my mice

Question
i had got two sets of mice one male and one female they both died with in 24 hours after i got them from this one pet shop.  than i got a female that was due any time from from a different shop since than she had 20 baby's.  i had this other mouse in there that we bought with her so i had them both together.  but i  know that they were fine for  while together but now they are in different cages cause i think the one was eating the babies  i am down to 8 now.  the thing is that i don't remember that when they are born i know mom is leaving them alone for awhile during the day now as will as the night and she is sleeping by her self. than she goes over and lays with them for awhile to milk them and goes back to lay by her self.  but they have fur and there eyes are open a little but i need to clean the cage cause its smells really bad i just don't know if i should cause the baby are still little and i don't know if mom will eat them if i do take them out there to change the tank. i really don't want to lose these baby's to ok. so what can i do to make it smell batter in the tank until they get a little older.  thanks for your help Arlene

Answer
Hello Arlene,

Moms (or their friends) could eat their babies for various reasons, but they can be for the best.  20 babies is a LOT of mouse pups, and mom or her friend probably realized this.  In their minds it is better to have 8 well-fed and healthy pups than to have 20 scrawny, underfed, and weak pups.  It's very likely that she just could not produce enough milk for that many, so she culled the numbers down to something more manageable.  They could also do this as a result of stress - if there are loud or irregular sounds near their cages it could be worrying her that the pups are in danger.  Some moms are more sensitive than others, and it could even be something like your computer screen or a television.  There's also the possibility like you said that the friend was eating them, in which case it's a good thing you separated them.

It's okay for mom to leave them alone sometimes, especially if their eyes are opening.  At this point they will be able to keep themselves warm, and soon will start eating by themselves too.  What you can do to clean the cage is take mom out first, so she can't see that you're messing with her kids, then scoop out all of the bedding EXCEPT the nest with your hands.  Be sure there aren't any babies hiding in it, because they love to burrow!  Then replace those portions of the cage with fresh bedding and tuck the nest back together if it's slid outwards.  Moms are usually very good at keeping the nest itself clean, so it's probably the rest of the bedding you're smelling.  Then just change out the food and water, put mom back in, and that's it.  You'll be able to touch them without worrying soon, though, since the older they get the less chance mom will eat them.  Be careful when you start playing with them because around 2-3 weeks they enter the "flea" or "popcorn" stage and are capable of jumping really high very quickly, and this could result in a dangerous fall.

Here's a chart from the Jackson Laboratory so you can guess at when your pups were born:  http://jaxmice.jax.org/images/literature/pupsposter-large.jpg

Congratulations on your babies!
-Tamarah