growing


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

I'm happy the littler does have caught up to their porko of a sister, haha! They were a bit small but I guess with a litter of 11, over half male, that was to be expected. One of the dark eyed does has a weird eye (in the above photo) as her other one is solid dark. I was glad she's female as I wanted to see what's up with that.


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Huh. I did not think I was getting blue as they were all equally pink yesterday. Yet mother and daughter look identical on Day 5. So weird.


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## Gerimouse (Jun 17, 2012)

aw they are really cute. It will be interesting to see how they turn out.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

glad there getting bigger and looking good.


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Their size seems good but they're kind of behind the fur development. I checked their mother's litter at this age (Day 7) and they had fuzz. o.0


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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

They seem nice and chunky, so I wouldn't worry. 
It looks like the fur is starting to come through already, so they should be fuzzy in a day or so ^^


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## sugarmice (Jul 24, 2012)

Cute chunky pups ^_^


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

2 PEW, 1 blue (mother's colour), 1 beige? (father's colour)
Major fail for discovering the other c-dilutes!


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## Kaz115836 (Feb 20, 2012)

Are they satin?


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

They are  It's the one thing I'm totally confident about wanting to stick to - satin. <3


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## Kaz115836 (Feb 20, 2012)

I have a few satins I'm looking forward to breeding. A lot of varieties are simply gorgeous with a satin coat


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

I wish I didn't have such a long wait to figure out who's long haired, if any!


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## Kaz115836 (Feb 20, 2012)

They may be longhaired too?! My gosh you have all the good genes! So jelous :lol:


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Of my mice?? I've never heard that before.  Though long haired the girls I have are not good long haired examples. The guard hairs are long but the undercoat isn't long enough. It'll take a loooong time to fix that I think. They just end up looking messy after the poofy 4 week old stage.


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## Kaz115836 (Feb 20, 2012)

:lol: I have two longhaired girls that somehow never get pregnant and even if they did I wouldn't get longhaired offspring till the 2nd generation :/ they are pretty decent longhairs, too so its a little depressing.


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

So...blue x beige = PEW, beige, blue? Wut?


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## andypandy29us (Aug 10, 2012)

they are gorgeous babies


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## BlackDragonfli (Oct 8, 2012)

Pretty little babies!!


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Apparently PEW and beige can't pop up in the same litter from a blue parent so I'm all confused with the c-dilutes.


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)




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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

I swear she's just sleeping.


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## kit (Oct 8, 2012)

Aw, that's adorable! Lol my dog sleeps in that exact position.


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## andypandy29us (Aug 10, 2012)

thats a fab picture


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Well, that was a failed experiment. Of the three, the only clear "good" mouse by pet store standards is the baby blue. Large eyes, good body type considering. The PEW's are acceptable. The beige/bone has a stunning long coat! I love her colour. But her eyes are very small and she does not look as remotely robust as her sisters. So no breeders in this lot.


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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

Why not use the blue? 
(adorable photos btw ) )


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

I promised her to a breeder.  Rather, the breeder asked for a blue and I only had one and given no one wants PEW, and I won't rehome my fragile bone girl, I think I'd run out of space. :/ I worry about what's up with the beige/bone as I wonder if it's a result of the inbreeding, and thus wonder if the baby blue carries it too?


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

Little update: The girls filled out nicely - I think I was just impatient/not aware they were in an awkward teenage stage.  However, they are smaller than the previous generation despite being raised as a litter of four so I don't plan on crossing them with their father/grandfather and will patiently wait for new lines. Adorable, but likely best as pets. Thank you to those who recommended I cross them early! No health issues have popped up but the smaller size makes me pause.


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

I believe the beige looking girl (possibly ce/c) could perhaps be my only option if I don't find new lines in the next couple of months. I contacted the pet store where I purchased her grandparents a year ago and they said they haven't had mice since then, and don't plan on bringing in more. Yikes! What to do. :/


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

liking the pics, I'd say if you can't get any in keep the best of that litter and run it on as a separate line, don't put it back to your main line but put mice from your main line into your second. that way you can try to improve the second while not spoiling what you currently have. maby rebreed the parents or try another combo if possible


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

PPVallhunds said:


> liking the pics, I'd say if you can't get any in keep the best of that litter and run it on as a separate line, don't put it back to your main line but put mice from your main line into your second. that way you can try to improve the second while not spoiling what you currently have. maby rebreed the parents or try another combo if possible


Thanks so much for your comment.  I may have just sold the best of the litter to the lovely Vicats though.  I'm not particularly in love with blue and tend to lean towards the stone and RY shades. Unfortunate given every compliment and inquiry I get is in regards to the blue girls! But I figured I'd lose interest if I weren't breeding colours I was excited about.

At the moment there's just the one line as I only had access to one buck last year (still handsome as ever). I'd love to introduce some imported mice but that of course wouldn't be immediate.

I'm wondering though, do you think it's wise to breed the original pairing again? The female must be around a year old now. She's chipper and energetic but with a poor long haired coat I don't know how to assess her general health otherwise. It may actually be the safest bet for the line, if it's safe for her.


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