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Post by katt on Sept 21, 2010 4:28:00 GMT -5
So I had my first batch of babies and finally weaned them. I kept 2 females in with them longer bc they were so small, but I didn't want my male breeding the babies so I kept him out. WEll, I just put him back in and he is hurting one of my females! He was always rougher with her when he was in there the first time, and he would make her scream a lot, but she seemed ok otherwise and the screaming only seemed to happen when he wanted to diddle her. Well now she has bite marks on her! I put some silver sulfadiazone cream on the bites - they weren't too bad, and put her back in. I would separate her, but atm I don't have an extra water bottle again until Wed. First - is this normal? He does fine with the other (darker) female mouse but terrorizes the albino. Secondly, can I make them get along, will she be ok, and/or should I just get a new male? Is the silver sulfidiazone ok if the other mice clean it off of her? I know they use it on rodent bites in the pet store here...
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Post by katt on Sept 21, 2010 4:34:37 GMT -5
It makes it worse that, of the 2 females, she is the best breeder - she had way more babies, and lots of them lived.
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Post by goingpostal on Sept 21, 2010 11:42:59 GMT -5
Honestly I've never had a male beat up a female, it's usually the other way around when they aren't ready to breed and telling him off, I would get rid of him personally.
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Post by Heather on Sept 21, 2010 14:03:28 GMT -5
I would too. That's one of the reasons why I don't take my males out. I know it gives the ladies a break but then I've had to deal with social issues, so I stopped. Things were much more peaceful when I left the male in. I've had a group of females kill a male and bury him Guess he was a poor choice. I've since put another male in with them and they seem to appreciate him more. There's always the petty bickering but usually nothing that warrant any intervention. I would think maybe you need to get a different male . ciao
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Post by katt on Sept 21, 2010 15:42:31 GMT -5
Ok thanks guys! I feel so bad for my little female. I know they are all food items lol but I still get semi attached and want them to be happy while they are alive. The bites made me sad. Well - looks like Koda is getting a tasty dinner tonight! How long should I wait before adding in a new male? Will he eat the next set of babies since they are not his? Then I would run into the sameissue with taking him out and putting him back in...
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Post by bluecoyote on Sept 21, 2010 21:05:23 GMT -5
i'd think if the pups are old enough to be weaned a new buck probably wouldnt bother them too much.. especially if its a female. but i'm only guessing :/
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Post by katt on Sept 21, 2010 22:18:59 GMT -5
i'd think if the pups are old enough to be weaned a new buck probably wouldnt bother them too much.. especially if its a female. but i'm only guessing :/ Well I think the females - 1 or both - may be pregnant again already. So I am worried he will eat those babies...there aren't any babies in there currently...
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Post by Heather on Sept 21, 2010 22:41:19 GMT -5
I'm inclined to agree. I've replaced males with small ones nursing and haven't had too much trouble. Waiting until they're weanlings would probably mean that the male wouldn't give them much trouble. I've got a couple of males who give the little males some grief as they get older though ciao
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Post by bluecoyote on Sept 22, 2010 0:58:36 GMT -5
i'd think if the pups are old enough to be weaned a new buck probably wouldnt bother them too much.. especially if its a female. but i'm only guessing :/ Well I think the females - 1 or both - may be pregnant again already. So I am worried he will eat those babies...there aren't any babies in there currently... now i see the dilemma!
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Post by katt on Sept 23, 2010 2:16:57 GMT -5
lol exactly! Well, I fed off the male and I put in one of my bigger babies. He is almost as big as the females. They seemed to recognize him - he was only weaned a few weeks ago - maybe 3 weeks? And they are *knock on wood* so far not fighting. I am waiting for this other little male I have to grow up. So right now here is what I have: 10 gallon tank with 3 females - my original 2 breeders, and the white tailed baby, and a brown male so the male is the son of one of my original 2 females, and the brother of the third, new female (who I think is pregnant from one of the male babies that I didn't take out in time). A little crowded I know, but it seems to work pretty well for them actually. There are 2 hides and plenty of food. 10 gallon tank with babies male and female. The remaining males are still really little, but I am taking out my keeper soon to put in his own cage (kritter keeper) and feeding the others - I think there is only one other. The females will fatten up before they are fed off. Then, when the little male is big enough, I will put HIM in the tank (unless I get some REALLY cool babies from the brown male) and feed the brown male off.
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Post by Kerit on Sept 23, 2010 8:08:01 GMT -5
There are always those that just aren't cut out to be breeders... or companions...
Awhile back I ended up with two tiny girl mice. (Everybody knows I have all the supplies to keep small animals or lizards, so every once in awhile I feel like I'm an unofficial rescue.) One was exceptionally cute and fairly friendly, and the other was only moderately cute and a beast. After about two months, the cute one went missing... beastie ate her.
I figured the cute one had simply passed on for whatever reason, and beastie did what they naturally do. Then a few weeks ago, I came home with the most adorable little cinnamon satin male, and figured hey, maybe I can at least get some satin babies out of this.
He turned up mostly eaten yesterday.
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Post by Heather on Sept 23, 2010 12:56:57 GMT -5
Time to feed that little *itch to your ferret I had one tub where all the weanlings seemed to be getting shorter and shorter tails...eventually I had a whole batch of little ones who looked like hamsters. It turned out one of the females was eating their tails I caught her at it one day and fed her to the fuzzies. ciao
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Post by horse656 on Oct 3, 2010 10:56:17 GMT -5
that would freak me out, having a mouse eat other mice's tails, well, the SEEING it part would. i had a mother eat her litter, which was traumatizing for me, because it was my second/third litter and i just don't know what happened, :S she ate her babies. there was food and i just kept finding them gone. so i stopped after that. it was kind of a disaster, and we're renovating the basement anyway, so i had to get rid of them sooner or later.
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Post by Heather on Oct 3, 2010 11:02:00 GMT -5
Mice often eat their babies.....most animals who get stressed will kill their own. Even ferrets will kill and eat their babies if they feel threatened or if they're too young to have a litter. I've had a couple of conversations about this with my mentor as I found this aspect of ferret rearing a little disturbing. It is a rather common practice with mammals actually. Disturbing for most of us but it happens just the same. ciao
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Post by katt on Oct 3, 2010 20:12:55 GMT -5
I have pictures of the end result when my roommate tried breeding. she doesn't research these things properly. Right before the mom gave birth she moved her into her own cage, and she had a wheel in there. The mom had the babies and then went back to obsessively running on the wheel. (She NEVER stopped, before or after the babies, she would run to get food or a drink, and right back to the wheel, and rarely slept. The mouse was addicted to that thing). Anyways, she bashed many of the babies in the head with the wheel as they were trying to get to her for food. They seemed okay though. But the nshe started eating them. They were alive, but missing body parts. One was very much alive and trying to cry...but half of its face had been eaten off. It was very, very sad. I had to have a friend of mine end it for them. I decided then that I would not breed mice. Now I do obviously haha but I did my research first!
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