[Lizzle]

My mouse "Big" had her first litter yesterday! I've been careful not to disturb her, though I doubt she'd care since she's so outgoing.

I've been trying to count from the pictures I've been taking, and so far I believe I've counted 17 or 18 total!

Does anyone want to take a guess at exactly how many there are? :lol:

 

[Rhasputin]

I think I count at least 20.

If I were you, I'd probably cull some of them out, of your mom's gonna be under some serious stress. And feeding that many babies is a challenge, and they might not get enough food.

 

[Lizzle]

Yes, that's a good point. I can already tell that some of them aren't getting the amount of food the others are (such as the little one in the upper right-hand corner). I'm not sure how to do this, but I know there is a forum about it somewhere on this site, so I shall go check it out. I never, ever expected to have this many babies from one mother! :shock:

 

[Rhasputin]

When they're this young, the freezer is probably your best option. It takes only minutes.
And yes, that baby in the corner, is clearly much smaller than the others.

Your mother mouse can hardly feed half of those babies.
But make sure you make good decisions that you are comfortable with.

 

[miss.understood]

OMG thats a whole load of babies!!! congrats! mommy mouse must've been huge and rather relieved! xx

 

[miss.understood]

I counted 19 on the first pic. xx

 

[WillowDragon]

I counted 19 too! Woo! hehe You will need to reduce that litter alot.

 

[Lizzle]

Thank you, all of you, for this advice. I was also PMed about how to cull and I think it would be in all of their best interest if I did so after sexing them. There is a part of me that feels mean doing this.. but in the end, you are all right. I want to raise the healthiest mice that I can and I was told culling them this way happens extremely quickly (and hopefully painlessly?).

Later today I will be sexing them and doing this, but for now I am just going to keep an eye on all of them a bit longer.

---Update: 1 baby has been found dead; I believe it is the same one I mentioned being small earlier today.

 

[Jack Garcia]

Often in large litters, the smallest or weakest babies naturally get smothered or squashed by the others during the first few days--having 17 or 18 siblings on top of you can be pretty rough.

I had a mouse give birth to 21 babies once. It's not common, but it does happen!

 

[Lizzle]

Mmhm, that is what I believe happened to the one that I found newly dead.

I just culled 10 of them (the smallest ones) and there are still lots more (I still don't even know the exact count), but they are all under momma mouse and she won't let me see! Regardless, she now has 11 babies less. I will update this once I find out the exact number!

---Update: You all were right! There were 19 total babies (unless there are any other dead ones around the cage that I missed..). Momma mouse "Big" now has 8 little ones, and they are all getting fed and are being kept warm (whereas before, poor momma just couldn't keep track of them all. They are also moving about more and squeaking less (I'm hypothesizing that this means that they are all getting the proper amount of food and aren't hungry/cold/etc.

There's still this part of me that feels awful for culling some of the original ones.. Those little pink, helpless leggies waving around and little mouths..

 

[Rhasputin]

I'm sure that the mother mouse appreciates what you did.
And so will all of the siblings, now that they'll have a lot more to eat, and a lot more room!

 

[miss.understood]

it's a hard decision to make i know, but thinking nutrition wise etc it's the best thing to do on such a large litter. it's kinder than the smaller babies starving.
Keep us posted on how the remaining babies do. xxx

 

[The secret garden]

My largest litter i ever had was 20! i put in another female in with her and they brought them all up, i dont cull pinkies as a rule.

Its not always the same tho, you made the right choice your helping the mum and making sure everyone has enough food but you have no need to cull down even further.

 

[MyBoyKurtis]

Awe Theyre so cute :3

And I spy a little runt in the top lefthand corner of the first picture <3 so adorable ^_^

 

[moustress]

I've had does with huge litters before, and a few of them split them up into two separate nests in different corners of their tank. I checked and they all seemed to have full milk bellies all the time. Pretty smart!