Sugarplum...

Question
Hello Tamarah!

In November, a cutie named Gingerbread escaped from his house (we don't even know how) and Snuffles, another sweetie, became a mama on December 13th to 8 perfect babies. The 2 men of the litter live on their own now in a maxed out house and Gingerbread is in an even MORE secured cage, across the room from the females next to his sons. One baby of the 8, though, did die from an internal injury (let's just say Wild Thing loved to hop), but the rest are doing great. The baby girls now live with mama and her best buddy Sugarplum and sister Poptart.

While this was the "best accident ever," we originally wanted to breed Sugarplum with Snowball, but it didn't work out, and Snowball recently passing away made me realize the opportunity I'll miss.

Sugarplum has some good time left and she's too healthy for her age, so we were thinking of putting her with one of mama's sons when they turned 3 months old in March. But, give me your input here:

Sugarplum will be one year, 5 months old if we breed her when they are ready, 3 weeks older when they are born, and finally in the one year, 7 month old range when they can live alone.

Even though Sugarplum has the amazing health of a 4 month old mouse, and my mice live on average to about 2 years, we're still not sure if we should proceed. I've owned about 30 mice (including my current ones) and I can tell if they show signs of aging. She doesn't show a single sign. We do have a back-up mama too, just in case.

Sugarplum also comes from a small litter of 2 and a small sized family, and the 2 men would still be small-ish when they breed. Her side of the family is sweet, as is the mens', and neither are known for allergies or defects.


So, finally, my question for you: Will the pregnancy or birth kill her, or by feeding her proteins and vitamins enriched foods up until the end of the pregnancy or past that, can I make it work?

We're usually against breeding, but Sugarplum's entire family was wiped out by our old vet's mistakes (and it was a good vet, too--we just didn't realize how much they cared about the money more than the mice). Sugarplum is the only thing of her mom, dad and brother we have and we love her to death. We also have tons of left-over supplies and none of the babies would be sold--EVER. :3

We would really like to read your thoughs on this.

Thanks a million,
Lydia and the Meecies

Answer
Hi Lydia (and hi meecies!),

It's impossible with any pregnancy to be sure if a mama will be okay or not.  Some of the healthiest mice still can have problems, and the least likely ones can surprise you with a healthy, robust litter.  It's just a matter of risk, and what you personally decide to do.

When working with lab mice I regularly bred mice up until the 2 year old range, and what I noticed was that older mice tend to have smaller litters, if they have them at all.  I never lost a momma mouse in a year of working with a breeding colony, though I only saw a few successful litters among my older colony, ranging from around 2-5 pups.  I personally don't breed my own mice over a year or so (unless they have extremely valuable traits to me, like you mentioned she does), but it's a matter of personal preference and entirely up to you.  The risks of complications do slightly increase, but mostly it's an issue of decreased litter size and fertility.  You won't be able to predict or prevent serious complications, though, so if you decide to breed her just be prepared.

The only two complications I know of that could actually kill her is if she has trouble passing the pups when it comes time to give birth, or if one or more of the fetuses remain in her womb.  While serious, it seems to me these can happen to mice of any age.  It's something to be prepared for, though, so keep a vet's number on hand and watch for any lethargy or trouble during and after pregnancy.

Other problems are less uncommon and less serious, such as an inability to produce enough milk, which you can help with by supplementing protein in the form of kitten milk replacement (which can be dusted over food or mixed in with scrambled eggs - no cow's milk) and dry cat or dog kibble.  It's a good idea to supplement with these foods anyways, since pregnancy takes a lot out of any mouse and it'll help her stay strong!  :)  Breeding an older doe just requires a little more love, care, and attentiveness.

Remember, however, that fertility and litter size are also genetically affected, so be aware that those can be passed on to her pups!  I'm not sure if you had any plans for them other than to be pets, but since she comes from a small family, know that this will likely be passed on.  :)

Best of luck!
-Tam