# Are my mice pregnant or just fat?



## Cerid01 (Sep 6, 2011)

Hi everyone, well I went to pick up 6 mice yesterday due to someone moving house and couldn't keep them any more, they were free to good home. A mother and 5 babies

She said they were not sure of the sexes but due to so many people wasting their time I decided to take them all in.

I researched on the internet about how sex mice (i have done sexing on so many animals but never a mouse). Turns out 1 is male and the other 5 are female (from my guess, they don't stay still), now Im scared that they are pregnant, but I don't mind, its just thats its going to be hard to find homes for them, not many people in sheffield are into mice not that I know of anyway. I have separated the male from the females (poor little guy is on his own now). I have reptiles but I do not feed live, so I wont be killing any of them.

Here the photos, hope some of you can guess if they are fat or just pregnant. The previous owners says that these babies are small than the last litter they had (they had two litters both unplanned, thought they had 3 females but 1 was male). Anyway the mice wouldn't stay still so unfortunately I only have 1 pic each of them. Oh and the babies are 10-12 weeks old, not sure on the mother. But the male looks fat. Baby 3 and 4 are twins.

Mother.









Baby 1









Baby 2









Baby 3









Baby 4









Baby 5 (male)









This is where they live at the moment. Taken before I took out the male. Is this big enough for 5 little mice?, this is temporary until I have enough money to get a bigger tank.


----------



## hyshqa (Feb 12, 2011)

I'm affraid they all look pregnant to me, appart from baby 4 (though it could be the angle and/or early stages). Since they're already showing you've only got days until the babies will arrive so be prepared for a lot of mice soon! Since the babies are only 10-12 weeks they're very young to be having litters (12 weeks is the age you can begin pairing them with the bucks, so 15 weeks will be their first litter). Also be prepared for the sheer number of young they could produce - mice can have up to and around 15 young each, and with possibly 5 pregnant does you could well have 80 mice on your hands! You say you have some pet reptiles - would culling some of the babies in the freezer and then feeding them to your pets be an option? It's never anyone's favourite job but you would most likely find it incredibly useful as it gives the surviving babies a better chance, and means you have an early chance to get rid of the bucks, which are incredibly difficult to find homes for because most of the time they need to be kept separately.

Your current set up looks fine for the 5 does in there at the moment but you're definately going to need more room once they start dropping litters left right and center


----------



## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

baby 1 is already showing signs of it being to much for her.The vertebrea in her tail are standing out,not a good sign.If you can bring yourself to do it I would agree with Hyshqa' advice and remove the males so that the mothers and remaining babies have a better chance.I'm shocked at how young the mothers look and would be very concerned for them.Not that there's much you can do but feed them well and keep them comfortable.


----------



## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

All of the babies except 3 and the boy look sick honestly. Have you thought it might be worms? Since the boy looks too round in the tummy too.


----------



## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

I highly suggest you read up on the cages thread. MOst of my mice are in a mouse tower of bins. IN the US I'd suggest a round of treatment with iver-on, but I'm not sure if that can be purchased in Europe. It will handle possible worm and mites. What are you using for food? Since they will probably be having babies any day now, you may want to offer the does a tablespoon of scrambled eggs, egg noodles, mealworm, or soymilk soaked oats each day. My does love it and it helps them stay healthy while nursing. Unfortunatly, you don't have a lot of time to learn all the ins and outs of mouse husbandry, but you have come to a great place to do it.


----------



## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

I agree that they do all look pregnant, with that high and lumpy belly that means babies very soon. With that many mamas, you'll want to separate them out as well as you can, give them lots of space and food (including things like milk-soaked bread, eggs, mealworms, anything proteiny) and I also advise culling down your litters, so as to save the young mothers. Three or four babies should be no problem, but especially the thinner ones could easily die in labor, and are very likely to die if they try to raise a large litter (six or eight or twelve). Male mice (because they almost invariably live alone) are extremely difficult to place in pet homes. It may be the more humane option. That said, I do understand your reservations about culling. It's quite normal to not want things to have to die. If you'd like to chat with some of the more experienced members here, shoot them a private message, and they can help you out.


----------



## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

One way I feel better about culling, besides knowing the benefits to the mice, is that I donate the mice to the local wildlife refuge. The one here can't afford the man-hours to raise mice, but their animals in rehab needs to keep up their hunting skills to get reintroduced into the wild.


----------



## salemouse (Oct 9, 2010)

ohhh jadegubby thats really cool of you!


----------



## kittygirl991 (Sep 16, 2011)

wouldnt that be inbreeding the mice? if all 4 baby girls and maybe the mother that means the son/brother did it... and have they had any babies?


----------



## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

Inbreeding is often used by show breeders. Unwanted traits show up and those mice aren't bred. The remaining mice with the wanted genes are then bred together. When breeding mice with great genetics inbreeding is safer than risking the introduction of unwanted genes.


----------



## Mouse Queen 96 (Jul 11, 2011)

The male you should re-sex. He might be a she and also looks pregnant. The baby number 3 doesn't look pregnant to me. You should cull most of the babies or it will be way to much on the young mothers. Last year i had a accidental litter from a 12 week old by brother and the female died when he babies were about 5 weeks.


----------



## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

This thread is from 7th Sept. I think it's safe to assume that babies were had/not had and dealt with some time ago


----------

