new mother mouse confused?

Question

Pregnant Mouse   QUESTION: She has been pregnant for a while now, but im not sure on exact days. How much longer do you think she has? She looks even bigger in person. This is her first liter.

ANSWER: Dear Lauren,

I'd give her up to a week!  It's very hard to tell.  Make sure everything is clean and nice for the nest tonight.  The babies will need darkness and soft material (kleenex will do) in the nest.

If you go to the mouse experts page and click on View Past Answers, you will find my archives.  There are a lot of very thorough answers about pregnancy, birth, and raising the young ones.  You should check this out.  If you still have questions, ask again.

Have fun!

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha

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

QUESTION: She has just given birth to about 6 pups! Now she is running around the cage like crazy. I'm going to assume that is normal. But the first pup that came out she seperated and put on the opposite side of the rest. Should I move it with the others with a spoon or something like that? Or should I just leave it? Unless I hear otherwise, I will leave it alone. Momma knows best. Thank you for the fast response

Answer
Dear Lauren,

Congratulations to Ms. Mouse!  

If the pup has been put more than an inch away from the others, use the spoon to put it back.  Mother mice get confused sometimes.  However, you may find later she has removed it again or it has died or been eaten.  That would probably mean she knew it was disabled in some way and probably wouldn't have survived long.

I hope she will be back on the nest within a half hour.  She is supposed to nurse them every half hour.  Some mice aren't that good at motherhood the first time (some people aren't either).  She will have to make her mistakes because there is nothing you can really do at this point if she does make mistakes.  The only things I recommend is every so often to gently put her back in the nest and see whether the pups suckling on her will awaken her mother instinct.  If she and you are quite friendly, then I would gently hold her on top of the pups for a few seconds so the pups have time to attach and she has time to change her mind about what she wants to be doing.  Don't squish them!

If she is running on the wheel and you become concerned about mousling neglect, take the wheel out.

The only other way I would intervene was if she began to carry the babies one by one into some other, unsuitable part of the cage.  She would do this if she somehow felt threatened (too much attention or just being confused) and you know better than she does where the mice should live.  That and if a pup was holding onto her and fell off in another part of the cage and she didn't put it back.  You are right to use the spoon.

I'm sure everything will go great!

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha