# Spiny Mice ?s



## NovaRose (Dec 7, 2014)

So yeah. I'm from the States and I have two male(I'm pretty sure) spiny mice, Mowgli and Marley. I have some questions concerning them and would be greatly appreciated if someone could awnser them:flrt:

What are my boys? At the petstore they were listed as African spiny mice. Are they African? Or Egyptian or Arabian? ( see pictures at the end)

What color are they? I think they are just the natural color, but could they be cream?

BREEDING: If I was to get a female and breed one of my boys, do the males stay with her until the babies or born? Or do you breed, and take out the male. I don't want a bunch of litters, just prob one litter from two females, from my two boys. 

Thanks!

Oh yeah, pictures! Mowgli is the bigger and fatter boy, while Marley is smaller. Their tails broke of at the petstore and Mowgli has a stump and Marley has about a half of a tail.


























Sorry if they are big!


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## PPVallhunds (May 23, 2010)

African/Cairo/Egyptian/ are often just different names for the same one. The more common species people seem to refer to is Acomys cahirinus.
Ive always called them Egyptian Spiny Mice as that's what ive seen them called the most.

They look the normal wild agouti colour to me

When we were breeding them we kept them in a colony, then split up the sexes when we didn't want any new ones. Average litter size is 1-3.

ive always found a bit of fighting when introducing new ones together but with enough space and places to hide they normally settled down after the pecking order was sorted but have has some who had to be kept alone as I couldn't get anyone to accept them.


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## Avyron (Jun 29, 2010)

as above really... I have always found them pretty easy to introduce to each other as well again with lots of hiding places etc. They look the same as mine and mine are the wild colour egyptians. Love them they are always so active!


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## NovaRose (Dec 7, 2014)

Yes they are! I love my boys( I think) that's my next question. I can't tell if they are boys or girls?!? I don't know they're age. Buy here are some pics.Thanks! PS. I think they have nipples. It looks like it in person!!


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## x Sarah x (Nov 16, 2007)

Looks like a girl.

Also its hard to say if they are Arabian or Egyptian as many spiny mice in captivity these days are hybrids due to the two being mixed up, i tend to just call them Spiny mice now.

If you only want one or two litter i'd be inclined to remove the male before the doe kindles, only because he will remate her almost immediately, these mice can and will back to back breed no problem whatsoever in captivity.


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## NovaRose (Dec 7, 2014)

Females? ugh. i guess ill get some opinions form some other people, and decide on some girl names. Now i need two males. I knew i shouldnt have trusted my petstore, once they said a rabbit was a female and it was a male! If someone could tell me how to sex them would be greatly helpful!


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## Avyron (Jun 29, 2010)

Im going for female as well... esp if she has nipples! Do they both look the same? maybe you have two girls?


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## NovaRose (Dec 7, 2014)

i saw nipples on Mowgli, i havnt really checked marley. But they both are the same. Its wierd though, the petstore has some pregnante females, so idk why they cant tell the difference. But thanks guys!


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## NovaRose (Dec 7, 2014)

Is there a chance that one of them could be pregnate? Theyre was four spiny mice in the petstore and they were both seprerated in pairs, but is there a chance? Mowgli (now is Ellie May) is chubby, and has a fat roll on her neck. Her nipples are very bright pink, almost red, so i changed the bedding just in case it was allergic reaction or something, but i was only using carefresh, so idk.
How can you tell if they are preggo? I got them November 26th.


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## PPVallhunds (May 23, 2010)

yep girls. when sexing them the boys have a bigger gap between the openings and will have a bit of fur between them where as girls dont. Ive seen a few people miss sex them when new to it (the students at work often get it wrong) due to the females having that pokey outy bit, people confuse it for a penius. when u look down there the boys are 2 flat dots. so u have the tail then bum dot, gap then genital dot -. . where as the girls you have the tail then bum dot then straight after a v shape which pokes out a bit -.<

so u can just get the one boy. we left our boy in untill he had a few sons then moved all the males out at once together. with ours we mostly had 1 or 2 baies pet litter so doing it that way you dont get a huge population explosion like u do with rodents who have 10 in a litter. we have had 3 in a litter befor but the extra ones often didnt make it.

The fat roll over the sholders ive noticed happens more to the more dominant ones in the groups our lower ranking ones either dont get it al all or only slightly.

Gestation is 5-6weeks. Never noticed any changes in our prognant ones realy but id guess if you weight them you should see an in increase weight id guess.

Id say waite 6 weeks from now and if nothing look into breeding and getting a boy.


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## NovaRose (Dec 7, 2014)

Okay, thank you soo much! I was going to wait until February to breed them anyway. Ive found out that Mowgli (now Ellie) (the one with fat rolls) is more moody, ive heard in the uk spiny mice arnt that domesticated, but here in the us i think they are more than the uk ones. Marley (now Lulu) Loves to be held, climbs up my arm and chills on my shoulder all the time. But Ellie, whenever I hold her, just for a second, she bites. Ive washed my hands before holding her, just in case it was the sent of food, and still nothing. The first week i got her she was fine, and was just like Lulu and loved it, now, its like she hates it. Shes fine in the cage, she loves her chin and head scratched and will take food from my hand, but everytime i pick her up she bites. I do have 3 cats that sit by the cage, but they dont do anything, the put there nose to it and the mice come up and sniff them. Do pregnant girls get moody like that? or could it be the cats?


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