Okay when is the best time to separate the babies (male/female)?

[mandy]

My 2 litters are 4wks old today. A few of the babies finally opened their eyes today! But alot of them still have their eyes shut.

Sidenote: they are SUCH beautiful mice! Especially the ones with the white mother and orange brindle father! One of them is the most brilliant shade of orange/fawn ever! And one of them is tiger striped, with long stripes running down her nose. they are so cute!

I am freaking out just a little bit because I was told, not only by a person at a reputable pet shop, but also from lots of websites, that they need to be separated around 5wks. which is why my husband is going to pick up another tank today so we can do just that.

My 3 questions are:

Is it possible that one of these little babies (who are still nursing BTW) could have gotten the mother pregnant?! She is looking way too bulgy. And for her to be THAT bulgy today, she'd have to have gotten pregnant at LEAST a week ago. Can they seriously mate before 3 weeks? O_O I mean my goodness they just got fur! Can she just be a little fat from the diet and from the fact that she's nursing?

Also, is it okay to separate them even though they still nurse? I know the females will be fine because they'll be in the cage with the mommies if they need to nurse, but will the males be okay? Are they able at 4wks to eat mouse food?

I know how to tell the difference between M/F by the distance from the anus to the genitals. BUT, with them being so wiggly, is it safe to go by the fact that some of them have nipples and some don't? That's easier to see.

Goodness gracious. I am so happy when I look at them or play with them! They make me so happy! And I'm also feeding the runt with a bottle filled with cat's milk. He looked like he would die until I started doing this. Now he looks like the others did around 2.5-3 wks. (he's only half the size of the others) He's starting to get a nice fur coat. I wonder when he'll open his eyes.

Here is a pic of the nest. It doesnt matter how much bedding I give them, they keep moving it off the floor of the nest. *shrug* But I wanted to show you how cute the babies are. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good pic of the pretty brindles because I didn't want to freak Snowflake out and make her scurry away... because I could see the runt nursing!! but you can see one of the fawn colored ones there.

[Vanilla_Rat]

The babies have to be seperated by sex at 5 weeks old.
They can start mating at 5 weeks.


No,it is not possible for them to get the mother pregnant before 3 weeks old.The mother is a little fat from producing milk and having the litter.I have had females like this as well.Once they are no longer nursing,they tend to drop the weight.


The males will be fine together for a few weeks.
In some cases,male littermates raised together get along well.But it is always good to keep spare cages...just in case!

[MouseMom]

They should be seperated by 4 or 5 weeks. No but if a male was kept in there she can get pregnant the same day as giving birth. Males should be fine for a couple weeks but after that they will start to fight. I suggest putting all females in one cage and each male in a cage of his own. I dosen't have to be big. A large Critter Keeper is fine.

[storminstaffs]

How many did the mouse have in the litter as they look small for 4 wks and by then mine were all eating for themselves

[mandy]

Thanks for the advice!

Actually *headdesk* I had looked at the calendar wrong when I posted that, and I have just been too busy to correct it. They were only 2 weeks when I posted. Apparently having to change the page on the calendar when marking each week is too much of a brain challenge for me and I labeled the weeks wrong. So yeah, they turned 3 weeks old on July 17th.

I was finally able to get a true count. There are 23 of them It is very hard to tell the males from the females. *stresses* I only have a couple of them where it looks like they have butt-tufts that look like they could be the jellybeans. xD Any advice?

They are just hilarious to watch too! I bought 2 bird toys that have ropes and twine and plastic/wooden chewthings that hang down from the middle of the lid and they just love climbing up and down them.

Here are 2 pics I just snapped. May be a bit blurry, as they wont hold still long enough to get a good pic!