# 3 day old litter today! Sexing and no milk bands?



## MiraMesaMousery (Dec 23, 2016)

I had my first litter born on the 21st to a Siamese mother and Himalayan father. There are 10 little bubs in there and they're always active, squirmy little things. However I check on them twice a day and other than the first day, they have never all had very prominent milk bands, and usually only a few had visible milk bands at all and only on the first day were they nice ones. They also seem a bit wrinkly today so I'm worried they're dehydrated. One also seems to be a little runty. I tried my hand at sexing them today, my first time ever, and I think I actually did okay! But I'd love confirmation, especially on the few "maybe"s in there.

Here are all the pictures on a notated Imgur album if you prefer that:


http://imgur.com/tNLXP

The picture quality suffered a little because of the way they were transferred. If you need a clearer look at one I can pull the slightly better quality. Also please excuse my nails, I've had a busy few days! They should be all pretty next time I post.

All 10 babies! 3 days old. Siamese mother, Himalayan father. None look to have black eyes?:









They're a little wrinkly and small? No chubby bubbies:









One of the babies:

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The possibly runty one:









The runty one beside what is probably the biggest one:









Bad picture, sorry. Girl?:

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Boy?:

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Girl:

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Boy?:

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BOY!:

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Girl  :

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Girl:

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Girl!:

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Boy:

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Girl:

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What do you guys think? Weigh in  I'll be updating this thread as they grow. Can't wait to try the nipple method! Also advice on wrinklyness, small milk bands, and the runt appreciated.


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## MiraMesaMousery (Dec 23, 2016)

Sad sad news.  Mom culled one of the pups just now. I heard squeaking and looked over and she was carrying a pup around outside the nest. She stopped and started biting, baby was going nuts, so we opened up the cage and took baby from her. The baby had a big wound and was bleeding badly, very pale but still barely alive, so we culled it ourselves to save it the suffering.

Did I do the right thing? There was no way the baby could possibly have survived that wound, and I thought it might be better to not let her have a taste of a baby?

I know mom knows best and was probably culling because there was something wrong or possibly that one was the runt, but I'm so sad and upset.

Could this be because we handled the babies today? It was very short, just enough time to snap pics of each baby, and this is even the length of time it's recommended to begin handling the babies. Should we leave mom and babies completely alone for a few days, no checking or anything?


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## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

siamese x himi gives you 50% siamese 50% himi so ruby and pink eyes respectively

babies look like 
boy 
boy
girl
girl? can't tell too well
boy
girl
girl
girl
boy
girl

The reason that you are not seeing the chubby babies that you have seen in pictures and possibly not very big milk bands is the size of the litter predominantly though. 10 is a pretty large litter size and although mice have 10 nipples the photos you see of the large chubby babies are often when people have culled the litters down to 4-6 to give them more milk, more growth, larger overall size as adults etc.

As far as mum culling one, the most likely thing is that she knew there was either something wrong or that the litter was simply too big for her. It isn't because you handled them and yes you did the right thing taking and culling the baby to prevent it suffering was the best thing to do.

Sorry you had to go through this.. sadly it is a thing you have to kind of get used to (hugs)


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## MiraMesaMousery (Dec 23, 2016)

Thank you for the reassurance, Lilly! I had thought the most probable reason for the lack of milk bands was the litter size, but it just worried me that they never seem to have them. I decided to supplement the litter with some KMR that will arrive on Wednesday. It was very reassuring to have it reiterated that it wasn't the handling. Logically I knew that was probably the case, I've read it so much, but I was glad to hear it. I knew it would happen one day, I guess I just really hoped it wouldn't happen to my very first litter! All 9 babies are still there today, though again no milk bands. I can't wait to see fur on them!


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