# Babies too little for their age ?



## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

This litter is 4 days old & i've been looking at some pictures of mice at this stage and they seem bigger , is something wrong ?


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## Tinkers Mousery (Feb 20, 2011)

hi are they pet or show mice??


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## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

a got the mum from a petshop and she was pregnant so pet .


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## Tinkers Mousery (Feb 20, 2011)

then at 4 days old they r very good pinkies. I breed pet and show mice and people usually tell you to cull down the litters but as long as the doe is doing fine and the babies all have milkbellies and are doing fine then i dont cull down my pet litters. just see how they go but from my experience with pet litters they are doing just fine


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## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

There all great and wriggling about . i had them out today for the first time , i didnt touch them though . mums great too . and there bellies have like white sploges on them am guessing thats the milk ?


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Yup; that'd be 'milk bellies'. A very good thing to see. Are you giving the doe any extra nutrition so she can make a rick milk? Scrambled egg in small amounts is very good, as is a bit of dried bread soaked with milk. the babies look OK, but it would be good to see them a bit more roly poly.


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## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

what do you mean "roly - poly" ? like fat ? and yeah , ive been giving her pea's and protein snacks


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

You need to give her stuff with collagen building elements. Collagen is essential in the growth of new tissue. Egg yolks and milk (soaked into dried bread) will do that. Wither that or bits of cooked chicken, or canned tuna. Egg yolk is the very best thing.


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## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

HELP ! a think Katies deserted her babies . she made a nest in another area of the cage i never took the babies with her and i looked this morning and they were in the wee house their selfs . So this morning i got up and took away the new nest so she would go back in . A hoe shes not deserting them , they need feed :'(


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## maisymouse (Feb 10, 2011)

How are they doing now? has she been in with them?


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

She won't have deserted them, some mums only go into the nest to feed and spend the rest of the time alone, and lots of does make a second nest just for them. You need to stop worrying and let her get on with it 

Sarah xxx


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## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

What SarahY said is exactly what i see with my mice as well - the babies get to a certain age, and mum needs time out away from them - i guess they'd feed continuously otherwise - so she makes herself a little bed elsewhere so she can get some sleep. However, i do find that she does this earlier with larger litters, and if the litter is particularly small - 3-4 babies - she won't necessarily do it at all.


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## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

the babies are all alive they just seem small and she dosnt really look as if she cares


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## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

Nothing you can do about - just leave her to it - i'm sure she's looking after them. she's probably spending more time with them at night, when you're not looking. Don't interfere - it's very uncommon for a mouse to abandon her litter. Leave them alone and check on them in a couple of days. I'm sure they'll be bigger. If you still aren't happy with their size, you need to cull the litter down - take it down to eight max.


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## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

Am not a breeder , a dont know how to "cull"  and i dont think i could do it


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## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

OK, don't worry about that then - just leave the doe and i'm sure her and the babies will be fine! If she's got lots of babies, she's probably only going to see them when they need a feed, and the rest of the time she's keeping out their way to get her energy back. Make sure, as i think has already been mentioned on this thread, that mum gets good food - top her up with egg and bread and that sort of thing. And in the meantime, just leave them all alone


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## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

ok thank you very much for your help xx


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## jenniferm202 (Apr 30, 2011)

This is one of the mice at 6 days old . A think she looks ok

and i think this ones look dark


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