Since our other mouse, Ariel, died, Nala had started to rip her fur out and scratch tons. She hasn't got any parasites, so we think its due to missing her sister. So yesterday, we went to the pet shop to get 3 little female mice. Unfortunately, there was only one, and it had been in the cage with boys.
So now we have a pregnant mouse. We think.
The pet shop woman said Nala should be fine with the new arrivals when they are born and that our new mouse (Pearl) would do all the work. But we don't know what to do with the babies? The pet shop said they'd take all the males and we could keep the females, but what age do we know which is which and when do we separate them? When can we give the boys away? Will Nala be fine with the babies or should be separate them?
Any information you can give us on pregnant mice would be great, and could you please help with if Nala will be okay? (She loves the new mouse loads, she keeps sharing her treats and Pearl is following Nala around and copying her movements (Dont know if this is normal!)

__________________

I wouldn't give the pet shop any mice tbh. You have no idea what kind of home they'll end up in. I only know rats, not mice but when it's time for them to be rehomed (I'm guessing 6-8 weeks), try via here and other rodent forums, properly vet the potential owners and make sure they all go somewhere where they'll be well looked after.

So glad to hear she's loving her new friend though!

__________________
http://kaedianmori.tumblr.com/ <--- NSFW





RIP - Marsh, Hugo, Mako, Rufus, Seamus, Lavender, BigBoy, Tetley and Fitch <3

That's all well and good to say but Male mice can be difficult to re-home.

The girls should be fine to stay together but keep an eye on them. (sometimes when together the other mouse can take it upon herself to take over the babies -particularly older mice 'stealing' a younger girls babes)

This should help when it comes to sexing them :
Sexing Mice with Pictures! ~ How to Tell a Female (girl) Mouse from a Male (boy) Mouse


More helpful info here:
Fancy Mice

__________________
Meet my Rodent Crew...

Mythic Hams___________Mythic Meece

I have a feeling that Nala will attempt to adopt some of the babies to be honest. She seems the type :P They're doing good together right now, and Pearl is copying everything Nala does. She LOVES the exercise ball. She ran straight into it and wouldn't come out But, today, just one day after getting her, her belly seems just a bit swollen, so i'm wondering how far gone she must be if i can see her belly potting out. My girlfriend and i would keep them all, even the boys but in different cages, if we had one more cage We're getting a new one like 3 weeks after christmas, so if Pearl can hold on to the babies until after Christmas day, we might be able to keep them! Which my girlfriend Hope, would love!
It's good to know they would be okay, but when should i separate the males from the girlies? The pet shop said 5-6 weeks, but i always thought mice could breed from 3-4 weeks onwards? and When do we clean the cage out? I mean, if she gives birth tomorrow (Obviously not but for example lol) which is before we full clean again, what do we do? Do we spot clean and leave the house out? As i dont want to disturb them, but the house+bedding will become wet and i dont know if thats okay...it doesnt feel okay, knowing they have dirty bedding. Do i take the house out, and just pile bedding in a corner so that i can clean bits, without disturbing the babies? Thanks for any advice

__________________

The link that Myth gave you will be really handy Well done on the new (and possible future mini) addition(s) And sorry about Ariel With it being a mouse that's new to you I wouldn't clean the cage out for a while unless she is really confident after having the babies (i left mine until they opened their eyes at around 2 weeks old just to be safe.) If you know roughly when she is due (they normally look really huge a few days before giving birth) then I would clean a few days before hand but wouldn't recommend even spot cleaning as anything that the mum mouse perceives as a threat can cause her to eat her babies. I separated boys from girls at 4 weeks old. That's my opinion but I've only handled 2 litters - Myth and Yorkshire Rose breed regularly

__________________

Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.

Have just had a long awaited litter arrive !
She didn't quite look 'ready to pop' to me, but she did last night.
Was expecting Christmas babies but guess she just couldn't wait any longer.



I wouldn't stick to a normal cleaning routine really.
If she looks huge then get it done while you still can.
Most mice birth at night but I have had a couple have litter in the daytime.

One thing I do recommend is to give a cardboard box without a bottom as a nesting place - so you can lift up and off without disturbing the nest too much. Plus easier to clean around it if needs be as you can move the box carefully scoop up the nest, clean the soiled bedding/substrate from underneath it then replace it all as you found it. (find most poop and waste ends up at the bottom of the nest)

If you do need to clean take out mum and your other mouse give them something tasty to keep them busy and do a quick clean disturbing the nest as little as possible. Then add plenty of food and pop them back in (usually takes their mind of the now clean cage)

Really recommend you AVOID plastic houses (and plastic 'igloos') simply as once they're stuffed with bedding they soon get a build up of condensation and the nest will become damp and yukky in no time with mum babies and another mouse packed in there.

As to handling that depends on the mouse, different for all.
If she's nervous / not totally trusting of you, then I'd leave alone untill they have eyes open really and are venturing from the nest. No benefit to be had from looking and handling the babies if you've no need to.

Separation age - again it varies.
I separate depends on how 'developed' the males look.
Does vary depending on how many in the litter but if they are a good size at 4 weeks then should be fine taking them out. Normally find somewhere between 5 and 6 weeks they start to look like mini males which is when I usually split them.


Have a good nosey through the pages I've linked
- the info you need is pretty much all there.

__________________
Meet my Rodent Crew...

Mythic Hams___________Mythic Meece

Thanks for all the help. this is just what i need. Pearl is getting more comfortable with us, letting us pick her up, but i dont think she'd be happy with us being near her babies. i'm going to look for a large cardboard box now!

__________________

any news ?

__________________
Meet my Rodent Crew...

Mythic Hams___________Mythic Meece

Yep. Weird thing is, even those the pet shop had had Pearl with males for a few days, Pearl isn't pregnant. She still has this cute little pot belly that doesnt quite fit the rest of her, but no babies. i started to go through all the bedding when we cleaned out just to make sure that there hadn't been any problems, but nope. No babies. :/ Sorry to keep you guys waiting

We are getting another this weekend, and ordering a new cage, but we want one between £30 and £40. any ideas that could be big enough for three mice? We want it to be plastic, yunno clear? Like rotastak, but one that mice can have? ^^ Thanks if you can reply ^^

__________________

Good news about no babies. As far as cages are concerned...as long as you don't have baby mice I would get a barred cage...something like the savic cambridge. I had quite a few tanks with shelves but they're a pain to clean and mice love climbing. Or a Leon cage which has really small bar spacing. xx

__________________



MY ZOO-LET
Syrian: Dini
Winter Whites: Alaska, Apollo, Hero and Ares
Bunnies: Saffy, Gus, Cookie and Cream and 5 babies!!
Piggies: Bubble and Squeak

RIP Tilly, Thom, Tiny, Cassius, Stuart Little, George, Baby Pom (Mice), Melvin (Chameleon) Harry (Cambells Russian) Charlie and Roma (Syrians) Eros (Winter White) Jet, Rainbow and Angel (Rabbits) Neva (Ratty girl)