Mother mouse eating young

Question
QUESTION: Hey Natasha,
The little mousey in your picture is GORGEOUS!
uhmm i currently have two cages,
one contains a beautiful Lady who has recently had babies
on the 5th of june,
and the other is another Lady with her second round of babies which i assume arrived sometime today because i didnt see them this morning,
at first i had a male (i was told he was a girl)
so i didnt want to leave "her" alone so i got "another" female friend, soon after that i got another girl,
(at this time i thaught they were all females)
then one day when i was cleaning out there tube which goes in a circle, i had to shake it into the bin as the mice dragged their bedding into it, next minute about 8 babies came flying out! anyway the males privates had grown noticably bigger so i had relized he was no girl i then seperated him and left the babies in the cage with the two females. THEN the 3rd mouse i bought started looking really fat so i seperated her by herself and she had babies that night, Yesterday i took the first litter and the father(the first mouse i bought) to the pet shop  as i noticed the 1st female i had bought was extreamly fat, luckily as she gave birth today Agen (this is her second litter in just under one month), i have just arrived home and found them and i had a quick peek and left them alone but there is alot of squeaking coming from their cages i dont want to desturb them but i dont want her to hurt them either.
also, is best to leave both females with their litters in different cages or can i put them together?
thank you so much! xo

ANSWER: Dear Sarah,

You have a common problem.  Pet store attendants often know nothing about mice, let alone their sex.  You will also need to separate the boys and girls at 4 1/2 weeks or you will have more babies!

Although mother mice help each other gladly, once the babies have been born I don't like to disturb them for a week. New mothers especially can get confused and if they think the babies are in danger they may kill them.  I would leave the cages as they are for a week.

Have fun with all the babies!

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha

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

QUESTION: Ahhhhhhh The mouse i have who had her second litter had twelve and she just ate one!!!! i took her out and put her back in and she keeps trying too eat them!! there is only 9 now i dont know what to do i dont want them to die there 6 days old!!! please help im a 16 yr old female and i am crying my eyes out! its stupid i know but i feel so slack watching her eat them will she eat them all if i put her in there??

Answer
Dear Sarah,

That's awful.  You are lucky you have another mother mouse.  Choose the cage with fewer babies. Put your hands in the dirty litter, try to get urine onto your hands, maybe from the wheel or a plastic item (gross, I know!).  Then carefully take out the endangered babies and roll them in your hands until you think they are nice and smelly.    Take the good mother out and handle her babies with the new ones.  Then put them all in the nest and put the good mom back in.

Maybe you even want to divide the babies into two groups, making it more likely that some would survive.

Hopefully this will work out.

squeaks,

Natasha