# How should a mother mouse act? *Serious*



## Cheshire Gleam (Aug 15, 2016)

My mouse had a litter yesterday that was planned. This is the first mouse since two to three years ago that I've had give birth, the other also planned but not bred by me and bought from a pet store after one of the employees couldn't take care of her any longer, so I don't remember how often she'd go to feed. Now I'll say I'm fairly young, though not too young to do extensive research before breeding her, although there's one thing I couldn't find much information on, even here unless it's super far back in the pages. Any general help in the topic of what a mother mouse should and shouldn't be doing is welcome, but the main question is, how often should she be in the nest and feeding them? She was doing great yesterday and earlier today, which I had previously worried about and am now doing again. She's a first time mother to thirteen kits, counted through the glass, and hasn't been with them since 8:30 PM (I was asleep from previously staying up all night, so maybe she had just fed them prior?) and it's now 11:15 PM as I'm writing this. I understand they're to be fed every one to two hours, but it's been much longer since I've woken up and began to monitor her. She's been running on her wheel, I don't know if I should have that in either, some say it could hurt the babies while others say it's fine. I took it out for about ten minutes and all she did was start pacing her cage and acting restless. She eats and drinks very well and is in great health. Should I be worried that she's abandoned them? Thanks so much for any advice (apologies for huge post).


----------



## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

As long as the babies have milk bands there is nothing to worry about, sometimes I have does that never seem to be in the nest, other times I have ones that won't leave it so it really does just depend. They do not need feeding every 1-2 hours though by the mum that is more some people say for hand feeding, to try to get them to eat very often.

You can see if there are milk bands by a white shape on their left side. If nervous of handling with mum, just take her out and put her in another container with a few treats and take a peak. Although you should be able to handle the babies from a few days old so they get used to you.

Keep in mind though that 13 is a pretty large litter and mice only have 10 teats so at any one feeding a few are not going to be getting fed and their milk bands aren't likely to be anywhere near as big as some of the images you may see online. I am not sure what you are breeding this litter for and I know you said you are young but you may want to consider cutting down the litter some if your goal is to get the biggest healthiest offspring, especially the bucks that should be housed alone after they are weaned anyway.


----------



## Cheshire Gleam (Aug 15, 2016)

Thanks for replying, she's been with them for the rest of the night. I'm just breeding them for myself as pets and I've thought about culling, especially if it's a male heavy litter, and there's a couple runts also. I don't have much experience with sexing though so I'll wait a few days to check on that. Any tips to help sexing would be great, too. I didn't know they could be left alone for that long, so that makes me less anxious about it. I haven't had a litter since I was quite young so I've been worrying over everything. Anyway, thanks again, it's much appreciated.


----------



## Athiena146 (Jun 1, 2016)

First litters after a long break can make you a little nervious. I have my first litter at 11 days old now and I was checking on them almost every hour. Runts I know are usually first to be culled and with me its cause they aren't strong enough all the time to get enough milk and most runts I've tried to save tend to die or have a lot of complications.


----------



## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

I am not the best at being able to tell from just images so I was worried about sexing too, but I found it a lot easier when you actually have them in front of you.

If I am unsure I keep the most girl like one and the most boy like one and then compare the others to them and see where they fit.

In general it is easier at about 3 days old than newborn so they have developed a bit more.

Does will have a a smaller gap and their "tab" won't stick out quite so much as buck, if you get them side by side it is a lot easier to see the difference


----------



## Cheshire Gleam (Aug 15, 2016)

With the first litter I had, the mother took care of most of the runts herself except for one who turned out to be my baby and she lived a long life, too. She had fourteen kits, culled it to twelve and another couple died around weaning. Some from this new litter are already small, there's a peanut too, so I'll do away with them in the next few days since their chances are already minimized and it's better for mama along with the healthier siblings. The mother's doing great though, she seems to know what she's doing.


----------



## Cheshire Gleam (Aug 15, 2016)

Okay, thank you, I've been looking at pictures online but I didn't know if there was anything else that could be added. c:


----------

