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sexing baby mice/separating males

21 15:32:37

Question
hello. i got 2 mice that i thought were male but one had 11 babies so guess not. i like to know how to determine sex. i heard about the hole thing but some i cant tell. and also, they are 2 weeks old today and i need to know when to seperate from mom and if the boys can go in dads cage. actually, was holding one the other day to look for the sex and thought i had a good hold on its tail but it jumped out of my hand and onto the floor. scooped it up so quick and took it inside. looked like it was dead from hitting the pavement. a min. later it started moving and i massaged it alittle and put it back with mom and it ended up  being fine.  i know that means nothing but had to share that. any help would be great. i am not a mouse person but working at a petstore and seeing these cute feeder mice made me buy 2 so they didnt get eaten.

Answer
Dear Tammy,

Thank you for rescuing the feeder mice.  No mouse deserves the terrifying death of being eaten by another animal (though of course it happens in nature all the time).

Here is an excellent site which shows photographs of how to sex baby mice:

http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/sexing.cfm

You can try putting the boys in Dad's cage but it is likely that they will eventually fight.  Success keeping males together usually involves mice who have been together their whole life and never been separated (the babies' whole life of course, not the dad). Males often have to live alone for this reason.  

I'm glad the dropped mouse is ok.  It was in shock at first.

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha