[Cait]

Sarah does it look like they are slightly yellowy on the fur, as if the greasy coat has gotten a little dirty? I've seen this a few times and as far as I know it's E.Coli. The way to get rid of it is just to wipe over the babies with water each day to clean them up - after a few days they seem fine again; presumably it gives mum a hand to get them back to normal.

 

[Cait]

I've only ever had two or three litters like this so I am no expert but I would think that it could be transferred to others if you didn't wash your hands. I never had any problems getting ill and neither did any other cages of mice (even the adults in the same tank were unaffected), so it seems that cleanliness is the most important thing.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli