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Cull or let try again?

N

nsmar4211

New member
Last night when I happened to look in the mouse cage I discovered one of my very pregnant mammas eating a paw...........upon futher investigation, one of the two week old babies (not hers obviously) was half eaten. I wasn't sure the reason why she ate it, so I seperated her into a small plastic carrier with food and a water dish (bottle cap), flushed the remains, and went to bed. This morning I heard squeaking and found her with two babies under her and a babys head in the water dish (ewwww). She went on to deliver more babies....I haven't counted cause I don't want to disturb her but theres a bunch.

What bothers me most is not her eating her own babies, but that she ate one of the babies that had already been in the cage for two weeks! My first instinct is to whap her and freeze her till my ball decides to eat again *stuborn (*&^)*... my roommate thinks I should give her another chance. Has anyone ever had a soon-to-be mamma eat the other babies in the cage?! I'm really reluctant to keep anyof her offspring, I know when I raised rabbits baby eating seemed to be inherited.... her mother and sisters are great mammas so this is a first for this colony. What do ya'll think?
 
Perhaps she felt the cage was overcrowded and was making room for her own babies...perhaps her diet was a little protein deficient and she was getting that protein the only way she knew how? Animal mums use instinct to get the best results. There's rarely 'no reason' for what they do.
 
My last female I culled (she was dying when I found her). HEr last litter was 14 and she never bothered to clean them or tried feeding them. Before she was in a cae with a 1.4 set up and ate one of my 2 1/2 week olds. her food was fine. I still suspect that it was population control. It is totally possible.
 
Mmm yus, i'd have said there was competition in the tub for the best nest space, and she was killing the competition basically...

try splitting her off, or giving them more houses/nest areas in the cage if you can..

i've had to cull *known baby killers* before though... just a case of observe her and see how it goes..

she may kill the rest of her litter know too, where she is in a new environment, the best way to avoid that would be to put her somewhere quiet,warm and dark, and leave her alone as much as you can.. if she is going to kill them, you can't stop her, so there is not much to be gained by checking every half day.. unless you have a snake that'll eat pinkies that is..

N
 
nsmar4211 said:
Last night when I happened to look in the mouse cage I discovered one of my very pregnant mammas eating a paw...........upon futher investigation, one of the two week old babies (not hers obviously) was half eaten. I wasn't sure the reason why she ate it, so I seperated her into a small plastic carrier with food and a water dish (bottle cap), flushed the remains, and went to bed. This morning I heard squeaking and found her with two babies under her and a babys head in the water dish (ewwww). She went on to deliver more babies....I haven't counted cause I don't want to disturb her but theres a bunch.

What bothers me most is not her eating her own babies, but that she ate one of the babies that had already been in the cage for two weeks! My first instinct is to whap her and freeze her till my ball decides to eat again *stuborn (*&^)*... my roommate thinks I should give her another chance. Has anyone ever had a soon-to-be mamma eat the other babies in the cage?! I'm really reluctant to keep anyof her offspring, I know when I raised rabbits baby eating seemed to be inherited.... her mother and sisters are great mammas so this is a first for this colony. What do ya'll think?
Click to expand...



Hi my near delivery female is chomping down on 1 week old pinkies from another mother, and not stopping there it seems that all other non-pregnant females are also getting into the infanticide. i'm just going to leave the cage totally alone and hope for the best...
 
Conscript said:
Hi my near delivery female is chomping down on 1 week old pinkies from another mother, and not stopping there it seems that all other non-pregnant females are also getting into the infanticide. i'm just going to leave the cage totally alone and hope for the best...
Click to expand...
i dont mean to be mean but please dont make up ur own thread in someone else's. just make your own out of courtesy
 
did you really have to do that chris. i mean seriously, not only did you waste your own time calling me out on this, you wasted my time for me having to return a comment.

also just to post another question in someone elses POST. Has anyone here ever thought to give the mice a local anethesia before killing them. i feel bad to just break their necks.

Basically what is the most humane way to kill feeder mice to save for another day?
 
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