spiny mice

[TashaS]

Hi all,

This may be a stupid question but here goes anyway...
Are spiny mice able to store sperm?

I ask cos i was given a couple of young (and at the time unsexable) spinys that were destined for snake food if i didnt have them. Unfortunately they turned out to be male and female and soon produced 2 babies. I let the female become pregant once more before separating the males and females (there was 1 female and 1 male baby). She had 3 in the next litter and i assumed that was the end of it but have just found 4 more little ones in her nest (obv suspected she was preggers beforehand tho)! As far as i know she hasnt been with any sexually mature males since before her second litter were born. Any ideas?

[Mrs dirtydozen]

i was told by the people i got my spinies off that they could not be used for feeders because of the spins on their backs,im not 100% on this but i wouldnt do so. if the people u got them off are feeding them to snakes arnt they putting there snakes at risk?

[TashaS]

I have read the same too and said as much. They arent using them for snake food-these couple were an odd unwanted pair and i had them so they wouldnt be fed as food (i assume it was going to be possible because they were young and so had not developed the adult spikey fur). Dont worry my babies are certainly not going to anyone who would use them as food-for the sake of the snakes as well as because i couldnt bear to let them go for that! (btw i know im slightly hypocritical as i use pre frozen fancy mice as food but i couldnt do it actually kill anything myself or have my own go for food)

[Lucy_]

as far as i know they dont retain sperm, but these lovely little things reproduce lke you wouldnt beleive! gestation is about 36-46days, so longer than a normal mouse, and as they are about to give birth or just have it is possible for them to get pregnant again if they are ovulating because this takes about 3-5days. they can in effect have a litter of babies 12 times a year!

We had some and the young were just at weaning age and she popped out 4 more! which i hadnt intended on...

something which can help is that other females in the group adapt to another having babies and will take on the pups aswel helping them to grow etc. so if mum isnt upto it, the others will take over to help out.

Lucy x

[TashaS]

lol-ive yeah thats what ive found. I love mine to pieces but would really rather they stop now! Hopefully thats the last of them tho as ive now got 11! Her litter sizes also increased 2-3-4 and the size and development of the babies decreased.

[Lucy_]

lol i know, before u know it u have them left right and center!
the babies will be like this because shes had so many in a short time so not had much time to re-coup herself, but they will be fine. just give them lots of food to help them along, just watch adult weights as they can get obese easily

are urs doing somersaults yet?? its so funny to see them do it

[TashaS]

haha-amazing arent they? So cute to watch the babies learning too-they copy the older ones from such a young age!

How many do you have? How long have you been keeping them for?

[Nacnud112]

Hi,
I don't know too much about spiny mice, I've never kept any mice. But if they're like normal mice they form a seal around their sperm. Perhaps some was out of the seal and when the seal broke this too came in, hence she was pregnant twice. It's a possibility.