# mother not mothering



## Rain4stgem (Jan 3, 2010)

Okay so Doe A gave birth (Jan 10) to what I thought was 7 pups but in following days I only counted 6. Maybe I miscounted...

Doe B gave birth to a litter 5 days later (Jan 15), totaling 12 pups.

Since, they have moved the nest and left one of the original 6 to die, I found her too late. Today, I found another of the original litter freezing in the corner no where near the nest, I put him back in the nest in hope he'd come back around. That same little one is about half the size of his same aged sibling. Now Doe B was unintentionally bred back to back, and her litter was removed when Doe A gave birth, would she have had milk and nursed the other litter with Doe A? Now it seems B has her own pups and while she feeds the others she doesn't care if one gets lost, like the guy I found today. And it seems like Doe A isn't doing anything. Hope that makes since. I was wondering if anything like this happened to anyone and if maybe I should try to get the older pups and doe and put them in a different cage? The 4 of the 5 older pups are really big and pushing the pinks around. I don't want to loose anymore pups to abandonment either, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Newbie, Amethyst


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

My advice is to cull (euthanize) most of the pups and keep 4-5 for the one mother who is doing her job well.

You can check their nipples and see if the hair around them is pressed down or gone. This is a sure sign of extended suckling (which probably means she is giving milk).

Don't breed again from any mouse who is a poor mother since maternal skill is at least partially inherited. Whether you breed for show, pets/hobby, or feeders, a mouse with poor mothering instincts/skills is not something you want to pass on.


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## Rain4stgem (Jan 3, 2010)

Thanks for your advice Jack. The one I thought was a bad mother did have evidence she was nursing, I separated her and what was left of her litter (4 pups) to see what she will do, so far it seems she's taking care of them. The good mother seems to have things under control again, I was going the cull her pups if she still had trouble but so far so good. I'm thinking I like it much better to keep moms separate until I learn more and get this process under control.


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