[HeatherL]

Hi I am new here and I did post to the intro section. Unfortunately my first question is about my sick mice!
As of the past two weeks I am seeing a pattern in my new litters, and these are all from different cages, though sitting next to one another. A litter is born and around the time they are about five days old several of the babies in each litter are not thriving, not growing, and if they survive at all some are getting swollen tummies with a "scab" like crust under their tail and a bit of diarrhea on the legs, at this point they usually die, or are culled. Others just die with no apparent symptoms, other litter mates are seemingly in perfect health. All the adults seem fine... I am starting to see this in all my litters even though the mice have no contact with each other. They are however right next to each other in seperate cages. Three weeks ago I had no problems at all, please help !

 

[moustress]

Are these by any chance satin mice?

 

[Maplewood Stud]

have u changed the adults diet at all recently x

 

[Cait]

Some breeders call it scours, but it's likely to be E.Coli. This can be passed from mouse to mouse so this explains why it has done the rounds - it may also have come in on food etc that they all get.

 

[HeatherL]

Alot of them have the satin gene, hmmm....

 

[moustress]

Satin meece are notorious for harmful recessives that can cause some of these problems, although diarrhea isn't one of those problems. Satin babies from inbred lines often cease growing at 2 to 3 weeks of age, seem to age and shrink instead of growing. One of the tell-tales is a skinny stick of a tail ( I cal these pintails) on which the outer layer with it's ringed texture missing and in which you can actually see the segments of the interior. These babies usually have digestive problems and often are seen moving around the cage at a very young age, like before the eyes open. I have no pictures of this anymore, but I just happen to have several examples of this unfortunate syndrome, and I'll take pix tonight. The wee mousies will probably go to a kill can in the next couple of days.

It took me years to establish a healthy line of satins from pet store stock.

 

[Cait]

The satins in the UK are not known for any problems as described, so it may depend on where the OP is from...

 

[Jack Garcia]

Nor are exhibition satins in the US.

It's only the spindly petstore-derived mice who are sick as you describe, regardless of their coat type.

 

[HeatherL]

I dont think it has anything to do with my satins being spindly or sick, after two days of sul-met it seems to be subsiding.
I wouldnt say "all" of the satins in the US are doomed to certian death ! And none of mine have come from a pet store for at least six generations, and before that, I got them from a breeder. I am sure at some point the ancestors of my mice came from a pet store somewhere, but it has been along time, and lots of selective breeding by my part and the breeder I got them from. Not near as nice as the mice I have seen from "over the pond" to be sure, but much nicer than most mice I see in pet stores.

 

[moustress]

I have found some quite nice meeces in pet stores; not what I'd call spindly at all. It's a matter of finding a pair of satins to breed that don't carry the harmful recessives. Obviously I wouldn't buy a mousie that looked 'spindly' or otherwise faulty. To categorize all pet store meeces like that is simply nonsense. Once I found the right buck my satin lines have been nearly free of this sort of health problem. I'm glad to hear you found a treatment for your meeces, Heather. I am fortunate in having had one or two cases of diarrhea in the ten plus years I've kept mousies.