Breeding Fancy Mice- FAQ

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ANYONE DECIDING TO BREED!! BEFORE breeding your mouse please consider a few things like genetics (is your mouse's known? Could they be genetically predisposed to diseases like cancer?) Can you home them?? Please read "can you live with breeding?" before choosing to do so, it is written about rats but goes for mice too. THANK YOU.

Help! I bought a female mouse and now I think she might be pregnant! how can I tell??
Female mice are hard to tell if they are pregnant until they are onyla few days from giving birth and look like they swallowed a golf ball whole. Besides that she may be nesting more than usual and chasing off other mice she usually gets allong with. gestation is only 3 weeks so after that amount of time if she hasn't given birth that's a good sign.

How can I home an accidental litter and when are they weaned?
You can home an accidental litter many ways. You can ask friends and family, you can post a message to internet groups like [email protected], or [email protected] you can post internet adds (I can give you a list of free pet classifieds adds for the internet if you want me too) and if all else fails you can ask your local humane society or find a nice petshop, but be careful as they may sell them as food for reptiles. Even if they put "Fancy" on the tank and raise their price there is no guarantee that the feeder tank won't run out a desparate snake owner needs to buy his baby python a snack.

What is the gestation period?
Mice usually have a litter at three weeks after mating, sometimes they can be as late as 3 1/2 to 4 weeks but this is unusual. If you are trying to breed your mouse and 6 weeks have gone by with the male still in the cage and no signs of pregnancy you probably have an infertility problem.

What is the best age to breed?
2-4 months. Try not to let them have a FIRST litter after a year of age as complications may follow. Also do not let mother have back to back litters. This will do allot of damage to her, her bones will get weaker, she'll get tired and old allot quicker and will eventually die of exhostion.

Any other questions?? Please e-mail me and I'll do my best to answer you as quickly as possable. Please don't send me medical questions though, as I am not a vet and often can not answer them.