# A sausage with whiskers



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I really don't know why these babies are so chubby; they were accidental litters, but I guess the diet I give my meeces is good enough to produce what has been called this 'sausage with whiskers', plus three litter mates that are also chubbers, and another litter off another doe in the same group who also look to be bulking up and looking similarly bulky. The moms only got supplemental feedings after they were showing and now, as they are nursing.





This slim lovely girl is the mother of the sausage.


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## cjdelphi (Mar 23, 2011)

ze sausage iz too cute to be sazzled in a frying pan


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

yaz, yaz, too cute for de frying an too fat for de flying ooh we duz liky da red eyed triz down here in de Baja Manitoba yez, yez! we maky more more an more of dem yez zoonly reel zoon grow big right now now now

(wunda iz a boil zauzage or goil zauzage?)

haha how to tell boil zauzage from goil zauzage yer lookz in da geenz *snerk*


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

What are you supplementing with and how many babies is she raising?


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## Soleya (May 24, 2011)

looks good


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## CherryTree (Jun 7, 2011)

Oh gosh, I know it's not ideal, and probably not even healthy for that baby but....that is SO cute. The sausage with whiskers title gave it a nice touch too! :lol:


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

We can thank Soleya and/or Legaie(sp) for that turn of phrase.

This doe had only four babies in this litter; it's a good case to support culling to reduce litter size. The other litter is five babies. I've been balky when it comes to culling pinkies, and still don't like the idea, but I have done it, and will again when I see a compelling reason.

I give my meeces a lump of high grade rice and lamb puppy chow every other day; the breeding and pregnant meeces get it every day plus a bit of dried bread with milk and/or scrambled egg, as you see in the pic shown here. The babies eat the supplements as well, when they start to wean, and in group cages I put in enough for everybody. Oddly, the other non-breeding does in a tank don't get fat on this stuff....but they probably don't eat as much of the grains and seeds every mousie gets every day. This tank also has two big wheels in it, so maybe they are working it off. (And while I'm thinking about it, those wheels will have to come out before the babies are weaned, as I don't want them to take impromptu flying lessons...)

The English show breeders think chubby babies are good; they will grow up to be big strong foot long monster mousies. This baby is very wide framed as well as being chubby...I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. I'm so pleased just to start with that it's another red-eyed tricolor/splashed individual. I'm going to breed more of these and less of the beige to black tris, as I have a lot of them, and soon they will be very common all around the world. I'm going to concentrate on the other colors in the next couple of years.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Thank you for using my words! They just seemed entirely appropriate. And I'll totally understand if my name is hard to spell. I go by Maggie, if that helps. I'm really enthused to see how massive of a mouse he turns into. He's not just chubby, but wide-framed as you said. Interesting to see if he does turn into one of those massive mice, or if he's just a roly-poly ball of fluff forever.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I've seen what comes of breeding a mousie that's half English to a mousie bred by me; he was Monster, a foot long hunk of black buckness. This can't be due to that, as I've had no English show genes input in the last four years. The last one was Hazel, one of the mosuies sent to me from RodentFest four years ago. (The albinos I got off the truck must have a touch of English show mouse in them too. I'm not sure if I'm going to use and of them to mix with my current lines, as there seems to be a lack of good health, as two of them are already gone.) She was a long haired satin recessive yellow doe, very long and lovely, and I didn't know at the time I started breeding her that she was hiding her tri genes. So the potential for size is in there...I like to think I've done well selecting individuals for breeding that improve the size and type of my meeces. But I don't always choose for those things, as I'm primarily interested in color and markings. Given the choice of individuals mousies that both have good qualities, I will choose the bigger to breed.

I wonder how much, if any, English blood there is in the huge white mousies I bred off of my reptile store boy, Berg. I know PEW's tend to be bigger to start with, and I am planning on continuing with that line just for giggles to find out how long it takes to see improvement in the typiness of that sort of mousie.

In any case, this little sizzler, being a light color, is prone to obesity anyway, and I hope it isn't too fat when it's time to breed.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

i had some chubby ones while ago, one was called a baby walrus lol










there was 2 mums and 4 babies so they were very well fed, she matured into the same size as mum.
Her with mum one the right
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa23 ... CF5016.jpg


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

We can only hope for such an outcome ourselves.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

My little sausage is about five and a half weeks old now, and is still quite a wide load. He's the size of many full grown meeces I've seen, and his name: Jimmy Dean


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## BlackCat99 (Jun 30, 2011)

the chubbys are sooo cute!!!!!!!!


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

i wonder if he will continue to get bigger or stop growing sooner.
Do you know how much he weighs? purly out of curiosity


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Maybe he'll grow up to be a knockwurst.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Good gracious! He looks fantastic! And that headspot is super-cute. Wait, are his whiskers going all the way past your hands in that last photo? :shock: Whiskery goodness...


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

He's got a really mellow, laid back personality, and is in running to take over as my main cuddle buddy. Old Ferguson is showing signs of age and isn't as eager to get out and ride my shoulder.

J.D. might be ready to breed, even as young as he is. I'm picking three red eyed bucks and six red eyed does (all non-albino) for my next batch of litters.

PPV: I don't weigh my mousies, as I don't have a scale small enough.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Well. Jimmy Dean, Sausage Extraordinare, has been given his own 5 1/2 gallon tank to mark up as his territory, and in a few days I will provide him a harem of three red eyed does, one of which will be his mum, one will be his sister, and the third has not yet been decided. He's about eight weeks old now, and this will be very nearly the youngest buck I've ever bred. No question but that he's ready for it; his assets are very visibly down in the locked and loaded position. New pix later tonight!

Pp Valhunds: I'm embarrassed that I didn't acknowledge the baby pic you posted; It's a nice little chubber with pretty little round ears (probably not little in size, they look like they'd grow into a nice set of show type ears).


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## Galaxy (May 25, 2011)

He's a nice solid lil mousie. What my Grandma would have caused a bruiser. (She was from East End of London, a cockney)


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

"Locked and loaded" indeed. Perfect phrasing for an occasionally uncomfortable subject, at least when explaining to potential new pet owners. "He doesn't look like it now, but..."


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

no worries lol, i bet he will have fun with his new girlies


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Here are the new pix. He got his first doe last night and was very much on the job.


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