WHY!?!?! They ate them ALL!

2583 Views 15 Replies 6 Participants Last post by spazzy_sparx, Jan 2, 2010

spazzy_sparx

Discussion Starter · Dec 18, 2009

I had 22 pups born over a week ago. When I cleaned the cages 5 days ago and moved the babies, the 2 mothers had no problem. I handled them yesterday and about 10 minutes ago I found them ALL dead. It was a massacre.

The two mothers live together with one male. This male does not change when they have pups or are pregnant. They have also never eaten their pups. I don't get it! 22 of them, all gone! Any ideas why? Please help. I am truly upset!

A few notes: one mother had her first litter August 19 and the other September 26. Could it be possible that it is time to retire them? These 2 particular mice have about 10 pups per litter and they grow up SUPER fast. I could totally wean the pups at 3 - 3 1/2 weeks, but I really try not too. Sometimes I have to get them out of there really early though. Oh, and they did have a break in between litters!

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

WillowDragon

· #2 · Dec 18, 2009

I would give them a decent break, around a month, maybe more depending on the age of the girls, and try again once more.
If they cannibalise again, then retire them.

Willow xx

moustress

· #3 · Dec 18, 2009

Wow, it really is wierd for the moms to kill their babies when they're already a week old. I've only had that happen once in the ten plus years I've kept mousies. It turned out that they had mites.

spazzy_sparx

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 22, 2009

Well, I figured it out. It wasn't my females at all! I opened one of my cages yesterday and somehow a wild mouse got in. I have seen him before, but he never bothered my mice and I can't catch him! He is too frickin smart! He killed another dozen pups last night. I am super bummed. He also killed one of my prized bucks.

...This is ridiculous!! I am having a war with a mouse!

Toast

· #5 · Dec 22, 2009

spazzy_sparx said:
Well, I figured it out. It wasn't my females at all! I opened one of my cages yesterday and somehow a wild mouse got in. I have seen him before, but he never bothered my mice and I can't catch him! He is too frickin smart! He killed another dozen pups last night. I am super bummed. He also killed one of my prized bucks. ...This is ridiculous!! I am having a war with a mouse!

What I would do is a) make sure the cages are sealed. Check anywhere he can get in. b) Do you have a cat. If you do, let it do patrol. and c) get one of those plug ins that emmits high pitch buzzing into the wall. That got rid of my wild mouse infestation in a snap. I aqm sorry about your litters and bucks. One thing- he may have gotten your does pregnant.

moustress

· #6 · Dec 22, 2009

Oh, geez, that totally sucks!! I have had wild mice break into some of my tanks in the past and impregnate a couple of does. It figures though, that a wild mouse would do that. I took measures so that won't happen unless I just plain make a mistake about how I leave the tank. Wild mice are a real bother, and we live in an old house, so it's impossible to prevent them from getting in. I've had wild mice show up in empty tanks that hadn't been dumped and cleaned; I think they like the water bottle not to mention left-over food.

I'm horrified to hear that one of your bucks was killed by the wild one, and bummed that you lost yet another litter. It's time for you to get that wild little fart dead or alive!

spazzy_sparx

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 23, 2009

I do have a cat, but this bugger is smart. There is only one of him and my three cats can't seem to get him.

I agree though. I want revenge!

Toast

· #8 · Dec 23, 2009

I'll send you my cat; he opened my one of my locked cages a few weeks ago! I hate smart wild mice though. My suggestion, if you want him dead or alive, would be to put some rat poison where he comes in and move the females (leave some scent though)

HeatherL

· #9 · Dec 24, 2009

c) get one of those plug ins that emmits high pitch buzzing into the wall. That got rid of my wild mouse infestation in a snap. I am sorry about your litters and bucks.

I wouldnt get one of those with your pet mice around ! It will stress them to no end !

Maplewood Stud

· #10 · Dec 24, 2009

put some bacon rind on a standard mouse trap and set it in a tight space, ie between tubs..
if hes a bit of a bugger do a couple x
bet uve got caught him within an hour

spazzy_sparx

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 2, 2010

I FINALLY GOT HIM! I had to use a sticky trap though. He walked right onto it!

Then I cleaned him all up and now I'm going to let him recover before I let him go. I think he hurt himself trying to escape. Thanks for everyone's help! No more dead babies or bucks! YAY! ...what a relief since I have 30 more, and two new bucks.

Toast

· #12 · Jan 2, 2010

Congrats! I'm happy for you. Did he breed with your females?

spazzy_sparx

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 2, 2010

Toast said:
Congrats! I'm happy for you. Did he breed with your females?

I don't know. We will found out though because he is the only brown mouse. All of mine are black, white, gray, and a tiny bit of tan all mixed together.

Toast

· #14 · Jan 2, 2010

Well, lets hope not!

moustress

· #15 · Jan 2, 2010

Woohoo!! Good work, and let's hope that is the end of it. I know that it was the wild mice that spurred me to install better tops and latches on my tanks and that's an added benefit as I rarely have any escapes anymore. The last one was a rider on the underside of a cage top who jumped off and ran right out to the edge of the shelf where I was working so I saw his mischievious little face peeking out at me. Good old Snoot, a true cuddlebuddy! (He has a white spot on his nose.) He was out for all of about 15 seconds or less.

spazzy_sparx

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jan 2, 2010

moustress said:
Woohoo!! Good work, and let's hope that is the end of it. I know that it was the wild mice that spurred me to install better tops and latches on my tanks and that's an added benefit as I rarely have any escapes anymore. The last one was a rider on the underside of a cage top who jumped off and ran right out to the edge of the shelf where I was working so I saw his mischievious little face peeking out at me. Good old Snoot, a true cuddlebuddy! (He has a white spot on his nose.) He was out for all of about 15 seconds or less.

lol! I'm pretty sure it is. He is the only mouse I have seen around and the random mouse droppings have magically stopped appearing! haha! ...he is currently in a bucket though doing FANTASTIC! He is already trying to escape. Sometime soon I will be releasing him somewhere far away from my mice.

I'm happy I didn't have to kill him to catch him!

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