After my failing attempts with my last mice - as the adults ate the babies, I got some multis, which seem to have done the same!!


What am I doing wrong?? I dont stress them out (to my knowledge) they always have loads of food/water. how hard can it be????

any advise appritiated.

What size is the cage?
Are you leaving "dad" with mother and pups?
How long have you had them?
Have you had them vet checked?
what food have they got?
sry for all the questions but this could narrow it down a it..

See, its harder then just putting 1 and 1 together and leaving them at it to get a good stock and still not be stressing the out.

not sure on size of cage - not great with lengths etc.

yes the male has been left in, to be honest the multis didnt get overly massive, its the first time I have seen multis so just presumed they may be growing. never saw the pups - just a couple of legs etc

they are in a 1.2

not had them vet checked

any advise appritiated

Well for 3 mice you will need at LEAST a 2 foot by 2 foot cage one level or a 1.5 foot by 2 foot cage double level for them to be comfortable, the bigger the better though.
Try taking the dad out, in my experience dad kills the pups though hormonal issues and re-mates with the females. And I suggest they get vet checked, or try a change of food...depends what they are getting now.

they are getting rat pellet style food. I believe thats what they where been fed before, although I have given them the dog equivilant, looks like same ingrediants and looks identicle, (just a lot cheaper).

why would I need to get them checked at the vets if they are fine (apart from eating their young) would that be a sign of something else that wrong with them?

If there is any sign of anything else I would get rid of them, as feeders they need to be 100%

Oh I see. -_-


Probably not best to feed dog food, although some are ok. As it happened with all the mice I would say its something you are doing. Stress is a possible cause for eating they're young, or if they have different smells on them, or even because they dont feel secure around you.
Some "rat pellet style foods" are just a no-no, if they are mice they need MOUSE food. Alot of companys making foods are just in it for money so make up crap and call it rat food. Try varying they're diet on fresh fruits and veggies, a few oats here and there, grains, a few peanuts. and maybe "lab blocks" for mice..

Multimammates need a good varied diet - hamster/mouse/rat food mixed in with dried pasta, dog food, corn and a few bits and bobs of fresh veg should do the trick. If they are lacking any nutrients they may well eat the babies because of this. Make sure they never run out of water - I always had two bottles in with them just to be sure.
Clean out the cage right before the female looks like she's going to drop, and don't do it again until the babies are two or three weeks old - they don't seem to like dirty cages! I always left the males in with the females, they are sociable animals that have a good 'pack' mentality. I often had probalem introducing new males to females - if you seperated them after every breeding you'd have this problem over and over again.

And remember, they often eat the first litter - both mum and dad can panic! Let them have a few trys at it before you write them off.

Another thing - when you get babies, get them out as they are weaned - before mum has more, the youngsters can cause enough upset and crowding that mum decides she has enough on her plate with those and doesn't fancy new babies aswell!

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awsome - cheers ally - didint know they do it a lot with their first litter - I will let them live a while longer yet then

Are mealworms ok for them? how about plain cerials?

thanks everyone for your help so far
Sam

Meal worms - a rare treat..like 3 every 3 weeks/month

Plain cerials, how often? needs to be a RARE treat like the meal worms.

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0.2 Barn Owls - Skye and Cassie | 2.1 Cats - Leo, Eddie and Kimi
7.1 Ferrets - Teddy, Gromit, Lister, Rimmer, Bob-tail, Murphy, Gimdli and Buffy (RIP. Sprokett and Boris) | 0.1 European Eagle owl - Ollie
2.0 Guinea Pigs - BB and Basil (RIP. Nev + Darwin) |2.0 Rats - Fraser + Reggie
1.0 Rabbit - Casper-J | 2.0 Harris hawks - Todd and Mitch.
Desperatly wanting a leo.

Todd, Mitch - "let the bodies hit the floor"

Plain cerials can be added often, mealworms - they adore them!
Ther're officially not rats or mice, so care is differant to either of those... I gave mine mealworms every other week or so, mainly because they'd just eat all I gave them and I couldn't afford it!
I mixed cereal in with everything else that made up the standard food - in a big plastic bin.

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Chiltern Reptiles

Brand new equipment for sale!
Habistat Thermostats
ExoTerra Digital Thermometers and Hygrometers