# Moving in?



## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

Usually I have all my breeding females together when they have their babies but while moving most of the females were kept from being bred which left only my PEW that was extremely pregnant in the birthing box. She has two female rex babies that are now a little over 2 weeks old and trying to see when I can move them in with the rest of the group (minus the male.)


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## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

So, your doe is nursing 2 pups, both does? You are asking how old they should be before being introduced to a group of adult does? I may be misunderstanding your question, so correct me if I'm wrong here.

I am not sure how the other does would handle 2 week old babies, I could imagine some taking a mothering role, while others might not be so nice and gentle. At two weeks they are still very young and probably just opened their eyes. I think it is probably safer to keep the babies where they are with only mum at this time, less potential stress to mom and babies. I am not really sure though, as I usually wait until 4 or 6 weeks to move the doe babies into my group doe cage.


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

Yea, that's right. I'm still getting used to the terminology with breeding.

Yea they just opened their eyes two nights ago and haven't started weaning yet.

So about 4-6 weeks? I can wait till then. The other does are now pregnant and don't want them hurting themselves or the two babies. Thank you for the information.


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## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

No problem! It's not the lack of terminology that confused me, I just wasn't sure if "minus the male" meant that there was a third, male baby. 

I am not really sure how the mom, babies and group of does would all act, so if I was in your shoes I would wait until they are less fragile and babyish. So yes I would wait.

The other does are pregnant? If they are pregnant I would definitely refrain from introducing the older babies and their mom. Mixing pregnant and nursing does has always scared me, there is too much that can go wrong. There can be one doe that decides to go culling. Or sometimes, with babies of mixed ages, a doe will cull the younger ones thinking they are smaller and weaker, but really it's just an age difference. I know some breeders have had success with mixing ages, but it scares me too much to try it out.


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

alright thank you  I'm just used to my does having their babies within a few days of each other. So that why I've asked. I don't want to risk it, these baby does are just too cute.


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## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

Good luck then!  Can you post pics? I love astrex mice.


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

Hope this came out well, they like to move a lot since their eyes have opened and took it with a phone


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

this is just the two of them


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## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

Cute!  Are their eyes pink or black?


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

eyes are black.


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## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

Ahh, that might be helpful in your other thread, because dove is a pink eyed variety, and if these are black eyed then they are not dove.


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

ok then the site I got that from had it wrong because it shows and says dark eyes...


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## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

Wait, whereabouts are you? Some clubs in the US call dove lilac, they just switched it around to make things complicated. So sorry if I confused you! By dove I mean black with pink eye dilution genes, genetically a/a p/p; but you are still learning genetics so you may not understand that.


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

lol its ok, i'm in the us, the website I had gone to said dove (US) lilac (UK)


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## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

Then that site was correct.  I'm in the US too, but I like to go by the UK/NMC stuff.


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## ThatCertainGlow (Jun 23, 2012)

East coast US mouse clubs are using the usual NMC standards for dove/lilac. It's only AFRMA, as far as I know, in the world who uses the reversed standard for their shows. They are on the west coast of US (not sure where you are).


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

lol ok, so with the other its lilac then? (Trying to put it on my chart but confused about color now XD)


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Yeah. AFRMA has lilac and dove backwards to everyone else in the world. Lilac to them is pink-eyed black. Dove to them is chocolate+blue. For everyone else, it's the reverse. I'm told AFRMA went with the terms used in labs rather than the terms used by other exhibition clubs.


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

been a bit since I posted on this one. I was just wondering with my small doe would it be ok to keep her with her mother while she's helping my two newer mothers when they have their bubs? Or should I move her out before they have them. I really would hate to move her because there would be no other does in there, just my pew buck.


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