How often do mice mate?

Question

I wanted to know how often they mate, because I have a male mouse and I am considering getting him a female companion. I heard you can't have two males together (unless they were raised at birth, and I don't have any of those), so that's why I wanted a female. I have a friend with a snake, so if they make babies, it's okay (yes I am kind of sad about that, but it's inhumane to keep so many baby mice and I don't have time to be a breeder, lol). But the question is.. how often are they gonna make babies?

Answer 1

If you are not in a rush to produce a lot of offspring, house a male mouse with one or two female mice. The mice can be left together until the pups are ready to be weaned if the cage doesn't get too crowded. If you need mice of predominantly of one s*x, you can remove the unwanted s*x a few days after birth (don't disturb the moms during the first 24 hours after birth). The remaining pups will grow faster. However, you should be aware that females are better mothers if they have at least 3 pups to care for, so don't cull too severely. If you need to expand a strain quickly, you can mate females in estrus with the males every day and check plugs the next morning. House females of similar plug dates together through to weaning of the pups. For many strains, two pregnant females and their litters can be housed together until weaning, although you may find that particularly fecund strains like CD1 require that the cage be split to avoid overcrowding. The IACUC guidelines for mice with litters limit the number of mice to 2 adults and no more than 20 pups.

Answer 2

They will have a new litter of babies about every month.  Most rodents go into heat right after giving birth.

Why do you think he needs to have a companion?  :/  Can't you just spend more time with him?  Even if your friend has a snake and you just give him all the babies (Keep in mind, most snakes only eat once a week, and mice can have nearly 20 babies a litter...)  you could still end up with a ton of babies.  On top of that, I just don't think it is the best idea to get him a female just so he has a friend...

Answer 3

Mice go into heat every 4 to 6 days and after a birth can concieve another litter hours after the first was born. They can have between 1 and 32 babies with each litter. I have pet rats and a couple of my rats had like 18 babies. They are extremely hard to get rid of. Most petshops already have breeders that they go through and wont take your babies. Just be sure before you take all of this on that you know what you will do with the babies. Baby mice can reproduce at 5 weeks old and dont care if there mate is there brother. I have taken on breeding rats and its alot of time, money and aggrivation. When they get old enough(2 weeks old) to eat solid food mine went through 20 pounds of food every week and a half. The food alone was costing me $35 a week. Not to mention bedding and the cost of seperate cages. Just think it through before you do it. I know they can be cute but they also can be extremely expensive.

Answer 4

i don't know what kind of snake your friend has but he won't be able to keep up with the mice.  you will end up being a breeder.

they mate every 30 days, have large litters around 6-8 babies each litter.  the babies will mate within the first 30 days after they are born.  you could easily end up with over 1000 babies in under a year's time.  no snake eats that much.

mice are fine being solitary.  just enjoy your friend and next time if you want a pair then just get two at the same time.  but even if from the same litter they do not always like each other forever.

Answer 5

there gonna make babies everyday!

just get another male...they won't fight as much

Answer 6

Mice are fertile every 3-4 days.  Are pregnant for 20-21 days.  And are VERY fertile as soon as they give birth so if you keep the male and female together she will most likely have a litter every 21 days or so as long as both are interested in breeding.

Also depending on the size of the snake, there may only be a small age range of mice that it can eat......and snakes dont eat very often.  

Yes 2 males that are not housed together since birth will fight and likely kill eachother.....and sometimes ones that are will too.  If you want a companian for him but do not want litters maybe see if you can get a retired breeder female.  Would be older, unlikely to mate, and if she did,  would likely only have small litters

Answer 7

I agree with a lot of what the other answers have said.  On top of your friend's snake not keeping up with the number of mice, it's very unhealthy for a female to constantly produce litters.  They will literally breed until they die.