# Courting behaviour



## Megzilla

My bone buck has a lovely red doe in with him, and ever since I closed the cage lid i've been hearing something odd every time he puts his head over her rump during courting-if you can call it that  It litrally sounds like he's blowing into her ears. Anyone else heard this?
He's very healthy boy 

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ALSO*

A friend of mine has a curious situation. She's the current manager of my local petshop, and a few mice were sold to her pregnant. All 3 gave birth as normal, but 3 weeks after giving birth, she produced another litter. The cages they're kept in are very secure, and each female was seperated when they showed signs of giving birth. Any ideas? There is no space for a mouse to get in or out- the cages are a fish tank with a tight wire mesh ontop.


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## Lizzle

I think I know the noise your talking about - to me, I thought it was just the sound of the bedding and the 'rubbing together.' I wouldn't be worried. 

Maybe one of her babies impregnated her? At 3 weeks, the babies will go into puberty, I believe.


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## Megzilla

It's at 4 weeks I think, and it was a small litter with litrally no males :S only 4 babies. Her newest litter is sooo big!
I wish some of my litters would be all females xD Ooh if I should be so lucky.. the lads are running this place at the moment..


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## mousemad

I have had the same thing, I am convinced that some mice store sperm  
One of my does gave birth 2 weeks ago and all her babies are fine, but she has become fat again and looks like she's gonna pop some more out anyday :shock: 
She has even made another nest in anticipation of her new babies  
She has been no where near a male for almost 4 weeks, and her babies are only 16 days old so they couldn't have gotten her pregnant.

Life's a mystery sometimes


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## Lizzle

Now that's quite strange! I'm wracking my brain but can't think of any explanation, seeing as sperm only live for a few days. Perhaps the cage one of your females was transferred to had.. semen smeared on the sides? I know that sounds ridiculous, but my males like to get all sorts of who-knows-what all over the sides of their tank (they are brothers and live together - they get along). What I mean is, perhaps the tank she was put into hadn't been thoroughly washed?

Or perhaps she is the virgin mother of mice, just.. not a virgin in the first place. :lol:

Same here! In my two new litters, it seems the prettiest ones are the males, and they seem to be the majority of each litter. :|


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## mousemad

:shock: I never thought of that.
But alas no, My doe was lucky enough to be the first in her new tub. Straight from he shop, to the DIY bench, to her!


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## Lizzle

Now I am positively stumped. I really want to know the answer to this situation as well!

..I just had an amusing thought, though. Perhaps 'she' has one testicle and one ovary, and a uterus, making her technically not all female. And then maybe the testicle ruptured a little and semen got into her uterus and she impregnated herself. Wow, where'd I come up with that? I know humans can be formed that way (with one testicle and one ovary), but other than that, I think I just completely made up my own medical explanation.

This is what happens before I have coffee in the morning. My brain just doesn't work.. well. :lol:


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## mousemad

WOW, where did that come from? :lol:


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## Lizzle

Do you have any friends who are nurses? We are absolutely out of our minds sometimes!


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## mousemad

Nope, I am a stay at home mum with 6 kids, I don't get out much, and the only other adult I see and interact with is my husband!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Lizzle

Hehe, well one day I promise you that you will have a lovely discussion with one, and he or she will most likely talk about the 'craziest' of things. We just don't realize that they are so 'crazy' or even if our questions are invasive sometimes because we are so used to it. :lol: That must be a challenge - 6 kiddies _and _meeses! (Oh, and of course the hubby too!)


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## mousemad

Trust me, i can handle the kids and ALL the animals, but men? :lol:


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## Lizzle

:lol: :lol: :lol: !!


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## mousemad

Can anyone undersand them? :lol:


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## Lizzle

Well, I think the big problem (at least with my man), is that THEY don't understand themselves in the first place! And since that's the case, how could we possibly understand THEM?

I don't think mine understands half of what I babble about to him, but they other day I told him about how male mice could retract their testes into their bodies more or less, especially while running on the wheel, and apparently that really got his attention. He asked me if it was something they had to practice and if he could learn how to do that too.

THAT confused the heck out of me. :shock: :lol:

(Don't worry, men out there, we still love you!)


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## mousemad

:shock: :lol: 
That's gonna keep my smiling all day, the thought of him going off to practice retracting :lol: :lol:


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## Lizzle

Bahaha, me too! :lol: What I really wonder is this: WHY would he even want to?!


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## mousemad

Impress his mates?


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## Lizzle

He knows how much I love mice, so perhaps he thinks that if he can learn to do that too, I'd love him more or something? Oh that sounds so sad.  And if he thinks I would find that impressive.. oh dear! :roll: :lol:


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## mousemad

Might be worth a look tho :lol: :lol:


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## Lizzle

LOL! :lol:

I think all he would need is a bucket of icecubes or something.. :lol:

But he will never be as talented as my meeses, who can do it voluntarily!


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## mousemad

:lol: :lol:


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## Megzilla

lizashley said:


> I don't think mine understands half of what I babble about to him, but they other day I told him about how male mice could retract their testes into their bodies more or less, especially while running on the wheel, and apparently that really got his attention. He asked me if it was something they had to practice and if he could learn how to do that too.


AHAHAHAA!!!! Oh my goodness (': I acctually just choked on my water!


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## Lizzle

:lol: At the time, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe, and he was all.. 'What..?' as if he didn't get why it was funny!


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## mousemad

:lol: :lol: I can't take anymore, my sides hurt :lol:


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## Megzilla

:lol: ohhhh the things men do xD
sounds like something my bf would do/say when he's had a few


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## Lizzle

And some people wonder why some female mice just never mate with a particular male (he must think that retraction of that which hangs out is impressive to the ladies). :lol: :mrgreen:


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## Megzilla

I have 2 males which have never been accepted by a single female! they couldn't even go near them!
One I think of as the quiet, over tidy one who never gets up the courage to speak to anyone (he wees on one corner and doesn't spread his food!!)
The other I can imagine being the Howard Wolowitz (from the big band theory) of the mouse world xD


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## Lizzle

*megzilla92* - :lol: Isn't it amazing how mice can have such differing personalities? The quiet one sounds so sweet and well behaved!


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## LimaMikeSquared

The weird birthing thing - Could it be that one set of eggs was released then fertilised, then a couple of weeks later another set were fertilised but before the birth of the first set of eggs?

I think it can very rarely happen in people.

Julie


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## Megzilla

Hmm true.. I asked about it today when I went to town, and they said she ate her first litter when the second litter was born... Mice can be _so_ odd sometimes!

(+omg you live in Hayling Island! I LOVE THAT PLACE!!! So beautiful  I went camping there yearrs ago!)


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## gypsy84

I'm kind of late to this (which means I got to sit back and read you crazies go at it :lol: ) but I just wanted to add my 2 cents. Delayed fertilization and/or implantation can occur in several species. I'm not sure about mice in particular, but I took a livestock reproduction course and turkey hens can store live, viable sperm for something like 60 days. Certain types of deer, mink, and other species can also store sperm or fertilized embryos, so that they can fertilize the egg/implant at a time when the environmental conditions (food availablility, weather, etc) is more suited to raising healthy babies.


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