Thanks AnnB, didn't see your post up there. I'm glad the parent mice being related isn't anything to worry about.

We're currently using newspaper and kitchen roll for bedding, is that okay? They also have wood shavings covering the bottom level. In the viv if we put newspaper on the bottom with wood shavings and kitchen roll as bedding is that ok for the babies?

Out of interest, if the mother does reject the babies, how could I try and hand rear them?
With a pipette? and what kind of milk? Thanks again

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Owner of:
Rasputin (male corn snake)
Raphael (male bearded dragon)
Eliah (female bearded dragon)
Kamael (male toad headed agama)
Rocky (male Jack Russell x Rottweiler)

Soon to be getting:
Bracken (female tabby kitten)

Also just started to breed pet and feeder mice.

Can't help with the rest but i can with the water bottle, When mine were in the fish tank i used an old toilet roll tube, put a small hole into it and slipped the bottle in then cellotaped the tube to the side of the tank. I'm sure it would work in a viv too, good luck with the babies too

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Peter

Lactol is what I was advised by a mouse breeder. Or kitten milk. You would have to approach the vets and ask nicely for the very small syringes...or a slim line pippette. Or maybe a clean little finger...I think it is a matter of trial and error...some things work for some mice and not for others.

Oh forgot to say...you do know if mum does take on the litter...you must avoid touching the babies for the first week or 2 and the nest...a mum will cull...kill...the litter if she thinks they are in danger and if she smells human on them she may make that decision. xx

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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)

If you have to hand feed, you will find that a fine, soft paintbrush is better for a baby mouse to feed from (use lactol or kitten milk as has already been suggested )than a syringe - with their mouth and airways being so small at that age it is easy to get the milk into their lungs. Unlike most animals mice can't regurgitate so if that happened then the poor baby would die It would need to be done (I think) around every hour and you will also need to stimulate their genital area with a cotton bud to encourage them to poo as they can't do that on their own until they are (if I remember correctly) about 2 weeks old. If you google it I am sure that there is a guide on another forum - unfortunately i can't post the link as it's against the rules of this forum to post links to other forums. There is some information on these links though:
Hand-rearing Mice and Voles (Techniques)
AFRMA - Caring for Rat & Mouse Orphans
And the info on extra protein is perfectly spot on - start as soon as mum has had the babies otherwise she may have birthing difficulties Mice are usually pregnant for around 21 days, so if your girl has them and you count backwords you can determine if it is your boy or another one that is responsible When you first start handling the babies make sure that you rub your hands in the dirty bedding so that you smell like the other mice, it stresses the mother out less so she shouldn't think that you are intruding. Keep mum distracted, and if you are concerned about handling them as newborns (some mice let you handle the mice from newborns, others don't, it depends on the mice and how comfortable they are with you) then wait until they have opened their eyes and have fur which is about 2 weeks old
And I'm afraid as pointed out your cage is no good for mice, and even worse for babies. If you keep mum and babies in that you will definitely lose them as baby mice do tend to wander. Anything larger than 7mm (and I think your cage has 1cm bar spacing) bar spacing babies can walk out of. If you put them into the viv it will be fine, just make sure that if you are cleaning out after the babies are grown that you will need more rgular cleaning as ammonia levels build up easily and can make mice very ill. As for a water bottle, there are some that stick to glass but I've always found that my mice chewed the suckers off and water ended up everywhere. You can buy a bird feeder from a cheap shop like Poundland or Poundstretchers, cut a hole for the water bottle spout and put something heavy (like a few stones or marbles) in the bottle to stop them knocking it over - worked wonders for mine and only cost me £1.29, whereas a bottle for a glass tank with suckers can be more expensive. Also saves fighting with cellotape and loo rolls This is what I did:

Newspaper and kitchen roll is fine as bedding I wouldn't use wood shavings though, especially if you put them into the viv. Wood shavings if they are made of soft wood can affect mice's sensitive respiratory system unless kiln dried properly to remove phenols. You can try things like aspen (hard wood), finacard, ecobed or hard wood shavings instead
Hope that's of some help, and can't wait for piccies

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Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.

Thanks for your help everyone, zany_toon that bird feeder for the bottle looks perfect.
We now think another of the females might be pregnant as well, we've just had them all out and one looks really big but another one looks a bit rounded too :/ We've put all three females into the vivarium now and taped a water bottle on the side with duct tape (short term solution).

__________________
Owner of:
Rasputin (male corn snake)
Raphael (male bearded dragon)
Eliah (female bearded dragon)
Kamael (male toad headed agama)
Rocky (male Jack Russell x Rottweiler)

Soon to be getting:
Bracken (female tabby kitten)

Also just started to breed pet and feeder mice.