# Housing Mother's + Cold?



## Lilly_C (Jun 11, 2016)

Hey guys!

So this is technically my first post, and I'm very new to mouse keeping. I've kept just about everything you can imagine... aside from Mice. I originally purchased a trio of Females and one Male (I think all are broken marked brindles, and one is a broken marked black/tan), with the goal to purely breed feeders. However as was to be expected, as an animal lover I am now fascinated in their genetics and behavior and would like to know more about them as pets.

Question One: The breeder whom they were purchased from suggested Female's with litter's should be housed alone, to ensure other females do not attack/eat her young. How high is this risk? I always hoped to observe mice in a colony environment, and wanted to know if it was worth a try keeping my trio together through motherhood (though I do not plan to breed all at once), or if it would pose too much of a risk to the Pup's? Has anybody had success with two or three females housed together, where one or more have their own litters?

Question Two: Again, the breeder suggested against keeping my mice outside through winter, seeming to say female's would be more likely to eat their litters/pup's to die. Is this true? I am in Australia, and it does get cold here, but not to the point of snow or the likes. The coldest we get here is about -4 Celcius at night. They are under shelter on a protected veranda, but will I need to move them inside?

Thanks so much for your help!


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## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

The one on top of the tub facing the camera is so cute 

As far as colonies go, some people do happily have females together, I am not really sure what the risk is and it likely depends on the lines and how well you know your particular mice.

A couple of experiences, I had two does I hoped would give birth within a day or two of each other, one gave birth and the other was really attentive to the babies, but she was not producing milk so they did not get fed as much as they should have because the non lactating doe was looking after them so the mum did not feel the need to be with them so much, so I removed her.

Another person I was talking to recently tried keeping them in together to experiment with a colony and first mum gave birth and both looked after fine, second mum gave birth and then for whatever reason, possibly jelousy, maybe difference in size, or whatever the case the mums munched both litters so there was none left.

One consideration is that it is really hard on the does to have back to back litters and keeping the male in full time both females will likely be pregnant and as soon as they give birth can get pregnant again, having the litter when the first are only 3 weeks old and not completely weaned, usually ending up with the litters and the does being less healthy and it being more stressful for them.

The way I see it personally. If the litters are very important to you in terms of needing feeder pinkies or building up more of a colony then don't risk it and separate. Later on down the line you can keep a couple of extra and see about setting up a colony and see how it works for you personally with your mice.

I am not sure about the exact temperature but I would be a bit worried the pups may get too cold outside since they are susceptible until they get fur through. Although you could easily solve that by either having a shed where it is a little insulated, giving extra bedding, or just not breeding them in the coldest month or two.


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

glass cages are definitely not a good environment for mice in cold conditions.You would need wooden cages with inner nest boxes.


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## Lilly_C (Jun 11, 2016)

Lilly (oh another Lilly!), isn't she adorable?! What makes her even cuter is that she has a marking in the shape of a love heart on her side. 

And sorry I forgot to mention the male is in an enclosure of his own, however when they were delivered to me all four were in the same box. The breeder said they were about 7 weeks old and so not mature, but we will see I suppose... I didn't plan to breed until 12 weeks (is this a good age?). Thanks for sharing your experiences, I suppose the only way to find out if they can all get along is to try it. Winter is our quiet month as far as needing feeders goes, if nothing else. I have read a female with a nanny works quite well, so I'm somewhat regretting that I purchased three doe's and not just two. Awkward number! May source another lady and pair them off to lower the risk slightly?

And thank you SarahC! If it changes anything, the tank is actually inside a wooden rabbit hutch compartment that I'm using as 'shelves', however there is a fly screen door so it probably wouldn't help to retain much heat. It sounds as though they might have to be inside mice over the colder months.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Twelve weeks is great, but you may well have some round bellies before then. Keep an eye out. Some like nanny does, others find that nannies are an unnecessary risk. If you're breeding feeders, maybe you're okay with risking it to see how it goes. You never know!


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

All my does birth and raid together in either pairs or trio's. Yes there is a risk if one or more turn out to be a baby muncher as they will munch all babies they are in with. 
I also like to pare up new mothers with experanced mothers. 
It's not often I get a muncher, but I won't keep does who munch (I know some will foster their litter to another doe) as its not a trait I want.


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## Torin (May 18, 2016)

As a side point, you might want to look into changing what you use for nest boxes. Although plastic ones are commercially popular (cheap to manufacture) and I am totally with you on reusing things to reduce costs, they can have big problems with condensation. And this in turn can increase the chances of your mice having respiratory issues. You can reduce this a bit by adding multiple small holes to the top and sides to increase air flow, but a more breathable material might be better in the long term.


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