# Separate first time Mom or leave her with friends?



## Supertwo (Jan 29, 2014)

I had a male in with a trio of females but it looks like only one is pregnant. This will be her first litter, is it better to take her out and set her up on her own or to leave her with the other two? By herself there is only one mouse there to eat babies but she might be less stressed left with with the others. This will be my first litter so hopefully things go well.

This is the lil lady in question, I think she miiight be pregnant 

















And this is the father. What kind of colors can I expect from these two? They are both from feeder bins so I have no history on them.


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## GibblyGiblets (Oct 2, 2011)

If there is a mouse in the group that eats babies, you definitely not leave the mother in to have her babies with them, or the baby eater could munch the whole litter, trust me, I've seen it happen and surprisingly, the mother will do nothing about it o_o'

I haven't had to deal with baby eaters in several years, thank the gods, but I also would not breed that particular mouse, if I were you, as, in my experience at least, that trait seems to get passed down from parent to offspring, when I was young and stupid and breeding mice, I'd breed known baby eaters then foster the babies to another mother, those babies in turn, grew up to be baby eaters, where as the babies of females who did not eat babies, did not grow up to be baby eaters. I don't know if it's a mental thing or what.

I don't know much about colors, unfortunately, but I imagine the babies will all be light like the parents/


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## Supertwo (Jan 29, 2014)

I don't know if any of them are baby eaters. This is my first litter. Just as a precaution I set her up on her own since I had some space available. My concern was just that one of them might be baby eaters and that I might be able to lessen the chance of the babies being eaten by removing the pregnant doe. I've heard so many horror stories I'd rather reduce the chance If I can.


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## BlizzardMice (Sep 3, 2013)

She is definitely pregnant. As for separating her, I would take the male out for sure, and you can take her out as well but it honestly depends on her personality and the personalities of the others. If I have calm mice I leave them together but skiddish ones I separate. Since they are feeders I would be safe and separate as you really have no clue of their genetics or temperaments. As for colors it's hard to say since they are feeders and have never had a litter. The doe looks like a recessive yellow so it honestly depends on what's hiding underneath as to what color the babies will be. You will only get more RYs if the male carries the /e gene, and even then it won't dominate the litter. The male looks like some sort of c-dilute so you'll probably get lighter babies, maybe albino if the female carries /c but honestly it just depends and with feeders it's really a game of wait and see.


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## Supertwo (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks BlizzardMice, I removed the male a few days ago when she started showing. Latte the pregnant female is pretty relaxed but the other females she was with are more skittish. I've set her up on her own so hopefully all goes well!


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## BlizzardMice (Sep 3, 2013)

Latte's a familiar name, are you from the mouse breeding and genetics group on facebook or is it just a coincidence?


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## Supertwo (Jan 29, 2014)

Just a coincidence, but I've now asked to join


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