# New females introduced to old females



## Demak5532 (Oct 24, 2018)

So I have 1 male and 5 female mice of various colors. I have them all separated in groups of two since I bought them weeks apart. I have 1 male and a female in my biggest cage thats about 40 gallons and 2 young pregnant females to a small 10 gallon and then I have 2 females nursing a litter in 20 gallon. What I want to know is after there all done nursing and having babies is it possible to introduce them all to my big cage along with the male living with them? I'm try keep the amount of space and supplies they use between the 3 setups. I can post pics if anyone wants to see them.


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

Welcome amongst us!
Yes you can do that if there is only one male. You do know that IF you do that, he will obviously mate with all the females and there will be gazillions more babies, don't you? Yeeeah, You're bright, you know that :lol:


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## Demak5532 (Oct 24, 2018)

Yes I'm trying to have all of them pregnant at the same time but at the moment their in different stages of pregnancy and nursing and I've tried to introduce them together before but I guess there maternal instinct when their pregnant is to fight all other unknown females. Their in 3 different setups but I want them all in one having millions of babies. I have 2 snakes and the male is a breeder mouse so I normally get about 10 babies per female. But they just dont like each other.

Also one of my females is about to give birth but all she's been doing is running on her wheel nonstop for a week. Will she continue to do that after giving birth?


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## Cheshire Gleam (Aug 15, 2016)

Just adding in case you aren't aware, but you should wait until all the young are at least two months, preferably three-four months old, before breeding them. This gives the does time to grow and develop so they can produce large, healthy litters. They will be more adept at being able to raise young since their body will be ready for it.

Once the babies are weaned, you can introduce all the females together. Do it in a clean environment with fresh bedding and no toys/hides, only food and water. This allows them to begin establishing a hierarchy/bonding without the added complication of mice possessing items in the tank. As they get used to one another, you can add toys/hides if you use them.

I usually take out the wheel when the does are close to giving birth just in case but you can leave it in, the mom will still feed her babies.


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