[sjs205]

Firstly, apologies for the double post, I realised this would be better here than in the litters section... tried to delete it to no avail.

Hello all,

You may have seen my post a while back about getting some mice to breed, well I did it, I had a litter of 10 mice 8 days ago.

Unfortunately, I've woke up this morning and my cat has managed to get at the mother, so I now have a motherless litter.

Can anyone offer any advice on the situation now? I appreciate that they are too young to survive without her, can I feed them manually?

I still have the sister of the mother and she seems to watch over them but never seems to feed them... I guess this is because she has never been pregnant herself so doesn't produce milk.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Steven

 

[cjdelphi]

hand feeding is the only way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMYqJm9I ... ata_player

 

[sjs205]

That would be perfect, do you know how many times a day i should expect to feed them?

 

[Cait]

Once every 1.5-2 hours I believe, including during the night. Is it possible to find someone else with a lactating doe? That would greatly increase the chances of survival.

 

[Tinkers Mousery]

where are you located??? i have recently fostered 6 babies from a friends mice onto 2 of my does. Their mum died too but they are doing great with my does. if you are close enough......i am willing to help

 

[sjs205]

I think It may be the case that sis has stepped up to the job... she seems to be hovering over them quite a bit but i'm not sure whether she is lactating... Could she be even if she hasn't had a litter herself? it is funny since both does were in with the buck for a good month, only the one got pregnant. But sis was looking unwell so I placed her in a seperate tank whilst giving here hot milk oats and some other things to make her feel better. So I'm wondering whether she may have got pregnant, lost them for some reason and so is lactating...

I'm located in Southampton... Guess Wales is too far

I'm going to keep an eye on them, I have placed some kitten milk in there nest in a little lid with some cotton wool in the hope that they sniff that out if she is not...

 

[Cait]

At 8 days old they will not feed themselves, you or another doe will have to do it. Have a look at the nipples of the doe who is with them. It should be obvious if she is feeding them from that.

 

[Tinkers Mousery]

i think your best bet would be to try hand feeding. if they survive till the weekend i can meet you in reading if thats any good and bring them back with me?? you should be able to check the babies to see if they have milk bellies. if you dont hand feed i dont think they will survive sorry