# Mouse has gave birth to two pups but...



## Antonyw (Dec 23, 2011)

It has ate their faces off, will it eat all the rest as well. I had two females in the same enclosure, which I've separated incase it was the other one. But I put the decapitated pups back in with the mother and it chewed them a bit more. Do mice that do this, normally kill their full litter?


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## Artisan (Mar 27, 2011)

Antonyw said:


> It has ate their faces off, will it eat all the rest as well. I had two females in the same enclosure, which I've separated incase it was the other one. But I put the decapitated pups back in with the mother and it chewed them a bit more. Do mice that do this, normally kill their full litter?


I'm not a mousey person but i'm sure they do it if they feel unsafe/are disturbed/have human scent on the babies ect. Did you handle the pups at all? Did you disturb her during birth or when the pups were born or move her cage to a noisy place? : victory:


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## ZOO CENTRE (Apr 1, 2010)

Antonyw said:


> It has ate their faces off, will it eat all the rest as well. I had two females in the same enclosure, which I've separated incase it was the other one. But I put the decapitated pups back in with the mother and it chewed them a bit more. Do mice that do this, normally kill their full litter?


They do it some time when there is some problem-bad mother,bad food,stress....
There is some problem- because two babies only - bad female!


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## Antonyw (Dec 23, 2011)

*Ok thanks*

And no it was when I got home so it wasn't disturbed any time, there's five more now but she's ignoring them and eating food haha. Bad mother I think


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## badgerrat (Mar 2, 2013)

Sometimes a first time mother will kill her young just because she is inexperienced. Next time around she will probably be ok. Hope this helps bit.


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## marijan2 (Mar 2, 2013)

maybe something was wrong with those pups and she handled it by herself.


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## Antonyw (Dec 23, 2011)

Ok thanks there's about eight pups now and I think she's nursing them ok I haven't checked yet today


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## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

It happens. If she's a first timer its slightly more likely. Keep her quiet and not disturbed, dont touch the babies if you can help it, or clean her out for a week or so. Just feed and watch from afar.
Remove any dead babies immediately and dispose of blood traces etc.
Don't hold it against her until it happens every time. Then knock on head and feed to snakey :2thumb:

(obviously I support humane dispatch before anyone has a go...:lol2


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## Antonyw (Dec 23, 2011)

Then knock on head and feed to snakey :2thumb:

(obviously I support humane dispatch before anyone has a go...:lol2[/QUOTE]

Haha I'm only feeding live because he's refusing frozen thawed, but how do u kill your feeders mate, I'd rather just let the snake do it. I'd feel cruel squashing theirs heads my self.


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## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

Antonyw said:


> Then knock on head and feed to snakey :2thumb:
> 
> (obviously I support humane dispatch before anyone has a go...:lol2


Haha I'm only feeding live because he's refusing frozen thawed, but how do u kill your feeders mate, I'd rather just let the snake do it. I'd feel cruel squashing theirs heads my self.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't trust a rodent not to damage to my snakes. I've been bitten by a mouse! It near flew across the room when I shook the damn thing off!!

I tend to find a clean break to the neck is the quickest however I've grown up with this with home grown ducks and hens so I'm quite good at it, and haven't ever "mised" on a mousey. I can PM how to do it if you wish, not something I'd want to leave on a thread for someone to come across who didn't want to know. 
Otherwise you can CO2 them. There's a lot of good tutorials on here about doing that.
If I HAD to feed live them I would secure the mouse with a pair of sturdy tongs then offer, not let it run around mad and possibly bite my snakes!
You should try him on fresh killed and see how that goes. : victory:


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## Antonyw (Dec 23, 2011)

polaris2582 said:


> Haha I'm only feeding live because he's refusing frozen thawed, but how do u kill your feeders mate, I'd rather just let the snake do it. I'd feel cruel squashing theirs heads my self.


I wouldn't trust a rodent not to damage to my snakes. I've been bitten by a mouse! It near flew across the room when I shook the damn thing off!!

I tend to find a clean break to the neck is the quickest however I've grown up with this with home grown ducks and hens so I'm quite good at it, and haven't ever "mised" on a mousey. I can PM how to do it if you wish, not something I'd want to leave on a thread for someone to come across who didn't want to know. 
Otherwise you can CO2 them. There's a lot of good tutorials on here about doing that.
If I HAD to feed live them I would secure the mouse with a pair of sturdy tongs then offer, not let it run around mad and possibly bite my snakes!
You should try him on fresh killed and see how that goes. : victory:[/QUOTE]

Ok thanks will u message me and yeah I just hold them by the tail and let my snake grab there heads


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## konmac (Jun 23, 2012)

insecurity, trouble, inexperience, other individuals, poor diet in protein before and afterwards the pregnancy, handling, young men in age and without experience mothers


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## elchopchop (Nov 23, 2008)

not 100% on mice but rat mothers do this if they feel that the pups aren't going to survive. If you had left them in she would have eaten the rest of the ones she felt were too weak to survive, in the wild they do this because if left, the pups would eventually die and begin to rot which would attract potential predators to the nest, just a little natural 'wild' behavior in captivity for ya... :2thumb:


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

I find this more common in mice.. Never noticed it in rats and rarely in multi's..

Tiger

Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


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