Urgent advice needed - Mother aggressive towards other adults after having babies

by Salt Wed 14 Jun 2017, 2:02 am

Hello everyone, I was hoping for some advice. I have 3 adults who gave birth the last few days, and three 9 week olds. The baby mice were born in the last few days (Clover's were born 2 days ago, Lavender's 1 1/2 days ago, and Thistle's yesterday afternoon). The adults have all been fine and look healthy. However, this morning Clover is chasing everyone but Lavender around, she's even chasing Thistle out of the nest. 2 of the younger girls are being chased around, and there is a lot of squeaking when this happens. I've had to walk over there to try to distract them several times this morning in hopes the fight doesn't turn ugly. What do you think, should I leave them? Or try to separate some? I've seen some of the babies, but no idea how many I have. I am worried Clover will hurt some of the others. If I separate, is it best to separate all the three who had babies and put them together, or only the 2 that get along at the moment? How do I determine what babies to separate, or should I just put them all in with whatever female/females I separate? Thank you in advance for your advice.

by scaredymouse Wed 14 Jun 2017, 4:29 am

Sounds like you have a mess on your hands. I'm not sure what to advise at this point. We recommend that all expecting mothers be set up in their own tanks, so that they can have their babies alone. On rare occasions, she may be given a nanny mouse but mothers should definitely not have babies together in the same tank. It can lead to a lot of serious problems. Furthermore, after a mother has her babies, they nest should not by touched by human hands for at least three days and the tank should not be cleaned for 3 weeks.

So, this is why I'm not sure what to advise at this point. I guess you are going to have to use your judgment. If it were me, after the babies are at least 3 years old, I would very, very carefully try to separate the nests into separate tanks. If you mix up the babies though, the mother may cannibalize them. Just moving the nest could cause her to cannibalize them. But then again, just the stress of having other mothers/babies around her could cause that too.

That's what I would do... hopefully someone else will have some thoughts on this as well. Each mother needs her own tank, and then the 3 nine week olds should be together.

by Salt Wed 14 Jun 2017, 4:59 am

Thank you for the advice! I did ask several mouse breeders here in Ireland before I decided to leave the mothers in with the group, and they all advised me to keep them in the group, so I guess different things work for people. I have also read a lot online about female mice helping each other out and caring for each other's litters, so it seems this works for many people.
In hindsight, I would have separated them had I known this was the right thing to do! The babies weren't planned or anything, I got them 2 weeks ago and didn't know they were pregnant at the time. I'll see how I go. They've calmed down now, and I can hear the babies.

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Urgent advice needed - Mother aggressive towards other adults after having babies

Urgent advice needed - Mother aggressive towards other adults after having babies

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Re: Urgent advice needed - Mother aggressive towards other adults after having babies

Re: Urgent advice needed - Mother aggressive towards other adults after having babies