# "Move over, I need to drop some things off!"



## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

:lol:










Normally, I buy feeders that come into a nearby pet store and then grow them out myself to use as breeding stock for more feeders. About 2 weeks ago, I bought 30 more does to add to my feeder breeding stock, and I was excited because they looked a bit older than usual - about 5 to 7 weeks old, rather than the usual 3.5 to 4 week old babies I end up with.

Unfortunately, it turned out that these two lovelies and 18 (!!!) of their sisters were already pregnant. From a financial standpoint, that was a hell of an investment - but from the practical side, I HATE that they're pregnant so very young. 

The one sitting in the nest delivered 6 babies this morning, which I think is actually a pretty reasonable litter size for her. The rest are starting to line up at the nests now. Between these girls and the does I bred on purpose before buying the new ones, I'm expecting 32 litters in the next 5-10 days.. :shock:

Of course, on the fun side, I have no idea who the fathers of any of these litters are, so it'll be interesting to see what colors and markings crop up!


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## The secret garden (May 13, 2010)

My god! Pet shops are so irresponsible. The odd on or two pregnant does you expect but nearly all of them!


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Well dang. If you had any reptiles that eat pinkies, you wouldn't need to buy them food for the rest of their lives. :lol:


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

It certainly threw my plans into overdrive! I was expecting to bring them home, set them up in their colonies, and let them grow for ~6 weeks before breeding them at more reasonable intervals. Eventually I want to be breeding that kind of volume (my long term goal is to produce 100 mice per day) but I wasn't ready to take such a big leap forward just yet! :shock:


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

I don't have anyone that eats pinkies. When I offer them to the cats, they just :roll: at me.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

:lol:


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

I feel so bad for that huge girl.. she still hasn't dropped those babies.. I can't imagine what's holding them in.. :?

In the meantime, one I didn't expect to go for another ~week just presented me with 5 little pinkie butts! :shock:

I should start a little ticker thing for counting out these litters!


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

Maybe she's just got a lot of babies in there. Do mice give birth prematurely when they are carrying a lot of babies? Or do they hold them in even if they look like there going to pop.


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## Mousezombie (Jun 19, 2010)

Wow that alot of babies to deal with o_0


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## salemouse (Oct 9, 2010)

holy catnip haha where dfo you sell all them babies?


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## Erica08 (May 20, 2009)

I had a mouse that looked just like that I figured she would have them any day but it seemed like she was bred forever finally had ~13.

Pet shop/pet shop suppliers can be really irresponsible I like the guy I work with most mice (and everything really) comes form local breeders have to be a minimum of 5wks and have to be sorted he usually prefers to buy only one gender that way he doesn't have to worry about a male ending up in a pen of females.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

At one point, I also had exactly 18 does pregnant at once (on purpose, though). I thought I could handle it, and I did ok, but I quickly learned that it was nearly impossible to deal with that many litters at once.


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## Lou-Fraser (Sep 19, 2009)

Geez oh!!! :shock: theres gunna be a lot of squeeking at your house :lol:


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## The secret garden (May 13, 2010)

I think i've had 9 litters at once before and i handled that fine, anymore and i wouldnt of. I culled all the litters down to 6 because i wouldnt have needed that many bucks out of it i know i got 31 does and the the rest were bucks that i slowly culled as they got older. I'm lucky i have a huge garage....


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## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

The most I have had at once is 11... don't think I would do that again, I usually have two or three at once and stagger others.

W xx


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

I've gotten pretty use to having a lot of litters at once, since that's my goal, but this many is certainly new ground.

That poor girl still hasn't had those babies and she's so miserably huge... I felt so bad for her tonight, I gave her dinner in bed so she didn't have to get up and waddle over to the bowl.. :lol:

salemouse, I don't sell the babies. I'm breeding feeders for my cats.


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## WNTMousery (Jun 2, 2010)

CatWoman said:


> salemouse, I don't sell the babies. I'm breeding feeders for my cats.


Do you pre-kill the mice or do you let your cats hunt and kill them?


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

I pre-kill, with CO2. I think being hunted and killed by a cat has to be pretty high on the list of cruel, inhumane ways for a mouse to leave the world.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

And yet it has been happening millions of times every day (and night) around the world for thousands of years.


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

I don't think Mother Nature got the memo. :lol:


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

:lol: :lol:


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## Lizzle (Apr 7, 2010)

If they are all PEWs, then no other colors will pop up. :lol:

I adore that picture!


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Well that's not 100% true. I have breed PEWxPEW before, as a kid, and gotten litters with 1 oddball agouti mouse.

But yes, if the mums and pops are all PEW, then you can expect a PEW explosion!


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

This is because not all PEWs are albino (c/c). Most are, but some are other things.


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## Lizzle (Apr 7, 2010)

Jack has a point there. I have a habit of assuming that all PEWs are albinos, which is silly of me. I've also had several mice here that I could have sworn were also albino, but when they matured, I could notice white splashing on an extremely pale background - so pale that you couldn't even see it in a picture, I don't think.

Perhaps a PEW could really be a splashed himalayan that is splashed so much that you cannot see the points? I think there are quite a few possibilities, though I wish I knew more of them.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

No. The splashed portions would revert to black or agouti (or whatever else), so you'd see them. The points' strength is unaffected by splashed.

a/a e/e ch/c will make a PEW.


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## Lizzle (Apr 7, 2010)

:shock: Ooh, good to note.


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

The majority of the Mom's are PEWs, but not all. I don't know who the pops are/were, but I would expect it was the same kind of mish-mash as far as colors. The oldest surviving litter is only 3 days old right now, so I can't really tell anything about them yet.

The PEW outside the nest in the photo delivered her babies this morning and she culled most of the litter, leaving only 4 babies. I didn't see enough to get a full count, but there were a LOT and the 4 remaining are quite tiny. They can't possibly be preemies, so I think they're just small because there were so many and Mom's so young.

The mouse inside the nest had 6 babies and one died, so there's 5 left from that litter and 9 total in the nest. There's one more pregnant doe in that colony cage and between the 3 of them, they're almost making one decent mother. _Almost_. :| I find the nest unattended way more than it should be, but the babies look like they're being fed ok, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

Unfortunately, the doe that surprised me with the 5 babies on Saturday culled her whole litter and one of the other PEWs appears to have had her babies prematurely and they didn't make it either. She didn't dispose of them, so I was able to see that they didn't look like they were meant to be here yet.

I suspect there's going to be a lot more of this sort of outcome with these girls. They're barely past being babies themselves.. they're not ready to be Mom's.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Just make sure to feed them all sorts of good stuff. Being so young they'll need the extra strength!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

...those things are probably pretty dang tasty....nah, I wont go there..


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## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

moustress said:


> ...those things are probably pretty dang tasty....nah, I wont go there..


You should know... :lol:


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

They're well balanced, too.. high protein, low carb.. will keep ya slim, trim, and lookin' fine!

:?


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

Jack Garcia said:


> This is because not all PEWs are albino (c/c). Most are, but some are other things.












I finally got a good poke around in the nest this evening and I think my PEWs fall in the "other things" category. There are 8 babies left in the nest and they all have black eyes. Here are the oldest 5, which are starting to show some color:










Is it just me, or do these look like they're tans?


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

They look kind of like fish at this age. LOL. Cute.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Those tricky PEW's, ya never know what they might be hiding in their genes. (Unless you do know....it's tired out and I'm pretty punchy.

Hey, I accidentally tasted pinky once....they're salty and...nvm...


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