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[moustress]

My big orange frizzy boy, Mondo, was given two fawn does a couple of weeks ago. He's such a sweet boy and He's over two years old. This is his first use at stud. The does are about three months old.




Girlie#2


Mondo

I had thought that they were all just getting fat on the enriched diet i give breeding mousies, but Girlie#1 threw seven nice long noisy babies.

Mondo was doing something really cute before I removed his from the tank. He had made his own nest and was in the process of moving babies into it.
The does were taking them back, and I figured they could do with out the stress, so Mondo is once again in bachelor's quarters. Girlie#2 is also showing, I think.

[Lime Green Mouse]

Awwww!  That's so sweet!  I've had guys make nests before, but I've never kept them in to see how they'd be as dads.  That's adorable!

[moustress]

I know some think it odd or even wrong to leave the male in through the birth because of the good chance that the doe will be impregnated again immediately, but I believe it's actually best for the doe. Especially if she's a young doe of 8 mo. or less. the estrus cycle can be as short as three days in the younger does, and that hormonal stress is one of the main causes of mammary cancers in does. By eliminating that cycling for 10 or 12 times during the early maturity of the doe reduces the effect of significantly. I don't do it with every doe or I'd be overrun with meeces. It also means that if a first time mom fails to take care of her first litter, she has a good chance of a do-over.

[Lime Green Mouse]

Most of my breeding technique came from a lab, which had been maintaining the strains at the time.  Most of my mice were older, almost all of them over a year old, so the males were frequently left in just because there was a very good chance it never took in the first place, and if it did, an even greater chance the next round wouldn't.  No worries.   

I don't do it with my mice because I just don't need more than one litter at a time from each of my projects.  Usually it's just the one pairing I need, so I don't risk occupying her afterward, when she might need to be with someone new, with an unnecessary pregnancy.  *shrug* I also don't have any issues with cancers, perhaps it's better for the doe in specific strains, but I couldn't advocate it for all does.

Definitely not hatin' on you doing it, though.    I know some meeces make great daddies!

[moustress]

Here are the first pix of Mondo's and Girlie#1's litter:





Girlie#2 is due very soon:



Girlie#1 has returned to her pre-pregnant slimness.

[Toast]

Oh, cute little pinkies, and those girlies are very bright!