Mouse slaughtered her pups

Question
QUESTION: hello natasha let me first start by saying thank you for taking time to answer my question.
here is the deal i recently "adopted" 4 mice from a friends son who was not taking care of them.  a week later which was last night (april 27) one had babies.  i knew she was pregnant and had seperated her prior to the birth and did hours of research.  however i was not prepared for dead babies.  some are alive and seem to be doing well from what i can see but some are deffinatly dead.  i know i can not disturb momma for atleast 3 days after birth but im worried about the dead mice being in there i dont want to leave them there to rot being that im sure it would be a health hazard and the smell would just be horrible. my question is basic, can i remove the dead mice?
also the ones that are alive they seem to be all around the tank momma doesnt seem to be keeping them warm she is feeding them but that seems to be all she is doing.  let me also say i never actually went into the tank the tank is on a stand which makes it possible to see the bottom and thats were i was looking the dead mice seem to be on the very bottom under the nest like she threw them away i counted nine total 5 of them being dead. i am very nervous and worried about this and saddened i love animals and it breaks my heart when they die.
1.) to to sum it up my question is should i or when can i remove the dead babies?
2.) should i try to assist momma with caring for the babies that are alive since she doesnt seem to be doing a great job.

also i believe it is her first litter
thanks for any info
tabitha

ANSWER: Dear Tabitha,

You are right, this girl is not a good mom. She is probably completely stressed out by the bad treatment and then the move.

The babies could have been born dead, or died naturally after birth, or she killed them because she sensed there was something wrong with them. But she should have eaten them. It is definitely not normal that these things are just in the nest. They need to come out.

Wait till she is out of the nest. Take her out. Rub your hands in the used mouse stuff probably from a corner of the cage. Then go into the nest very gently and do what it takes to get the little bodies out. Make sure you disturb as little as possible of the nest and put it back the way it was.

It is certainly not good that the poor babies end up all over the cage. You should put them back every time. It is good that she is feeding them, but if she isn't keeping them warm, you need to make sure the room or cage or at least nest is warm. Put a heating pad on low under a few towels under the cage. Make absolutely sure it is not too hot. If possible make it such that they could move away from the heat if they wanted to.

Depending on how tame she is, you might want to actually put her in the nest sometimes. But not if this upsets her.

Obviously she should never be bred again,

I wish you and her babies the best of luck.

Squeaks,

Natasha

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Wow the response was very quick and very helpful thank you.  I removed the dead babies 7 in total. it broke my heart. momma was pretty content with me being in the cage I was able to be leave everything the way it was and I rubbed my hands in the used bedding until I couldnt stand the smell on my hands.  There were five living babies left I managed to get them all together in a nice pile close to where she lays.  Once I was done the site I witnessed broke my heart even more.  She ran right up to the babies and started biting them I thought she was cleaning them but when she walked away there was blood everywhere I do believe all of them now are dead.
also I dont know it the babies were born dead or not the ones I removed looked like they had teeth marks on their necks.  Its upsetting but I do believe she was not ready to be a mother.
There is another female that is about to have her babies any day now I hope everything goes good with them I may be back asking you more questions if that's ok :-)

ANSWER: Dear Tabitha,

Oh nooooooooooo! It is possible that there was something wrong with all of them, but it is also possible that she is simply psychologically incapable of dealing with babies. It is important to remember that a mouse who seems mean or even mousicidal, is still being a mouse in the best way she knows how, and deserves lots of love and no reprobation.

I sure hope the second mouse is a good mom. Although it is usually a great idea to have another female as an aunt in the cage to help mom with the babies, I would certainly not recommend the mousicidal  one!  But leave the gentlest mouse with the pregnant one.

Squeaks,

Natasha




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Omg so like I said before I assumed that all of the babies were dead........ well I gave it a day thought maybe I would here squeaks throughout the night but I heard nothing,  I saw nothing.  I assumed all of the babies were for sure dead.  Today I decided cleaning the cage was needed and when I lifted the nestbox there was one baby still alive!!!!!!! I put everything back, tried to cover the baby I didn't touch him but I had gloves on anyway I hope I didn't do anything wrong I honestly had no idea that there was any alive still. if the baby stays alive how long until he starts wandering around on his own or how long till I can safely check on him?

this baby I just found is one of the 5 I put back the other day the other 4 I assume were eaten but I didnt check

Answer
Dear Tabitha,

It is always best to wake a week before disturbing a mouse nest. Considering this stressed-out mom mouse, be sure to wait that long. But do start to handle the pup by the 10th day.

I hope this little pup grows up happy, with all of the milk that was intended for so many siblings.

squeaks

Natasha