Mommy mouse!

Question
I just bought a pregnant mouse another female and a male one yesterday. The pregnant one had 11 babies last night sometime. They all were in one cage together and once I seen she did I put the mommy and babies in another cage with extra natural bedding. I wandering what I should do with them because they are basically in a traveling cage I wasnt sure if the other male and female mouse would have hurt them. I am just worried she will get stressed and not care for her babies. Should I just put her back in with the rest of them or just keep her seperate or take the other male or female out and put her back in the big cage? Thanks for your help

Answer
Hi Nichole,

In this situation, it would have been better to move the male and the other female instead of moving the mom and her litter (just for future reference, it's okay that you did what you could).  Don't move her again - the more you move her, the more stressed she will become.  For now you will need to make sure she stays comfortable and undisturbed.  I don't know what kinds of cages these are, other than a regularly sized one and a travel one, but be careful of any cages with bars.  Once the babies reach a couple of weeks old they become quite adventurous and can escape if they can fit their tiny heads through the bars - just a caution.

In the meantime, try to leave momma completely alone.  There is nothing you can do except maintain calmness around her cage to help her take care of them.  Check on her once or twice a day if you can without disturbing her to make sure you don't need to remove any babies.  If things go bad, use this website to learn how to hand feed them (this works best from a few days old on; the older the pup, the better the chance at survival):  http://www.rmca.org/Articles/orphans.htm

When the pups are five or six days old you will need to move them to a larger cage (not with the other two mice - you're right that it's impossible to know if they'd be aggressive, since you just got them, plus you don't want to expose the mom or pups to any diseases they might be carrying and not yet showing).  They will start to grow rapidly after that point, and a traveling cage will quickly become too small for all of them.  Make sure mom has plenty of food and water and is in a spot where she won't be bothered.

I know there isn't much you can do when you buy a pregnant mouse, but in the future, I would really advise quarantining all new mice.  Mice that are pregnant or nursing are next to impossible to safely medicate, and you would not want a mom or a soon-to-be mom to catch something from another mouse.  Sometimes ones that look healthy at the pet store catch something from the other mice and don't show it until a few days have passed, or until they are exposed to the stresses of moving to a new home.  You can be certain your breeders will be healthy by keeping the male and the other female separate, and keeping them away from the momma mouse, for at least 3 weeks.  This will also give you time to make sure the other female is healthy and breedable, and give you a chance to make sure you like their temperaments.  Like I said - there wasn't much you could do for the one that was already pregnant, but in the future, quarantining will help you make sure that if one sick mouse comes in, the rest of the mice and their litters stay healthy.

Best of luck, and I hope she and her pups are doing okay!
-Tam