Do mice hide their babies??

Question

I had 3 female mice, one died so I replaced her. The store keeper told me that she was fat. 7 days later she is tremendously skinny and I found one baby that was 1/2 eaten. I was going to take it out and she wanted it back, so I gave the baby back to her, she made sure it was dead and gave it back to me. Is it possible that she had more than one and hid the healthy ones?? She too doesn't seem to be nursing either, or would she only nurse when no one is around to see. Or is it even possible that she even ate all of her babies in order to get along with the other two mice?? Please help. I'm lost. There is a really big mole-hill looking place in the cage, could they be hidden there?? I am not going to bother changing the cage for about 2 or 3 weeks though, what should I do??

Answer 1

the mole hill is the nest, they are most likely in there if she did not eat the rest.

are the other females in with her? because she will kill her babies or the other mice if they get too near.

also, do not touch the babies at all, as she will try to kill or eat them after you have touched them.

when they are out walking on their own out fo the nest then you can touch them. do NOT disturb the nest.

good luck!

Answer 2

omg my mouse just had babies and they do hide there babies cause its mother is probably scared that they are in danger but also if the mother is scared she will eat them so she probably had five more but she must have already eat them but if you actually wanted the babies to stay don't worry mice have babies every 6 months so another litre should be with you soon

hope this helps

good luck:)

Answer 3

yes they do hide there babies they only do this because it is in there nature to hide them

Answer 4

Listen for squeaking in the cage, If you hear nothing, she most likely ate all the babies because she was a first time mum. My first mouse killed her mate and then gave birth and chewed all of their mouths off to stop them from crying. It was horrible, but in nature, that stuff just happens. You will know for sure in about 2 weeks because they would be ALOT bigger if they are in there. Good luck.

Answer 5

Several scenarios are possible.  It's possible she ate all of them, it can happen for several reasons.  There might have been something wrong with them, something wrong with her so she didn't think she could feed them, or the stress might have just freaked her out.  There's not a lot you can do about it.

It's also likely she'd hide them, so you might have babies anyway.  Can you hear tiny squeaking?  Are the other two females hanging out in the big mole-hill a lot, while Mom seems to be anywhere BUT there?  If you pick Mom up and look at her belly, does she have slightly bare patches around the nipples, and are they really obvious?  That would indicate she's probably nursing.

You're right not to change the cage for 2 or 3 weeks, but you can hunt for the babies and hold them (if you have them) at 7 days old, and I recommend it because they'll be much tamer if you handle them before their eyes open at between 12 and 14 days.  At that same time you'll want to check the babies to figure out boys v. girls, because it's easiest to see the nipples on the girls at about that age before the belly fur comes all the way in.  This assumes, of course, that you actually have any surviving babies.  I hope you do!

If you do, take the boys out at 30 days old (plus or minus 2 days) or you'll risk having more litters.