# My male baby mice are unwell - lethargic and hunched up



## pondering (Jul 25, 2013)

My male baby mice are unwell - they are in a seperate cages to the mummy does and doe babies and to daddy buck, but all three cages are (were) next to each other.

They are lethargic and hunched up, and were cold to the touch this morning - they have worsened since yesterday when they initially showed signs but their coats have dulled over a period of about two days prior to this.

I have read on here a bit and noticed several threads with people with bucks who have had the same set of symptoms and I wonder if there's something the males are particularly prone to?

I've recently had an infection of whooping cough (pertussis) which I have just finished antibiotic treatment for i.e. I'm no longer infectious but still have symptoms - is it possible that they have been affected by this? 
I wonder if it's because they have been removed from mum for about a week (weaned at three and a half weeks on the advice of a mouse breeder because they were all healthy and eating independently) and this has affected their immunity in comparison to the does / adults?

I saw on all the threads the suggestion of an air lock in the bottle - they've drunk less than usual so I've replaced their water bottle with one that is slightly leaky but definitely doesn't suffer from air locks just to be on the safe side but this might just be because they're so lethargic.

Do you think it's a problem with diet? I have a homemade mix and have possibly overdone the amount of cereals as I've been using oats as the base so I've added a handful of royal canin mini junior to their cage as well as the homemade mix and the mice who are active enough to eat are picking this out of preference - it's high fat and high protein.

Any advice appreciated - they aren't wheezing, no sneezing, their cage bedding is clean and dry - I don't know if any of you have experienced anything similar but i'm at a loss as there is no obvious reason and I'm worried it will spread to the other mice so I've isolated the cage in a different room and cleaned out all the cages with disinfectant.

Some of the mice are noticeably better than others, e.g. still have good coat shine / bright eyes, just less vigorous than usual so I want to give them a chance to recover (in case you think I should cull them - if I had a valuable stud I would seriously consider it because it does seem like a virus or bacteria affecting them)


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

I've had some babies (only the blacks for some reason) after being taken from mum they go thin hunched and rough coated then drop dead, if it happened it was with in the first week away. Strangely never had it in the Siamese litter mates.

I had an adult doe go like it after having a litter and munching them was told to up her calcium so gave her bird egg food every day and after a week she was looking much better and recovered. So it could be the same thing that after weaning the drop in calcium caused the problems (don't have blacks anymore so haven't tested it).

Also have you checked for lice or mites? That can over stress a mouse very quickly especially at that age.


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## pondering (Jul 25, 2013)

Thanks ppvallhund I've added eggfood now, that's a really interesting point. The boys are back looking totally normal today - coats not as good as they have been but shiny - but one didn't make it, my favourite and one that was booked - sod's law.

No sign of lice or mites - should I treat them just in case? can I use flea powder?


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