# Hello everyone!!



## MGJMouse1989 (Feb 14, 2012)

I am actually not a mouse breeder, but ended up with 4 pregnant female mice!!! I adopted 5 "female" mice from the SPCA (They were pretty much going to be euthanized if I didn't take them.). Well one of the "females" ended up being a male and impregnated the 4 females, There is a 2 1/2 week old litter belonging to I think 2 females because I think 2 are nursing them (13 babies total), and then another litter that are only a few days old (Which there were originally atleast 29 born, but I found 3 dead when I first found the litter, and now there are only 19 babies) And I still have one pregnant female who will be popping any day now, she is huge. AND the mother who gave birth to the older litter could possibly be pregnant again because I didn't remove the male until I noticed the babies. I really shouldn't have just believed them when they said they were all female, and they were very skittish so I didn't check myself... But what can I do? All the females and babies live together, and the females pretty much share nursing responsibilities. (I find all the babies scattered into different nest areas, older babies mixed with younger). But they are very well fed, and healthy, and lively!

My city is very pro snake, there are a LOT of reptile people here and not very many rodent lovers. So I know adopting them out is most likely out of the question! My plan is to convert my shed into a mouse area. It stays nice and warm in there during the winter (We don't really have a winter here, it doesn't go below 35 at night and this year it has been in the 70s during the winter!!) and the summers do get pretty warm (100fs), but the garage next door blocks the sun from the shed, and we have a ton of trees and misters in the backyard that are on all summer, so they will stay nice and cool, I have no worries they will overheat! It gets warmer in my room then that shed during the summer!

Anyway, my name is Melanie. I am from California (USA). I work at a Cat rescue, and live with 15 cats!! And I have 4 wonderful dogs (Cartman-Dachshund, Bob-Dachshund, Bjorn-Poodle mix, and Bodhi-Pug). And I have a ferret named Michelle who thinks she is a cat. I have had so many different pets over the years...

And currently 6 adult mice (4 females, and 2 males), and 32 babies and more on the way!!

Pictures to come!


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Hello from Wisconsin, and welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have quite the handful! Any pretty colors?


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

Very pleased to meet you Melanie 

Sounds like you have your wok cut out for you. Perhaps you could locate a breeder close to yourself that could help with the numbers. The main problem you're going to have is the males of the litters as, I'm sure you're aware, males do not live together happily.......

Still, you're in the right place for advice x


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## MGJMouse1989 (Feb 14, 2012)

I am going to try to see if I can get the males from these litters to live together, I am hoping putting them in a 55 gallon tank with lots of different beds, and areas so they don't have to be too close to one another will work! But if not I will give them their own bin cages!

The older litter are solid blues (Look like who I suspect is their mom), and spotted blues (Look just like the dad). 2 of the moms (The one that is about to pop) is a roan, so I will see what her babies look like. The newborns are not showing their markings yet, but one of the roans is the mother of them.. Or some of them// Hard to keep track!


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## MGJMouse1989 (Feb 14, 2012)

Older litter









One of the babies









My favorite little boy, who had his tail bitten off when he was a pinkie









When I first found the newest litter (Now 3 days old), and one of the older babies









Ashton-One of the moms









The dad mouse









Houdini, my oldest mouse who was an only mouse for a long time.. And now I have a ton lol!









The one who is about to pop (before she was noticeably pregnant)


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

I'd like to say the ones with sketchy white markings are varigated. I like the roan a lot! Wow, is that 19 babies I'm counting? Are you thinking you're going to breed from this, or just keep everyone as pets? Blue is such a pretty variety!


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## MGJMouse1989 (Feb 14, 2012)

There were 8 dead babies today, and the last of the females had her litter (So now there is a total of 31 babies!). Unless of course the one who had the first litter got pregnant right after birth.. Ill find out soon enough!

I don't have plans to breed from these mice lol, I do like having babies around though... They are pretty fun seeing what colors and varieties you will get!


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## AyJay658 (Jan 15, 2012)

Lovely babies =)

I am not sure many people would advise even trying to keep the males together though. I wanted to keep two of my boy babies together and keep them permanently in a large cage but I was told that I might one day wake up and find one dead or severely maimed. One of the other users just had a male mouse lose his eye in a fight with another male so I think the general advice would be to find homes for them individually or separate tanks if you want to keep them all. Someone correct me if I am way off base here! 
You don't sound too worried about the fact that some of the babies have died but I thought I would ease your mind just in case you are hiding it well! You have ALOT of babies. And I think too many for the mother mice to look after so they will be culling them to a more manageable number. So that is almost certainly the reason they are dead. I know when I found one of my babies being eaten I went into hyper drive thinking I had done something wrong so just so you know =)

I had a similar situation to you. Adopted three mice who all turned out to be pregnant. I love them though =)


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## maddeh (Jul 14, 2011)

It looks like you have some variegated mice in there! I love the variety, but I'm afraid to say that if the very pale baby in that picture is still alive, it would be best for it if you were to cull it and any like it 
The paleness of the skin is a characteristic of the homozygous variegated gene (W) and causes severe anaemia. If it lives, it will only slowly deteriorate as it gets older. This could also be the cause of death of some of babies. Sorry you have a variety that is so pretty but has such a tragic downside  
The older babies are very pretty though. Good luck with them all!


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## MGJMouse1989 (Feb 14, 2012)

That baby died the next day, as did the other pale babies. And actually right now out of that group of babies (originally 26) there are only 10 that lived and are healthy.

And then 7 newborns.


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