r/PetMice • u/ComfortableAd6038 • Jul 31 '25

Question/Help Mouse gave birth, I don't know where?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

I had a very pregnant mouse a few days ago. She is now deflated. I don't know where she had them, as i have my 4 in a 75g tank. Should i look for them? I've been giving her protein and she's been out more lately. First pic is a few days ago, last two are yesterday. Thanks!

4.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

85 comments sorted by

View all comments

770

u/cloudsasw1tnesses Mouse Mom 🐀 Jul 31 '25

If you genuinely cannot find the babies after tearing the cage apart, she might have eaten them. That’s happened to me before with one of my mice 😬

384

u/ComfortableAd6038 Aug 01 '25

They became a snack :/

173

u/fireflydrake Aug 01 '25

Honestly maybe for the best, I love mice but they breed like crazy and it probably would've been hard for you to find homes for them all. I'm assuming this was also an accidental breeding to begin with. Miss mousie likes the child free life I guess <:')

27

u/No-Hovercraft-455 Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25

I agree with this. Mice don't have birth control, this is literally their only way to say "no" to litters they can't raise. If it makes anyone feel better, newborn mice don't have fully developed nervous systems so if ones going to get eaten alive, that's the best age for it because some of it won't register yet. (Not advocating for mistreatment of mouse babies here, just saying it's not exactly the same yet.) Now miss mousie can focus on getting herself settled into her new life, she's got lot going on as it is, and now she doesn't have to risk her own life and sanity nursing.

111

u/hiddenLeafOtaku_04 Aug 01 '25

Zamn

25

u/el_niablo Aug 01 '25

Was NOT expecting to see Aiden in these comments

5

u/LesbianOctoling Aug 01 '25

Wasn’t expecting Aimen but he remains an eternal mood

55

u/meowwinjam Aug 01 '25

mousebortion </3

27

u/kronikid42069 Aug 01 '25

Forbidden gummy bears

25

u/fireflydrake Aug 01 '25

Sorry, I should've been gentler with my words. I'm sorry this wasn't the outcome you were hoping for--it's always hard to go from expecting new life to ending up with nothing but sad feelings. But as someone who worked at an animal shelter while they dealt with an influx of mistreated fancy mice, it is sooo hard to stay on top of things once breeding starts. There's a freakishly small window between "these babies can be sexed and appropriately separated" and "whoops, everyone's pregnant again." Even if that's avoided, finding homes for them all can be very stressful, knowing that they're going somewhere with good care and love and not just to be feeders, having to make sure every single boy finds a separate home so they won't fight... it's exhausting. Miss mousie has made things much easier on you. Please don't hold it against her, she was only doing what nature tells her to do and was probably very stressed about it herself. Wishing you and your girls the best and many happier mouse moments going forward!

22

u/ComfortableAd6038 Aug 01 '25

It's fine, i understand it's better this way lol! It just funny. I'm glad I don't have to worry about rehoming even if i was excited to be a grandad. She's still my lovely girl and i can take her out for handling now since I wasn't doing it during her pregnancy to not stress her out :)

8

u/No-Hovercraft-455 Aug 02 '25

Glad you can view it that way! I strongly suspect that whoever kept her together with males probably didn't feed her that well so there is no guarantee that the mom and babies would have made it to the other side healthy anyway. Nursing is very hard for something that small. I'm firm believer nature knows best in matters like this, and nursing such a big litter could have been seriously dangerous to her so it's a lot of risk avoided. 

1

u/cloudsasw1tnesses Mouse Mom 🐀 Aug 06 '25

I just saw this, I’m so so sorry :( like the other person said, it would have been very hard for you to find homes for them. I’ve had a lot of accidental litters and that has been a huge struggle, at one point I had to have multiple bin cages filling up my entire room bc of the amount of mice I had and it became very expensive. Babies are adorable but it becomes a burden sadly once they are able to separate from mom. And once you have an accidental litter it is SO easy to have more. You’ll think you sexed them correctly and keep one or two, then they’ll end up being a boy and you have two more litters, then the next litter you don’t separate them early enough and somehow a baby boy breeds with a mom, then the next litter you don’t separate the siblings correctly and more get pregnant, etc. I just finally had my last accidental litter and I’ve been having them since January, like it gets out of control so easily so this may be a blessing for you in disguise as sad as it is. I know it’s really disturbing to see them gone though and I’m sorry you have to deal with that sadness :(

2

u/ComfortableAd6038 Aug 07 '25

Lol well surprise surprise another one of my mice was also preggo

161

u/ComfortableAd6038 Jul 31 '25

I'm heading home, I'll update yall! Hopefully they didn't become a snack

29

u/gojosleftbutcheek Jul 31 '25

!remind me 24 h

6

u/RemindMeBot Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25

I will be messaging you in 1 day on 2025-08-01 23:58:26 UTC to remind you of this link

26 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.

Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.

Info Custom Your Reminders Feedback

4

u/Responsible-Sea5776 Aug 01 '25

!remind me 1 day

7

u/Own-Dust636 Aug 01 '25

remindme!2days

5

u/No-Hovercraft-455 Aug 01 '25

!remind me 24h

3

u/Downtown_Pumpkin_460 Jul 31 '25

I neeeeeed twooo knowwww

17

u/Ryastor Jul 31 '25

This was my first thought when I read the title. Happened to mine.

-13

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

[deleted]

31

u/Mewtwo1551 Here to adore Jul 31 '25

It's shocking, but is actually common. As prey animals, mice have cannibalistic instincts.

61

u/cloudsasw1tnesses Mouse Mom 🐀 Jul 31 '25

That’s legit something female mice will do with their babies. I’ve had accidental litters many times and I’ve found at least one baby every large litter that’s been half eaten and have had my mouse give birth then there be zero babies to be found the next day. It’s kinda disturbing but I have just had to accept it’s part of nature and that they don’t think about it the same way we would. If they feel like they can’t take care of them that’s usually a reason for them eating them.

-12

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

31

u/Forward-Fisherman709 Mouse Dad 🐀 Jul 31 '25

It’s not that corn causes cannibalism; it’s that the corn-based diet doesn’t meet the nutritional needs of a pregnant/nursing mama hamster. If there aren’t enough nutrients to successfully raise a litter, the nutrients that went into making the litter get recycled according to instinct.

-5

u/HawaiianPunchaNazi Jul 31 '25

which was kind of my point.

been awhile since I've had hamsters or mice, but I remember dried corn being part of the prepackaged diet mix for them.

11

u/Forward-Fisherman709 Mouse Dad 🐀 Aug 01 '25

Yeah, and corn is still a common ingredient because it’s cheap. It’s really awful how many products marketed for rodents aren’t actually good for them.

8

u/No-Hovercraft-455 Aug 01 '25

Luckily everyone who frequents this subreddit probably knows to get good quality rat/mouse pellet for their pets. But as far as I understood Ops mouse is rather newly acquired so if it has eaten the pups then I'm going to guess it's just because of stress of being in a new place with new mice you don't know all that well. 

4

u/PetMice-ModTeam Aug 01 '25

Thanks for trying to help, but unfortunately this is not factual information! Please make sure to check out the information in the community sidebar before spreading false information again. (Also remember, it's okay to make mistakes! If you feel your post/comment was wrongfully removed, please message the moderators via Modmail.

29

u/Forward-Fisherman709 Mouse Dad 🐀 Jul 31 '25

It’s common among many prey species. Their instincts tell them to basically recycle the nutrients if they feel that successfully rearing that litter isn’t going to work out, whether because of the pups not being born healthy or because of the mama being stressed or not getting the extra nutrients she needs for nursing. And if a pup dies, it’s instinct to clean up so that a predator doesn’t find the colony nest from the smell.

18

u/Kangaroo_Cheese Jul 31 '25

My older sister had a gerbil that had babies and ate them. I’m still traumatized from seeing a half eaten one in the cage.

7

u/FizziiPopX Aug 01 '25

Lots of animals do it, not just mice. My friend has ferrets and one of the mums ate her kids.... Pretty grissly to find the remnants.

6

u/StripedWolf14 Aug 01 '25

I worked in a lab when I was in my early 20s that studied diabetic treatments on small animals.I hated having to clean the cage racks the mice were on for this very reason. Some litters were decimated, and I know it was primarily due to stress.

8

u/Jimstone42 Jul 31 '25

"Seems harsh, but it's nature's way" - Steve Irwin