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Necessary or not ??

2K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Sputnik 
#1 ·
I know this has probably been asked a hundred time before but, did you cull your first litter ?? Did you feel really bad about it ?? Would you/do you cull pet litters ?? What number do you find the most you should really leave with mum ??

As you know these are my sons first two litters and although we are both aware of culling and the reason for doing so, it doesn't make it easier :cry: I would just like some reassurance I suppose that it is the right thing to do.
 
#2 ·
I felt horrible the first time i did it, but i knew it'd help mum and the remaining babies would grow to be become very healthy! She had a litter of 8, and i culled it down to 4. I wasn't bothered about sexes at the time but i kept back all does. Which was even better as i didn't need to faff about seperating them quickly!

I do cull pet litters now, and find it helps the mother out alot and i get to manage how many i keep. Regarding how many you'd keep, well that's upto you and how many she had! How many could you find homes for? Not forgetting if she has a rather large litter, the babies will be very small from lack of milk, and mum will get tired and need more food!

I understand where your coming from as, like i said i felt terrible, but then you have to reassure yourself that the remaining babies will have alot healthier and better lifes all round :) Not an easy decision to make though!
 
#3 ·
There are 20 babies between the two of them and 9 are bucks which I know realistically are more difficult to find nice homes for. I know that I should really get that number down a bit but saying it and doing it are such different things :cry: I just feel terrible !!
 
#4 ·
Could you not ask someone else to do it? :(
You have to think, it'll be better for the mothers, and like you said it's harder to find the bucks homes, think of the other 11 who will benefit from it, and concentrate on them, watching them growing up to be fit and healthy will be a huge consolation (well i found it to be anyway).

Good Luck with whatever you decide though :)
 
#5 ·
If you are going to breed it is necessary unless this is going to be your only litter and you are prepared to keep all the bucks you don't get homes for.It is impossible to keep finding good homes for bucks.Don't waste any time fretting over it,if you are going to breed more cull all the bucks now and enjoy the rest.It can help if you can find someone who has an animal that eats pinkies,circle of life,instead of wasting them.None of my pinkies are wasted.
 
#6 ·
I agree that if you're going to breed and show then you need to cull. It has to start somewhere and if your son is going to be involved then I guess you have probably explained it to him already (though I'm not sure how old he is). It really does make a big difference to the quality of the remaining babies. With a pet litter then you really would be better off keeping only does - as Sarah says it can be hard to find homes for bucks, and they're also greedier with mother's milk. Again as Sarah says if you can find someone who has a pet that eats mice, this might make you feel that it wasn't 'in vain', as they are never wasted. All my culled mice also go as food for something else (unless there was something wrong with them that prevents this of course e.g. a tumour). It may be hard at first but once you have seen the benefit you won't go back.
 
#7 ·
I did mine. I felt really bad but I knew that it would benefit the ramainging pinkies and the mum and nanny. The doe gave birth to 15 and although I reeeally didn't want to do it I knew it was the best thing to do. I got an empty ice cream box and just imagined I was putting the ice-cream back in the freezer :roll:
I am glad I did it as the remaining 10 turned 2 weeks today and their eyes opened yesterday (one in my hands :D ). We have had no complications but I think, had I left them there would have been as their was already a runt in there :( .

Good luck for you and your son
Simone
 
#9 ·
I didn't cull my first litter, but I wish I had. I was inexperienced and didn't realise how hard all the bucks were on their mom and I lost her. She had a litter of 6 and 5 of them were males, and she passed away when they were 3 weeks old because she couldn't handle them. The babies lived but they were slow growing and it was difficult to find homes for so many bucks - I ended up having to keep two of them.

I agree with the others, it would be best for all the mice if you cull all of (or at least most) the bucks now. It's not only better for the does, but it is better for the bucks too. It really isn't fair to keep bucks alive unless they are going to be breeders or are guarunteed a pet home where they will get a lot of attention, otherwise they live boring lives and become very depressed.
 
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