Every now and then it happens that a female mouse
eats its young. She may eat all of her babies or only some of them. Sometimes
the female literally eats some of the young and the poor owner will have to
clean up half eaten mouse babies from the terrarium... The situation is rather
unpleasant for the owner and it raises many questions: What went wrong? Could
this have been prevented? Was this my fault, or is there something wrong with
the female's mind?
If the female is prone to eat her young, she will
usually do it during the first 3-4 days of the babies' life. After this the
babies should be safe, although sometimes the mother may eat her young later on
- even when they are three weeks old.
Here are some reasons that may cause the female
to eat her young:
- There was no more food or water in the tank
and the mother's instincts told her that she could no longer take care of her
young satisfactory.
Depending on the female this may happen rather
quickly. This is why you should always take very good care about the food and
-water supply of nursing females. Never let the bottle or food bowl get empty.
- There were too many babies for the
mother to manage with.
So, she culled her own litter down to a size she
could nurse. This may be a reason why a female eats her little older babies
(nearly two weeks old).
- The female's milk dried up so she
couldn't feed her young anymore.
- A baby was still born, it died soon after
being born, it was weak or ill.
It is perfectly natural that a female eats a
dead, sick or deformed babies. It is nature's way of making sure that valuable
energy will not be lost in a baby that would not make it.
- The mother got disturbed or she thinks
she was disturbed.
Especially with first time mothers or not very
tame females you should not disturb the nest too soon. This means it is better
not to touch the nest during the first few days. Even after this it is better to
remove the mother from her tank and put her in for example a show box before
checking the babies. It is a good idea to rub your fingers in the beddings of
the tank before you actually touch the young ones.
- The litter was the female's first and
she didn't quite know what to do with the babies.
You can give an experienced female as a "midwife"
for a first timer, or let two females (with one of them being experienced) to
have their litters together. If the litters will not be of the same variety, the
babies won't even get "mixed up". That is the breeder will know which baby
belongs to which female.
- The female got a bit carried away when
eating the placentas and ate a baby as well by mistake.
If a female eats her first litter, it does not
necessarily mean that she would eat her second one. However, if this happens it
is better not to breed from this female again. Her bad habits may be inherited
to her young, if some of them do survive.