# Hiya ( +urgent preg-overdue)



## marie84 (Dec 26, 2013)

hiya,

I have been lurking on these forums trying to learn all I can since I was given a couple of mice some weeks back. They belonged a friend of a friend who was told they were two male littermates. On discovering they were in fact opposite sexes they were given to me as I have a reputation for taking in unwanted animals. Although experienced with animals on the whole I have never kept mice so have made a few mistakes over the past few weeks. I don't know their exact ages but I'm well aware they were too young to be bred from in an ideal world but I had assumed the female was already pregnant (this was mistake no1) so I left them together planning to separate them when she started showing signs of being pregnant as I wanted them to have company for as long as possible. From what I had read it would be very obvious when she was heavily pregnant, however that wasn't the case and she just suddenly ballooned so I planned on taking the male out the next day. That night she gave birth to 12 babies, I removed the male as soon as I realised she had the babies. The female culled 2 of them within the first couple of days and ever since it has been pretty plain sailing.

It has been apparent for the past 2 weeks or so that I wasn't quite fast enough in removing the male as she has gradually grown larger rather than ballooning like last time. She is now absolutely huge compared with her first litter and is now exactly 7 days overdue (counting from the exact time the male was removed). She is sleeping a lot but struggling to waddle along in her tub, she has been eating and drinking regularly throughout the day. This evening she has been very busy making two new nests and waddling between them so fingers crossed she will give birth in the next few hours.

Silver seems ok in herself apart from sleeping more- when she is up she is alert so far, she currently has her daughter from the previous litter with her (I took the males out yesterday as mum was getting irritated to the point of scrapping with them and I don't want her getting preg again, the female she has been fine with although I do have a tub on standby if anything changes-or if I'm advised to remove her).

I'm becoming very concerned about how overdue she is, that said although I have no immediate concerns about her health at this exact moment in time. I will be contacting my exotics vet who deals with mice in the morning for advice anyway if she hasn't given birth by then but I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with litters that are that overdue and what the outcome was? Is there anything that can be done other than putting her out of her misery if things don't go well or if labour doesn't start?

If she does get through this safely I'll be getting a friend who keeps snakes to cull the males and possibly some females depending on how many there is as all this is a lot of strain on her.

Sorry to make my first post a plea for help. I'll keep you updated. Also apologies if this should have been posted elsewhere, I wasn't sure if my first post needed to be approved before posting elsewhere and I could do with an idea of what to expect asap.

Thank you


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

Hello and welcome.If the doe is warm to the touch with bright eyes and a smooth coat then there is nothing to worry about.It's unlikely she is 7 days past her due date.If she's cold to the touch,hunched,squinting eyes,spikey fur then there is an issue and a vet is the best option.You can leave her daughters in the cage with her and it would be an excellent idea to remove the bucks from the new litter to reduce the strain of back to back rearing.


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## marie84 (Dec 26, 2013)

Thank you for the prompt reply. I have checked and rechecked the dates as I wrote down the DOB of her first litter with the 6 hour slot she may have given birth, plus the time I removed the male mouse. Even if you allowed a 48 hour period for conception to have happened from the time of mating she would be a minimum of 5 days overdue (not really sure how long the sperm lives in mice once out the males body). I've not even seen the feeder mice breeders where I work get this big and I have a look at them almost every time I walk past to see their development, although that department is nothing to do with me the staff room is right next door (just can't help myself lol).

Well I'm hoping she has had them or is in the middle of labour as we speak because she wont leave her next box this morning like she usually does when fed in the mornings. Fingers crossed.


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

They can stretch out a back to back pregnancy (i.e. when their body reserves are depleted and it's a strain) to 28 days according to what I've read, though it's not that common. It sounds like she will give birth soon from your description.


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## marie84 (Dec 26, 2013)

Sorry it's been such a long time since my original post, I kept meaning to come back and update but then eventually forgot. I found this forum again whilst searching for alternative substrates. Just in case it ever helps anyone else she did give birth within a day of my posting for advice, 11 babies one of which died within a day or so but it looked unhealthy so was expected.


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