[razelamy]

Babies were born last night, but Irma is an extremely skittish doe.
I know that I should wait to look, but what about culling down the litter?
When should I do that?

 

[Cait]

Hope you don't mind, I have a few questions before I can offer an opinion:

How skittish is the mother - is she handleable once out etc?
What variety are the litter?
What are you aiming for with this litter (colour, most important qualities, sexes etc)?

 

[razelamy]

The mother gets extremely upset when you try to pick her up, she runs away and panics, but if you corner her, she crawls into your hand and is content sitting on your palm and is very friendly.
It's just when she notices a hand above her, she runs and hides.

The mother is a...beige color on her back and her belly is white, like a...fox? I dont know :?
and the father is a broken with orange spots

I'm just breeding for pets, not show.

The only reason I'm looking into culling is because the mother is on the verge of seven months of age
and I worry about her health.

 

[Cait]

The first thing I have to say is that you have made life a bit difficult for yourself with your choice of breeding doe. It isn't a good idea to breed from a female (of any species) who is not tame. This is because your handling of her and the babies will cause stress and may endanger the babies' lives as the mother may harm them if she perceives a threat. She is also quite old to be a first time mother, though you haven't said if she has been bred before. Anyway, it is done now, so on to your questions.

What type of cage do you have her in? If you are using one where the only option is to approach her from above to pick her up you might consider changing it in future. For now, does it have a top you can easily remove without disturbing the nest so you can pick her up on her level rather than from above? This may make things easier and less stressful for her. If she is fine once she is picked up then it might be an idea to pick her up when she is sitting in the food bowl or in a cardboard tube for example. This avoids the 'chasing' part.

If you're breeding for pets then I guess you would would choose to cull the bucks from the litter. Mice can be sexed from birth but if you haven't done it before or are not confident then day 3-5 should be possible. If possible I'd say cull by day 4. If you want access to the culling forum then PM Dom and he should be able to add you.