Dead mice pinkies?

[hornet]

So about 3weeks ago i got a trio of mice, 1 male and 2 fems. The first fem gave birth to 8 bubs a few days ago, 1 of which disappeared, the rest are going well. The 2nd female gave birth over night but all the pinkies were dead when i found them this morning all mixed into the substrate, one was headless and other had chunks taken out of them. Any idea what would have caused that? They are well fed and watered, only thing i think of could be stress as they are in the herp/invert room where i spend alot of time. Any ideas?

 

[marina]

the male ate them?

 

[akuji]

It could be a number of things some mice are terrible mothers, also it could be that the mice were pregnant to different males, keep an eye on it.. You may need to swap one of the females as well.

 

[hornet]

Deff the same father. Hopefully the next litter goes a bit smoother

 

[waruikazi]

Most likely reason is that your mice have some kind of nutritional defficiency and they are making up for it by eating the bubs.

 

[hornet]

the thing that confused me is why didnt the eat the first lot and with this second lot why didnt they eat the whole pinkie, not just bites here and there

 

[waruikazi]

the thing that confused me is why didnt the eat the first lot and with this second lot why didnt they eat the whole pinkie, not just bites here and there

I guess we may never know! But i'd put money on me being right.

 

[Radar]

Mice are excellent mothers. The first mother killed the second lots litter so the second female would help raise her's. She didn't need the nutrients.. You should separate females before they pop. Often females in labour will eat pinkies (theirs or another mothers) as well, if eating their own they tend to stop at one or 2 (seems like they just need something to bite down on) but if killing another females will destroy the lot. Mice are communal, but females will systematically kill others offspring in order to give their's the best chance at survival (and all females will mother a single females offspring, as will the father.

 

[Radar]

In other words, they are cannibalistic little *******'s, but do it for the good of the family :lol:

 

[giggle]

It happens... could be anything from stress to nutritional deficiency. Sometimes after eating previous babies it seems to be a habit you are unable to get them out of. If it happens again, you might want to get some new breeders.

A lot of people forget that rodents are essentially omnivorous... so if you are feeding something like just seeds... then you wont be covering all their nutrition.

The *other* thing is, sometimes one mother will kill another females babies, maybe to eliminate competition?

They are only mice, it wouldnt hurt to keep them in separate containers next time to see if it is competition?

I had a mother rat eat some of her babies... it was completely based on deficiency. When I added dog food to their feed mix it solved the problem.

 

[waruikazi]

I never bred mice for long but i never had the problem of two females killing off each others litters, infact they usually combined their litters and raised them communally. Same with rats which i bred for alot longer.

 

[giggle]

I guess we may never know! But i'd put money on me being right.

I would too

 

[Tristan]

this pinkie was too hot, this pinkie was too cold....

I'm thinking waruikazi is on the mark, as for chunks they may have been stuck between a morel dilemma with requiring nutrients but eating a baby

 

[ellis01]

I'v heard of cases where the mother is stress out eats what she can and just destroys the rest!!

 

[Radar]

If you are worried about deficiency being the problem, supplement their diet with a high protein dog food, some say it cuts cannibalism, have never needed to try it myself. I've had plenty of females raise communal litters as well, if we are running short of tubs we house up to 3 females that are ready to give birth together. Typically lose a bunch though...each female will have between 8 and 20, usually a couple of day's in there's about 30 left and at hopper stage 15 to 17, which make it through to adulthood. Have had the same with rats bred communally, plenty of survivors from a combined litter, but not nearly as many as I started with. When the females are seperated all or 90% make it though, with some really big litters (15 to 20) having losses.

 

[Waterrat]

They just get that funny click in their minds (if they have any) and kill or eat pinkies for no apparent reason. My mice are on a fantastic diet, nothing is missing and just once in a while, some decide to go cannibalistic. I keep them in trios and when this happens, I knock off all 3 of them and set up a new breeding trio.

 

[JAS101]

what are u feeding them ?
and yes i too think waruikazi is on the money , my first litter of rats did the same thing . i changed the pellet brand and iv never had any issues since .

 

[Radar]

It should be noted that first time mothers will often kill their brood....this is pretty common...if they do it after the first time, wack them.

 

[Jay84]

First time mothers
Inadequate diet
Rogue males
Bad mothers
Stress

Could be a range of things. If it happens again then hit them on the head.