Ok here's the situation:

I "adopted" a mouse from someone a couple of months ago. I took it to Petsmart and had it sexed. I was told it was a male. So, I wanted it to have a friend and I bought another male mouse. Well, lo and behold, I go into my bathroom tonight and there are around 10-12 little baby mice in the cage. One of those little bastards was a female. I didn't want any babies, but now that we have them, I need a little info on them.

Is there anything special I need to do for the mother and babies? I seperated the male from the female and babies. (I found out which was the male because the one who turned out to be female had been gaining a little weight lately and is really protective over the babies.) Anything else I need to do?

I know nothing about sexing mice, so whenever they are old enough to do that, if someone could help me, I would reallllly appreciate it.

Also, when are they old enough to start having sex and babies and all that? They were born today I am sure. I want to seperate the boys and girls before that happens.

I am not sure if we will be keeping the babies or giving them away at this point. If anyone is interested in a baby AS A PET, you can post your info and I will get back to you. No snake food or anything like that. Does anyone know if pet stores will buy/take the babies back?



Any other info anyone has on mice babies would be greatly appreciated!

4/9/2006 11:16:53 PM

4/9/2006 11:20:08 PM

aww post pictures!

i don't know anything about sexing babies, but someone at a pet store (carolina pet supply maybe) might know.

4/9/2006 11:20:57 PM

i don't know anything about sexing babies either.

4/9/2006 11:57:41 PM

people pay for them that own snakes.

4/9/2006 11:59:45 PM

Nobody is gonna take those goddamn mice off of you, except to feed them to a snake.

4/9/2006 11:59:46 PM

this thread is useless without pictures

4/10/2006 12:15:00 AM

I will attempt to get a picture tomorrow, depending on if my camera cooperates.

I just went and checked on them and the babies were all nursing...everybody seems happy and healthy at this point...I just hope I'm doing everything I'm supossed to do.

Oh yeah, and the mom is grey and the dad is black and white...any guesses on what colors they may be or is it random?



[Edited on April 10, 2006 at 12:23 AM. Reason : sdf]

4/10/2006 12:20:30 AM

i have a few buddies with snakes. i'm sure they will take them off your hands for you. there is nothing wrong with it... how else do you think snakes get their food?

4/10/2006 1:50:26 AM

Im interested....my snake is a strict vegetarian and only eats tofu, he does need a mouse companion though as he does get lonely sometimes

4/10/2006 1:59:58 AM

way you sex a mouse. pick them up by the tail, males will have easily recognizable testicles. the females will have a second opening very close to their anus. really easy to sex. and you don't have to remove the babies from the male. i breed mice for my snakes, you can just leave them in their. they'll do fine.

4/10/2006 2:24:49 AM

Not giving them to people with snakes...sorry. I'd rather just keep them than for them to become snake Alpo. Thanks for the advice on how to sex them. How old do they have to be before you can tell if they are boys or girls? Also, I seperated the male from the female because I read online that the female can get pregnant again within 24 hours of giving birth - I don't want anymore babies.

4/10/2006 10:25:32 AM

I started out with a male and female and ended up with like 50. I had to keep taking them to pet stores. I did everything people told me to do about separating them at a certain age and blah blah, but everyone got pregnant. Keep dad away from the babies and also keep as much h2o and food in the cage as possible. They will kill each other if they feel like food or water is low. as far as colors, they will probably be all sorts of colors. Mine always were. Unfortunately, you will have a really hard time getting rid of the babies for anything besides snake food. You could call PetLand (i think it is petpad) and see if they will take them. You will not be guaranteed that they will not be snake food though. I finally had to start giving babies to them b/c i had way too many. I started out with a male and decided he was lonely so i bought a female. it was downhill from there. good luck

4/10/2006 12:21:30 PM

I used to work with lab mice and we looked at the distance between the anus and the urinary opening. Basically, you are looking at dots or small bumps at this point for the babies. The distance will be shorter for females and longer for males.

Male on the left, female on the right


these pups are 5 days old

4/10/2006 1:55:50 PM

FYI you can nair a mouse with no ill effects

4/10/2006 2:39:41 PM

how old do the pups have to be before you can safely handle them? I was thinking around 2 weeks, when they start looking like real mice?

4/10/2006 2:58:05 PM

with my hamsters I waited until they had a good coat of fur, I'm sure theres some online literature somewhere that would be able to give you the correct time, I do think I remember hearing not to touch the babies a lot, but I'd suggest googling around for answers

4/10/2006 4:19:06 PM

I looked it up and it says that you can wean the babies at 3 weeks, so I guess I'll do it all then.

4/11/2006 12:01:20 AM