# Trixie and Spirit have a litter of eight



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

These babies are about three days old.




Trixie


Spirit (he's somewhat frizzy)


Family of ten


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## Anubis (Dec 19, 2010)

look at those big eyes on the pinkies :lol: :shock:


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Almost all my tris have had exceptional eyes. I seem to also have odd-eyes showing up in tri litters pretty regularly, like on Spirit. Some of them have buggy eyes, and the babies are a bit weird looking. In this litter, I'll probably have at least one BEW with really really big eyes.


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## ccoryjohnn (Jul 2, 2010)

There's more than 8 in the first picture, did you cull the litter down or did momma? Trixie is a great looking mouse


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Oh, duh! I stupidly posted the blue bubs baby pix here!! Geez, they just were all just pink. No, I thought about culling that litter, but decided not to since I didn't know exactly what I was going to get.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

New pix, all of the right meeces too!

It's always fun to mix different colors of tri or splashed and see the recessives show up, along with stuff that is hidden, like these marked agouti babies. Spirit is still going strong for his age, but starting to lose condition a bit. He always makes such nice babies. Trixie has really nice eyes, and he has good ears, as well as the odd eyes, so the next generation of this line will be very interesting.


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## Soleya (May 24, 2011)

Do you let dad in with mom and the baby's ?

Really nice parents and baby though :love1


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

He's been in with her for five weeks, before they mated. He's a great father and has always helped his mate with the babies right from the moment they are born. I consider that to be a great asset to have. He's an old guy, with quite a number of litters to his credit, and has never produced another litter right away, although I'm aware that could happen, and that would be okay with me, but honestly he's really old, like almost two years, and is the only yellow tri I had left after an awful accident that killed most of my best breeding stock. My yellow tris were one my my unique lines, and I am trying to recreate the line. I have a couple of very young does who may be yellow tris, have to wait til they get older to know for sure, as they are very lightly splashed.

I can hardly wait for the babies to grow and be old enough to breed together or breed back to Spirit, if he lives that long. I lost Oddeye, an yellow tricolor with one black eye and one bright red, in the accident, and I hope to see more like him. I'll be happy just to have a good yellow trcolor or six, though. Sprit has the odd eyes, but the red is quite dark. I think I need the facial markings like Oddball had, cream on one side dark red orange on the other side, for that to happen.

Like this:



moustress said:


> Reversion causes the lighter colors to become darker, more concentrated. I specifically bred the cream dilution in order to get reversion to the other colors. Like these:
> 
> 
> Oddball
> ...


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

Oddball has an extremely attractive face!

Sarah xxx


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Thanks, Sarah. I was really pissed to lose him like I did. The doe he was bred to was trying to inhale a lump of kibble when I shot her pic. She looks really weird in this pic, doncha think?


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## Anubis (Dec 19, 2010)

Interesting about the eyes :shock:


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## Soleya (May 24, 2011)

Thanks for answering my question. I think when you know your mice there it's not a problem. I personally would not take the risk befor I'd like to give my does some rest before getting another litter. But like I said, if you know your mice it helps.. And everyone had their own ways of doing things


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Thanks for your understanding. I know that some that started breeding meeces for snake food do this as well, and while I don't own a snake, I have picked those breeders brains a bit, so I know ( I already knew) that it requires extra care as far as extra feedings are concerned. This Forum has helped me in that regard too, as far as knowing what foods are the best for breeding mousies.

Another reason for doing back to back litters is a little less obvious than that. A nubile doe estrus cycles are very fast and can increase the chance of them developing tumors, especially mammary tumors. It is my belief that sparing the doe a few months going through that cycle is actually good for her in the long run.

This is obviously at odds with what serious breeders do, and I have learned why in the year and a half I've been hanging around in this Forum. Breeders of show mousies claim that all the harmful recessives have been bred out over decades of practice, and their meeces don't have a problems with tumors with any degree of frequency. I think that's great! Us 'mutt' mouse breeders have to do the best we can to eliminate the occasion of these as best as we can.


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## Soleya (May 24, 2011)

I understand you completely 

Me myself have alot of snakes! But that doesn't make me a less professional breeder. Oeh that sounds a bit cocky haha. Don't wanna call myself a professional breeder, but do wanna call myself a responsible breeder.. Here alot of people say that 2 litters for a female in her whole life is enough, and then you should let her retire. Females who are good mothers and stay fit i'll give more then 2 litters. But that's the way i breed with mice.

As I can read now you're a responsible breeder, and I understand your reasoning. So I won't judge you or anything.. I was just asking


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