# Double banded Dutch project, litter #1



## gypsy84 (Jun 10, 2010)

Cricket (lilac banded) gave birth to 6 healthy pups a couple of days ago. This is Buckley's first litter, I also have him in with some other banded does but none of them appear to be pregnant yet. My camera's broken so I can't get any current pics  There is one black female pup that looks sort of what I'm aiming for, although her second band and head markings are a little messy. The rest of the pups are lighter so I can't tell what they will be like, but I'm crossing my fingers for some nice pale markings.

Here's Cricket









Buckley as a hopper with his dam, Fivel


----------



## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

-dies-

I love double banded mice. They look like jail-birds!


----------



## zany_toon (Apr 3, 2010)

Cricket is gorgeous!!!! *steals* :lol:


----------



## Mousezombie (Jun 19, 2010)

Those are some really vivid red eyes on Cricket.


----------



## windyhill (Jan 19, 2010)

Aww! I have single banded mice, I would love to get double banded!


----------



## gypsy84 (Jun 10, 2010)

They're my favourite pattern, for sure. And the funny thing is, Fivel popped up from a buck and a doe that were as close to solid as you can get - just belly spots, toe tips and a small blaze on the doe. Her other siblings (except Stanley) were all solid. I thought she was just so neat that I had to keep her, and then she had Buckley in her second litter.. Now she's bred back to Swarlos (Buckley's dad) for a 3rd litter and due any day, so lets hope for a "twin" sister or two for Buckley.. 

Cricket is one of my favourites (who am I kidding, they're ALL my favourites!!) But she's very sweet and I really like her colour.. I think I might try breeding her to my black tan satin after this litter is weaned, I think the tan belly would look neat in contrast to a lighter coat like hers.

I used my cheapy spare camera to get a pic of this litter, just had to charge the batteries first! 









The bottom middle pup is the most obvious one with the DBD pattern. The one to her right appears to just have a coloured rump. The very top one has Dutch markings over one eye and it's hard to see what else, and the one under it appears to be single banded, not sure about face markings. The other 2 with PE's are too hard to tell, but I'm hoping for lilacs with the DBD pattern!


----------



## JustMouse (Jul 23, 2010)

Oh man those mice are gorgeous!!!


----------



## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

Are you gonna breed him back to his mum?


----------



## gypsy84 (Jun 10, 2010)

The nice pup in this litter is a female, so I'm going to try breeding her back to Buckley when she's mature.. And Fivel just gave birth to her 3rd litter with Swarlos (10 healthy pups!) so we'll see how she does once they're weaned, and then I might try her with Buckley again. I had them together over a month ago, but it was Buckley's first attempt at breeding and he wasn't quite sure what to do, and Fivel was getting fed up with him and fighting a bit. Which is odd for her, since she's usually very motherly and gentle.


----------



## gypsy84 (Jun 10, 2010)

Somehow I misidentified the black DBD; it's actally a male  And for some reason, the other day Fivel and Cricket culled the two lightest pups.. There is a nice DBD lilac, but it's also a male. So this litter wasn't too successful. But Fivels pups are getting their colour and there's a decently marked female (I double checked!). My camera is being fixed right now, so I should have pictures in the next week or so!


----------



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I also love those bright red eyes on Cricket. Very, very pretty!


----------



## Erica08 (May 20, 2009)

I've never heard of double banded mice that's pretty neat.


----------



## miss.understood (Apr 20, 2010)

oooh loving the double banded's!


----------



## gypsy84 (Jun 10, 2010)

There isn't too much information out there on DB's, I don't think it's a "recognized" pattern, but I love it and it has become one of my main goals as a hobby breeder. Apparently it occurs when a mouse is homozygous for banded, but I'm sure there's other factors involved as well.

Cricket has culled all but 3 of her own pups, and one of Fivels. I hope she leaves the rest alone... Also, I had 3 heavily pregnant does together, and one of them gave birth sometime in the night, and all I saw today was 2 half pinkies  I separated her from the other 2 pregnant ladies. I think the food I switched them to (pet stores sell hog grower as mouse/rat food) might not have enough protein in it.. So I started supplementing their diet with egg and cat food with high protein content. I never had this problem before on the corn/sunflower/wheat/barley etc. mix that I was feeding, so even though it's much cheaper to buy the hog grower, I might have to switch back. Anyone know off the top of their head what protein/fat/fibre levels are reccomended for a decent mouse diet?


----------



## Erica08 (May 20, 2009)

I don't know how much mice should be getting but hog grower only has roughly 18% and I don't think that's enough on the other hand dog and cat food have an average of 24-26%


----------



## omahapied (Aug 29, 2010)

Love your mice! I just started working on a banded / double banded program. My first females are pregnant now - I'm hoping to get some nice banded.


----------

