So, first off, my Olivia finally gave birth Monday, I've largely left her and the pups alone save for maintenance on the bedding in the rest of the tank.
I'm not seeing any runts, which doesn't surprise me, girl was HUGE!
http://s285.photobucket.com/user/psycos ... 7-17/story
Now the issue, as you can clearly see, this was a... large litter. all have milk bands from what i can tell. however with the number i suspect that will not hold true long. She is a large mouse, around 7 months, so perhaps her size will help with that task enough to compensate a bit. But i have accepted that i will most likely have to cull down, the question is (entirely opinion i know, but that's basically what i need here i think), how many would i need to cull down to ease up on her? I want to say theres no reason to drop below 10, shes nursed a litter of 11 before, but i feel like I've heard some say 8. just want to understand why that may be?
I'm not seeing any runts, which doesn't surprise me, girl was HUGE!
http://s285.photobucket.com/user/psycos ... 7-17/story
Now the issue, as you can clearly see, this was a... large litter. all have milk bands from what i can tell. however with the number i suspect that will not hold true long. She is a large mouse, around 7 months, so perhaps her size will help with that task enough to compensate a bit. But i have accepted that i will most likely have to cull down, the question is (entirely opinion i know, but that's basically what i need here i think), how many would i need to cull down to ease up on her? I want to say theres no reason to drop below 10, shes nursed a litter of 11 before, but i feel like I've heard some say 8. just want to understand why that may be?