[Anne]

about 2 weeks ago I had 2 litters. 18 mice, that is not many, but these were from first time mums. The first days went great, some mice were defenately smaller, bur I thought they should have a chance. Then when they were just under a week I found 2 of the pinkies half eaten and several had lost weight. I gave the parents some extra protein and didnt think too much of it (the alive pinkies didnt look critically skinny). The day after more pinkies had lost weight and 2 more was eaten (now some of them were critical!). I took the skinny ones and put them with another mum-mouse of mine, from the feeding stock (nmri) which are great mothers. The nrmi mouse cared for them well, but they never recovered and eventually I had to cull them as it would have been cruel to du anything else.

This was my first litters and now there are 7 left from 18! If i could redo it I would have culled the smaller ones from the beginning, as I think it would have saved some of them who wasnt skinny to begin with but lost weight all of a sudden. I think something happend that made one of the mothers stop producing milk or something like that.

Anyway, just wanted to share. Everyone reading the culling forum probably already are pro culling, but I guess it is not ok to post it anywhere else.

(edit: just corrected a couple of typing-errors)

 

[SarahC]

good post.Sometimes only experiencing these things allows us to learn and move on.People often take the view that because a mouse is capable of a large litter that it is what nature intended.Nature intends survival of the fittest and the weak fall by the wayside.Without nature we need to step in or in your case the mother sometimes will.Some mothers struggle on and are literally drained dry often never to fully recover. It's better to be cruel to be kind.Apart from obvious runts,I use gender to decide.The males are culled which prevents the dilemma of what to do with lots of bucks further down the line.

 

[hyshqa]

Well said. While I can understand the moral dilema of culling (it's not surprising some people wouldn't want to do it), there's not much of an argument against it practically. I'm curious as to how people manage without it to be honest!

 

[WoodWitch]

Well done for doing what needed to be done, Anne.

 

[PPVallhunds]

i never use to be, if something was suffering then yes but never by my hand. I was fine for others to do it to theres but never wanted to do it to mine. kinda had the thought how could anyone do it poor poor animals. But one day i had an oops litter and at first the babies seemed normal but as they grew it became apperant they were deformed, smaller, tiny eyes, low ears, hunched backs and flat faces. i was advised to cull them but wouldnt as despite there looks they seemed fine, however after 3 weeks of getting attached to them they all suddenly went down hill and all but 1 died in my hands (the other went in the night). After that i started looking into culling and the diffrent methods and how they work and now i understand it better i no longer have a problem with culling. Allthough i get a friend to do any adults for me as im too worried ill mess up and cause the mouse to suffer.

For me it was just a lack of knolege, i didnt know anything about culling so just asumed it was crule

 

[Anne]

I am just going to throw an update here, as it is not really relevant enough for its own topic.

But 4 days ago my mouse got 11 pinkies, and as they were not really big, I culled 4 today, 3 bucks and a skinny doe. As the pairing is made to figure out what my male carries, the last buck got to live, as he is dark and I am not sure if he is agouti or black, and there were only one more of that colour, the doe that i culled (I trust he will make it, I wasnt sure about her).

So now my mouse has 7 kids, and only one is a buck, so I hope she can manage.
It wasnt nice to cull them, but considering how it went last time, I think it was better.

 

[Anne]

Already today I can see that they others benefits from being fewer. They are way fatter than yesterday!