how to tell if my female mouse is pregnant

Question
i purchased 1 male and 1 female mouse and I'm trying to breed them and I'm not sure if shes pregnant or not sometimes her belly looks big and other times its not and I've had them in the same cage for about a month was just wondering if there is any sure way of telling if shes pregnant plz help

Answer
Hi,

Breeding mice is much more than just purchasing a female and a male. If you think you'll get rich - think again. If you think it's simply 'cool' to have baby mice, you have alot of mental maturing to go. If you breed mice to be snakefood, you still have to provide every single mouse a decent life as your responsibility.

On the long run being together with the male all the time will stress out the female. Also, when she's carrying and nursing she must have a habitat of her own, and she needs time to rest before getting pregnant again.

If the mouse gives birth to too many babies, the sheer number of them may be the death of her, or usually the babies'. Hence most professional mouse breeders choose to euthanise all but six of the offspring early on to guarantee the well-being of the mother and the remaining young. You need to ask yourself, are you able to do this? Are you able to provide every mouse you'll be bringing into this world, a decent habitat? If you'll end up with ten males, who each need their own habitat, are you able to find every one of them a good home or are you able to take care of every single one on your own?

There is much more useful information for anyone thinking about breeding mice over at the Finnish Show & Fancy Mice Club's website: http://hiiret.fi/eng/breeding/index.html

As for your question, there is no absolutely sure way of telling if your mouse is pregnant. Mice carry about 20 days and at the end of it her tummy usually gets noticeably round.