Ok im breeding fancy mice and the kids are 12 days old. they have a nice white coat of hair but i still need to know if it is too soon to handle them to tell their sex because i dont want it to be too late since they produce fast, and if i dont get to tell their sex y seeing if the femals haves nipples now i will have to wait for 3-5 weeks to see if the males have balls and b then they could hav produced. So my questions are...;;
1. How old do the babies have to be for me to handle them to tell their sex?
2. How long do they need to be with the mother for, since I need to seperate girls from boys?
3. How long until i can put the boy babies with the father mouse when i seperate them so they dont get eaten?
PLEASE HELP -- FANCY MICE Yeah,?
I breed mice myself.
As soon as their hair comes in, then you can handle them. As soon as they are weaned you can separate them, however before they are weaned this should be done.
You simply lift them up an compare then to the mother - if they are very similar then put them in a cage for females, if they look different then put them in the cage for males. Then put a small dot of nail varnish on the males heads (including the father just in case you forget if they are males or females)
Then they can be returned to the mothers cage when the varnish has dried (i would use the quick-dry stuff as it makes the whole process quicker).
They should be separated from their mother and the boys from the girls at 3 weeks old. With the males sometimes you can keep them together for a few more weeks, but usually its until 6 weeks old until they start fighting. i should not suggest keeping them with the father at all unless he seems to accept them immediately and then until no longer than 5 weeks old.
Good luck with the babies!
EDIT - and before someone thinks im being cruel with the nail varnish, There have been no problems so far with it and it is very common practice when breeding most animals, including dogs.
PLEASE HELP -- FANCY MICE Yeah,?
mice don't reproduce that fast don't worry
remove the father immediately
u can handle them when they are hoppers that's when their eyes are just abut to open or even when they are fuzzies you can hold them.
they need to be with their mothers until they have been hoppers for a while and you see them start to eat the moms food instead of the moms milk
PLEASE HELP -- FANCY MICE Yeah,?
When breeding mice, it is best to know everything and do as much research as you possibly can. I will help you with your questions, but I do hope that you will continue to do research and find out as much information on mice as possible.
Some of your questions are somewhat difficult to answer. Since you breed, can you hold the mother? If not then its not a good idea to pick up the babies until they are about two weeks, which is almost too late to tame a mouse.
Have you ever sexed young mice before? At that age, its going to be almost impossible to figure out their sex. Since they are weaned at 3 weeks, that is the best time. On a female, the anal and vagina will be closer together than a male mouse. The males testicles wont drop until they are 4-5 weeks old, so if you dont know how to sex them i'd suggest calling your vet.
Male mice are known to fight each other, so expect them to show their dominance and fatalities in some cases. Mice do like to show the survival of the fittest. If i have a small mouse, or a mouse that is weak, the other mice WILL attack it and eat it.
Mice need to be fed and watered a few times a day so they dont turn to other mice as fast.
I hope that you have seperated the mother and father already, if not then your female is probably already pregnant.
With mice, they can reproduce hundreds of unhealthy mice in a years time. Be ready for accidents and inbred mice. It will happen with time if you are unexperienced.
I hope that you are breeding for another purpose than just selling them for food because you will never make profit because the cost of food and bedding. Just keep this in mind.
PLEASE HELP -- FANCY MICE Yeah,?
the babies eyes should open when they are about 10 days old and this is when it's safe to hold them in order for you to attempt..to determine what sex they are and holding them this young (u need to be careful) its good for taming the mice so they get used to being held but not to take them away from their mother for very long. it can be quite hard to tell what sex they are so young and it doesnt really need to be known so young too coz the minimum breeding age is about 20 days anyway.
they need to be with their mother for about 3 to 4 weeks.. they might be eating solids a bit earlier then this but its good for them to stay with their mother for this time because they still need milk from their mother.
im assuming the father isnt with them at the moment if he is then yip.. the mother would probably be pregnant again which can be really tough on her..obviously lol
u can reunite the baby boys with their father again when they are fully weaned.. which lyk i said is about 4 weeks . yea males can get agressive and fight especially if theirs an age difference however the father is likely to realise they are his own babies and they should get along. however it really does depend as the baby boys grow up they could fight but if you keep an eye on them you should be able to see what sort of temprament they have =D
lol i bet ther adorable
PLEASE HELP -- FANCY MICE Yeah,?
i haven't read the answers so sorry if someone has said the same as me.
1. How old do the babies have to be for me to handle them to tell their sex?
i am pretty sure you can handle them at 3 days old, i'm not sure if you can tell their sex then though, also remove the mother from the cage before doing this.
^
|
|
I'm sure that's right but make sure it is before you act of that one ;)
2. How long do they need to be with the mother for, since I need to seperate girls from boys?
4 weeks approx.
3. How long until i can put the boy babies with the father mouse when i seperate them so they dont get eaten?
hm.. not sure but probebly when you seperate them all at 4 weeks. You may want to join a forum like www.allaboutmice.co.uk/forum or forum.thefunmouse.com to answer all questions you have :D
No comments:
Post a Comment