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Moo
AnonyMouse
10/31/2005
21:43:39
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 Subject: Deer Mice Breeding
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Message:
Hi,
Many months ago I caught two deer mice in my house. There was still snow outside when I caught them and I knew that if I released them they would certainly not have a burrow or food store to last the winter. So I set them up with an aquarium and a wheel. They actually liked being contained after a while and would inquisitively stand on top of the wheel to look at us when we walked by. So we started feeding them from our hands and such. I guess we tamed them.
Anyway, it seems that they were both babies (with gray coats) and that they've "molted" and matured into *gasp* a male and a female. Now we've kept them for a couple months after they sexually matured, and it seems that they have never mated (in front of us, lol) and the female shows no sign of being pregnant. Does this mean that they WON'T mate? I don't really have a place to put mouse babies and I was wondering if I should separate them (although they seem so happy together).
Thanks
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paul
AnonyMouse
11/01/2005
01:35:02
| RE: Deer Mice Breeding
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Message:
They will probably mate sometime after the first of the year (mid winter to early spring). There is also a good chance they are brother and sister, so if they mate the babies will be inbred and could have health problems. If you seperate them, they should have companions. You could probably get them some domestic mice (house mice) as companions. Deer mice and house mice cannot inter breed so there will be no babies. I would try to get 2 girls, one for each. Male house mice tend to be smelly and they are sometimes aggressive towards other males, but I should mention when I put my aggressive male house mouse in with a couple of female deer mice, the girls beat him up a bit until I removed him.
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Moo
AnonyMouse
11/04/2005
19:48:48
| RE: Deer Mice Breeding
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Message:
That's weird. So they have insticts that tell them what time of year it is? Was something preventing them from mating before?
Oh great. Well, off to buy another aquarium and some house mice.
:)
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paul
AnonyMouse
11/07/2005
11:22:13
| RE: Deer Mice Breeding
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Message:
Deer mice can breed anytime, but the spring is the strongest drive for them. In the wild there is an instinct to breed as soon as possible. This is because they may not live until spring. In captivity the breeding instinct seems to be reduced, maybe from the easy living. I've seen them breed at other times of the year, but in the spring they all seem to breed if they can. Younger mice in particular don't show as much interest until the spring. There is a claim that deer mice don't breed when kept in a large group, but I wouldn't count on it. Mice have a way of doing the unexpected.
paul
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