Post #1

On the 11th of July I set up a tunnel system and set a small group of mice into them to do as they please. A strange but oddly familiar enviorment the mice may have thought.

The purpose of having this in the forum is for me to be able to set up the log in a public manner and to get feedback and suggestions about the colony. If you want me to watch for certain behavior or just want to say "aww that is so cute" or "that mouse is evil" then feel free to do so.

Backstory about the mice

They are feeder mice bred by a friend of mine who breeds snakes as a living. I come along once in a while and pluck away ones I see as pretty and want to play with the genetics of.

There is one standard roan silver, brown, and black merle buck. There is his daughter, a standered diluted merle calico. Then two does unrelated to the above but related to eachother. A red chocolate tan frizzle female who has a skinny white patch in her tan chest, and a frizzle spotted tan with some nice red spots on her belly.

They will be refered to as the male, the diluted female, the rotti female, and the spotted female.

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There is no real purpose behind creating a tunnel and chamber system for these mice. It is a fun project, to see what pet mice will do when put into a more natural enviorment. They will not be able to dig themselves a tunnel system but they will be able to make use of one. Just as in nature when a new prey takes up home a predator will find out about them. I will behave as their predator. Being allowed to do whatever they please will eventually lead to too many offspring in the coloney and some will need to be taken away. When they go to the surface to forage, drink, or gather nest material there will be risk of a predator spotting them. The surface is a dangerous place. The predator I will be immitating is one that sleeps during the night. The mice will be safe to go to the surface during that time. They will learn this, that the night is safe. Like wild mice. The tunnels will not be completly safe though. If numbers grow too much, a digging predator is bound to sniff them out. It can take out an entire chamber and "feast" on the mice inside.

There are four chambers in the tunnel system. They get to decide what to do with each, and are not forced to pick a certain purpose. Each chamber has about an inch of basic bedding material and fresh air is supplied by a mesh covered hole at the top. Each chamber is the same in looks but different in placement in the tunnel system.

The surface chamber has food scattered in the bedding litter along with nesting materials. A water bottle hangs from the roof for constant fresh water. The food supply will be made unreliable, so they will be encouraged to store their food. They will always get just enough to stay fit and healthy. The surface chamber is where they will forage for materials and food and get their water supply.

This log is kept both day by day and by updates, depending on the amount of interesting activity from the colony. Sometimes I type it as it happens, other time I type it after it happens.

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Below: Diagram of the tunnel/chamber set up.

It is set up above and below a wooden platform shelf above my bed where I keep some other critters.

Below in order: Closed surface chamber from above. Mouth of tunnels, open surface chamber. Brown spots in first image is fresh food.

Below in order: The underneath view of the mouth and chamber D. The tunnel/chamber system, makeshift but sturdy. In picture two chamber A is most left.

Below in order: Rotti female near nest, male visiting nest. Both chamber A.

Below in Order: Rotti female and someone's butt in chamber B. Kits in nest, chamber A.

(If wanting huge images of any of these, send me a letter. Only small here to save space.)

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Each log will be in a seperate post.

I have already logged a few days, so the previous days will all be in one post. Any beyond it will be seperate.

Be warned, the logs do contain what animas do. Mating, fighting, birthing, all that good kid friendly stuff! Okay maybe not all kids will find it friendly, so just be warned. I give it a rating of G to PG, all safe stuff.

Post #2

 

7/11/2015
Saturday, July 11, 2015

The tunnel system has been made and the selected mice have been introduced. Three females and one male. All the females are young, born in the past few months, but of breeding age. The male, old enough to sire offspring, is a splashed brindle calico. He has been in solitary for a while now and has not seen another mouse since he was young. Most of them have never seen eachother before. Introduction was them being  placed into the new envorment all at once and all together. The spotted female seems to already be taking place as the matriarch. The male is overwhelmed by the new company and is making rounds to mount all of the females, each attempt met with kicks and squeaks.

All of them have taken turns at the edge of the tunnel entrance. They grab on with their back feet then lean deep inside, investigating the entrance to something they have never experienced before. Then they bolt out, as if they heard or smelled something. So far none have taken the three inch plunge to the bottom. I'm just waiting for one to lean too far and tumble in. Once the first venture is done, they should gain instant confidence of the tunnels and start moving in. Instincts taking over, telling them that this is how they should be living and they will decide the use each of the chambers. Atleast that is my hope.

I just placed in a paper bag, forgot earlier to add it in with the shredded cotton to be used as nest material, and they are now all enjoying themselves inside the shredded paper. Though they have not forgotten about the tunnel entrance.

About an hour in the youngest, diluted female, was the first to take the plunge. The first chamber she went to A. She only peeked her head in, then vanished into the tunnels. She then came flinging into chamber D. She looked all her around her then dashed back into the tunnel. She spent the next few seconds going to each tunnel and chamber, then to the one leading to the surface and she jumped out. A few minutes later she returned and explored more calmly. Perhaps taking note of each chamer.

After some hours only the diluted female had gone into the tunnels so I decided to place the others in by force. Most all went in easily. The spotted female was the last to go and the most stubborn. The entrance had to be blocked for a some time until she went into the tunnels instead of squatting at the mouth. Once she went into the tunnels and saw the others she calmed down and explored. All of them are now exploring the tunnels and chambers and figuring out how to get out of the way of the others. The tunnels are wide enough for them to turn around at 1.5 inches in width. The male may have to squeeze his way around to do so with his extra fat, but the four way joint in the middle of the tunnels provides a wide turn around area. After being placed inside the entrance they now confidently and smoothly enter and exit the mouth of the tunnel. They just needed to know what was down there was not dangerous.

In a few days, in order to establish the idea of a predator is around, I will start harassing them when they are above ground during the day. I will come by once in a while and give them a good scare, like a predator is trying to catch them. If their instincts kick in they will dash to their burrow, and the harrasment will not follow them. They will learn that the underground is safe.

Chamber A is looking to become a nest. The females are resting in their now with an occasional disturbance from the male.

The rotti female is making a nest on the surface. The male has come up and began bringing over nest pieces for her. I have hardly seen any of them on the surface for a few hours, so I am wondering why she decided to make her nest on the surface instead of bringing pieces to the chambers.

Before I stopped observing them for the night the chamber closest to the entrance has had a couple pieces of paper nest material dragged in. The paper material on the surface has mostly been piled into one corner and is not looking like a nest. I only see the male in the chamber and no one is on the surface so I suspect they are resting in the tunnels.

As I was taking one last look the rotti female was being attacked by the male on the surface. The male blocked the entrance until she went to the pile of paper nest material. They still have not figured out their relationship. It seems early for outcasting.

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7/12/2015
Sunday, July12, 2015

There was fighting all through the night. Screams and tumbling along with the snap of tails being used as as a whip. I suspected it was the male, but in one chamber the diluted and rotti females were interacting with the male just fine. I will wait for the next fight and see exactly who the aggressor is, then remove them. When I went over the early morning to them all the females were at the surface, while the male was below. I added back the rotti female (who was removed late in the night because I thought she was upsetting the male but the fighting continued without her) and that's when the diluted female followed her to the tunnel and the male greeting them kindly and without trouble.

As I was removing everyone one by one to see who continued the fighting I saw that the male was attacking the females and chasing them down the tunnels. Not in a way of wanting to mate, but in a way of wanting them to be harmed. I will take him out when he reaches the surface and replace him with a friendlier male, though his color isnt my first pick.

A silver male now takes the place of the calico male. He is the father of the diluted female. After an hour there is no fighting to be heard. Everyone is now living peacefully.
Everyone has been staying at the surface and has made the pile of nesting materials into a proper nest.
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7/13/2015
Monday, July 13, 2015

There was no fighting at all during the night.

Surface harrasment has started. When I am walking by and they happen to be up there I reach in and nip their bottoms with my hand. First time they dashed all around the surface before going into the tunnel. After retreating I scuff around the entrance a bit.

The male has been mating with his daughter in chamber A. He stays mounted motionless for a solid minute or more then grooms himself and repeats the process. After a mounting the female stays and waits, though she tries to get away and squeaks during the mounting.

The male has been grooming himself for a while now and his daughter keeps pressing her bum against him. He seems more interested in other things now.
The three females are sleeping together in A. The male is off alone digging around in D.

I was correct about chamber A. All four mice are sleeping there together. The male takes up the back wall, the spotted and diluted female pressed into him, and the rotti on the front wall. While they are doing this I am looking at the other chambers to see what is going on in them. Chamber B there is a small amount of poops at the entrance and a couple scattered about along with a single piece of nesting paper. In chamber C there is nothing. Chamber D has the most poops, a good amount of them. I suspect that this is the toilet chamber.

The diluted female has moved all the paper nesting into chamber A, comfirming without a doubt that this is the nest chamber. She carried them in one at a time, dozens of them. She was taking one from the surface and dashing into the chamber, dropping it off then dashing back up all in a matter of seconds. By the time I noticed she had already moved 95% of it into the chamber, the last I looked at them was no more than an hour ago. She has been busy since mating.

I added more paper nesting material and she took some of it into the chamber. This time I was able to film her doing so.

Just now the rotti and spotted female started taking in nesting materials. The spotted female pokes her nose out and takes a sniff before coming out fully from the tunnels. The rotti keeps getting distracted by food.

The spotted female is taking in some more paper nest material but instead of taking it to the chamber she is dropping it close to it in the tunnels. The rotti female is reaching into the tunnels and taking the pieces to the nest herself.

While on the surface the male mated with the rotti female. He has an unusual way of mating that I have not seen in the other males. He positions himself in and then lays motionless ontop of the female for however long the she lets him.
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7/14/2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015

The rest of the paper scraps were moved into chamber A. Just one piece stays at the surface. No one was on the surface when I looked at them first in the morning but I heard them having a heck of a time during the night.

The male is sleeping in chamber D, the two females he mated with were in there as well for a few moments.

The three females were just above ground and I went and spooked them. The rotti and diluted female dashed right inside, the spotted ran around for a few seconds then went inside. The rotti and spotted retreated to chamber A. The diluted stayed in the tunnels for a moment then went to the opening. She poked her head out, looking and smelling, for a few moments but didnt go out. She went back to the tunnels instead.

The litter in chamber B and C has been changed. The male was the first to investigate the distrubance then he and the spotted female checked on the other chambers. There were a couple poops in chamber C, more poop in chamber D, there was a few more poops in chamber B before cleaning, and chamber A still has the nest.

As a fun thing, I blew into the tunnel entrance to see what the mice would do. The male was first out to investigate, followed by the rotti who was followed by the spotted. They scanned around, whiskers up, then the females returned to the tunnels. The male was the last to go back inside.

The male has been grooming the spotted female in chamber D. She looks to be enjoying it. She is looking plump and I would not be surprized if she is pregnant from her father or siblings before she was added to the colony.

The surface was scarce of mice during the day, they slept for much of the day in chamber A, but as soon as night came they were up feeding and drinking.
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7/15/2015
Wednesday, July 15, 2015

The mice were busy during the night, a lot of surface activity.

They have found hard cheesy macroni hard to resist and as soon as they get a piece they dash inside the tunnels with them. The non-nest chambers I see a lot of grooming and eating activity. Earlier the male was playing by himself in chamber B. Some poops have been added to chamber B and C, chamber D seems to be getting the most and a steady flow of poop. The mice have spent most of the day sleeping, but night fall is just around the corner.

The spotted female is pregant for sure, and moody. She went into chamber D where the male was innocently grooming and she struck him then ran off. She then blocked the nest chamber from him when he wanted to enter. No more sleeping in the ladies bed for him.
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7/16/2015
Thursday, July 16, 2015

The macroni on the surface is nearly gone, and the bedding has been tossed up to reveal pieces of food I had buried. They were there and feeding during the night, but I have yet to see any above surface since I woke up. There are paths in the sawdust bedding, the large pieces have been moved out of the way leaving trails of small pieces which must be easier to walk on.

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7/19/2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015

The male sleeps in a chamber away from the females who do not want him to sleep with them anyone. They do come over to him for grooming sessions though. The nest has been spread from one half of chamber A to both. The spotted female is very large now with her pregnancy, and I am expecting kits any day now. Chamber B has many more poops in it. Chamber C has moderate and does not see more attention than the occasional grooming. Chamber D also has many poops in it. The surface conditioning has been going perfectly. As soon as night comes everyone goes to the surface to drink and forage. During the day they sleep or quickly snatch food from the surface to eat in the tunnels.

Another handful of shredded paper material was added along with softer and smaller paper bedding. I turn around for a moment and when I return the entire pile is gone. Most has been added to the nest in chamber A. Chamber B is now where the male has made his nest, and the diluted female came and lined his nest with some paper. He slept in the newly padded nest as she arranged it a bit before leaving. His nest was just sawdust piled in one end with a hole in it before she came. I thought he was unwanted while the females were out of heat, but it looks like someone still cares.

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7/20/2015
Monday, July 20, 2015

The spotted female keps trying to press saw dust pieces into the wire mesh on the roof of chamber A. The male's nest was gone in the morning, and he now has a nest in chamber D. The nest in chamber A now is on one side again, forming a roof and all sides to completly block view of them inside.

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7/21/2015
Thuesday, July 20, 2015

The spotted female has given birth in chamber A. Her nest is on the other side of the chamber than the other's sleeping area. There is a kit stuck under the nest showing clearly through the plastic. That is how I could tell the squeking was kits, the females have a soft squeak and they were tricking me. Was able to wiggle the chamber enough to have the females leave so i could retrieve the kit who was squirming madly. There are two kits right now, so she is stil giving birth. The diluted female was in the nest with her. The spotted female is a first time mother and the diluted will be as well. The male is in chamber D sleeping in his nest that has a few paper bedding scraps. I returned the chamber in under a minute so the female would not be too disturbed.

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7/22/2015
Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The spotted female has been off her nest much of the day while the other females keep her kits warm. I doubt they are lactating as they just got pregnant a few days ago. The male brought food into chamber D and the spotted female helped herself to what he was holding and eating. She visits his chamber often for grooming sessions. All of the nesting material now forms a dome of paper over the kits.

The surface chamber was cleaned and resources were restocked.

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7/23/2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015

The male spends most of the day sleeping in chamber D. He sometimes visits the other chambers or dashes up for food or water, but never is allowed into chamber A. When in a small normal mouse bin he would lay on the babies to keep them warm and allow the mother to take a break. But now the mother has other females, which she must think are more trustworthy. The rotti female is looking very plump, more so than she should be if she was really impregnated just a few days ago.

This sounds fascinating! Since I do not keep mice (or any sort of animal, for that matter), I will be interested in watching your progress. 

A few questions: how many mice will your tunnel system support, at least before you start culling them? And, since it appears that the chambers are transparent, I wonder if the mice are affected by the ability to see what is happening on the surface and exposure to more light, which seems much different than what they would experience in an underground chamber. 

Sumatra_Echo: I heard about an experiment with rats where they had constant food and water supply and were allowed to produce without limit. The overpopulation made them destroy eachother and devour eachother as well if i remember it right. I would like to steer clear of that, so I am thinking ten or so. Each chamber seems to be fitting three comfortably. If only I had a whole room to fill with tunnels and chambers, I could have hundreds! Heh, in my dreams. Not all of them may stay in the chambers, I think the younger males may be kicked out by the older when they try to mount the females. And any that have dull coloration I will probaby cull to encourage more interesting offspring. It's half of experiment and half of a loose breeding program.

The chambers are transparent so that I have atleast observation of some part of them. I thought of putting tint on the windows but I can wave and make all kinds of movements and they do not notice or care one bit. They actually do not have any view of the surface from the chambers, which I can finally put pictures of because after days my internet works for more than a few seconds every few hours. Now thinking about the light effects on them I may go pick up some of the tint stickers made for car windows, a good inbetween with them being in dark and me being able to watch them.

 

Log will be posted tonight. Nothing of interest to report for yesterday.

7/25/2015
Saturday, July 25, 2015

Chamber B, C, and D have been cleaned because of the high smell from the urine. Chamber B was being used as a toilet most with the strongest smell and most poops. When I returned with the clean chambers the mouth to B had large litter pieces blocking the entrance. When the chambers were returned the diluted and rotti female went and groomed in them. They are now in chamber D digging around, the rotti leaps and frolics around. Some old litter was kept in so it would still smell like them, this to keep them from freaking out and urinating extra to get the smell back. As the tunnels were being cleaned with a stick the diluted female charged and attacked it.

The male was just in chamber A. He snuck in while the females were away grooming in the fresh chambers. He didnt think much of the kits and was more of checking out the chamber. The females didnt care that he was in there, though if a kit started screeching im sure there would be an angry mother charging full speed at him.

While the females were away later I took a quick picture of the kits to get a rough count of them, atleast eight. (Picture of them is now in first post)

The male sleeps in various chambers by himself. I first saw him in D, then in C.

As I watched them for the last time before heading to bed the male was sleeping in chamber A on the other side from the nest. The females are sleeping in the nest or in the tunnels.

7/26/2015
Sunday, July 26, 2015

I attempted to add three very young long haired kits to the colony because their current mother is not nursing them enough. I expected it to be 50/50, the presence of the colony's kits will either make them offensive to any stranger, or the motherly hormones will have them accept the very young ones. As the new kits were investigating the mouth the rotti female came charging up and mouth wide open starting biting everyone in sight. The kits scattered and tried to hide but she was hot on them. I gave her a poke so she went back to the tunnels and I returned the rejected kits to their mother. I will try again with my favorite one, a satin long haired blue female, when the colony's kits have aged. Though the rotti female is looking very plump, so I may need to wait for her kits to also age after the spotted female's.

The male is asleep in chamber C, he doesnt seem motivated to go to the surface tonight. The females have already gone to the surface for the night. Shoved their way through the tunnel all at once while sqeaking at eachother.

Whoops, forgot to post a few days worth of logs. I kept thinking I should wait until right before I go to sleep, to catch anything that happens in the last minutes. Then I fell asleep. Heh.

 

 

7/28/2015
Thuesday, July 28, 2015
I added in more paper nesting to the surface, just in time as well. The rotti female has had her litter. I peeked in, hearing more sqeaks than usual, and saw new little pinkies. She made her nest in chamber A next to the first nest, on the other side of the tunnel mouth there. This is not like the behavior when the mice are in a flat tub. If one mother has a nest, no matter the age of the already exsisting kits, the other mother/s will birth hers there and raise them there. Recently lost all but one of a litter because a mother put her newborns in a nest with two week olds. The much larger older kits crushed and suffocated the newborns and their bulk kept the newborns from being able to be nursed. I was wondering what the rotti female would do and im happy that she made her nest seperate because of the tiny size of her new kits, which are hardly bigger than a fingernail.

The rotti female is nursing the first litter while the spotted female snatches food.

7/29/2015
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
The first litter has gotten to the stage where they can walk around but still cant see. They are waddling about at the outside edge of their nest. They dont go any further than an inch or so from the nest. The rotta female is layed over her babies in her nest on the other side of the chamber.

One of the kits got tumbled to the middle of the chamber as the diluted female walked in then out. It circled around for a few moments then dashed (as fast as it could with short stubby legs) to its nest. Without eyes it found its way to the proper nest with smell. I can just imagine the chaos about to break loose when they open their eyes and decide to explore. There may be many waddling around the surface. I will allow the ones who instinctly dash into the tunnel to stay. A sister to the spotted and rotti female gave birth a few days before the spotted had her litter so any kits in her litter I do not want in the colony will be able to go to her sister and still be nursed.

Took a quick peek at chamber A, no longer than a few seconds the chamber was out, picture taken, then returned (picture below). The rotti female's pinkie newborn is nowhere to be seen so it may of been eaten for one reason or another. They are just getting fur in and one is the color of butter, so beautiful.

7/30/2015
Thursday, July 30, 2015
The kits have been moved to two seperate nests. The bulk of them in the origional nest and a few in a new nest. Both are being nursed and I am guessing the lactating females are sharing duties. Or the rotti female took some kits to her nest after hers died and or were eaten and she still wants to have babies to take care of.

Thought I saw a dead kit in chamber B but it was actually a half eaten piece of cracker. A first step to making a food stash perhaps.

 

8/1/2015
Saturday, August 1, 2015

The rotti female is absolutly huge, very plump. Im not sure where those two pinkies came from. Maybe prematures, and that's why they were eaten. When I looked into the nest chamber as everyone was out of it there was a nest on each side and a path in the middle. One empty nest and one with the kits. The nesting paper is mixed in with the litter. The kits are getting much more active even though their eyes are still closed. They stay inside the nest now but jump all around and try to climb up the sides of the chamber. Mom will have her tiny hands full when they do open their eyes.

All chambers but A were cleaned out and like last time I left a small amount of messy litter in there. All chambers had a pretty good amount of poops in them and none seem to be a dedicated toilet. All tunnel segments but the one connecting the chamber A and the surface were cleaned as well. The male spreads his scent around as much as he can, and when it is lightly used it smells like corn chips. But when he saturated the entire system it smelled like the most rotten corn chips in the world. So it was time it got a cleaning. The tunnels still smell lightly like him, and maybe now that the tunnels are clean they will not use them as a bathroom. There was a lot of pee and poo soaked litter in the tunnels and they didnt seem to mind walking on it.

8/2/2015
Sunday, August 2, 2015

The kits have started to open their eyes but just in little slits. Imagine you just woke up, and you have tons of that crusty crud stuff on your eyes and youre still so tired that your eyes burn whenever you open them more than a sliver. That is what I imagine the kits are going through when they first open their eyes in their lives. They have opened them enough to start romping around the nest chamber though, and the rotti female has decided to give birth to her kits, which I will call the pinkies if they stick around. I saw one (confirmed, not just my imagination!) getting tumbled around through the kits traffic. I would of reached in and put it back in the nest but all the females were in the chamber. It looks to have found its way back now as im about to go to sleep.

The male has chosen chamber C as his bed for now. The diluted female was in there for most of the day "helping" him make a simple nest. Helping as in doing all the work while he slept in a fat blob. I'm not sure if mice can reconize their kin, because they also mate with their kin happily. So she either doesnt care who she mates with or she just sees him as her mate and wants to help him. I would say she helps him because he is the alpha (mating) male, but the other females dont help him they just come and get groomed by him.

The spotted's litter is not of the male's genes and I just realized how laid back he is with that fact, or oblivious. He didnt go and slaughter them, even when he was in the chamber. I dont know if this is unique or not but it is interesting. There is a good chance that the rotti's litter is his because he did mate with her and it has been long enough for her to go through an entire gestation. I will know for sure when I see miniature hims rolling around in the nest.

Half of the pinkies are now in the middle, proably tumbled there from their nest by the kits. The kits are exploring the tunnel mouth, wandering an inch in with heads waving as they smell. They only go about an inch in then they turn around and scurry back into the chamber.

8/3/2015
Monday, August 3, 2015

Below: Kits mixed in with the new pinkies.   Next Below: Kits in with pinkies.

There was just one female in the chamber and she was at the mouth, so I tapped the side to get her to go out so I could take a peek. I see the rotti female fling out of chamber B and second later she is in chamber A checking all around to see what the disturbance was. Protective mother.

Was able to get the two females to go out and quickly snatched the nest chamber away to take some quick pictures (above). One of the kits was in the tunnel mouth, facing the nest. They have opened their eyes and are going to use them for mischief soon I assume. The rotti female has her pinkies in a seperate nest that she has been using for a few days now just to sleep. The kits are running all over the chamber, and it seems mom has given up on trying to keep them on one side. I havent even seen her in there yet, she may be hiding. Luckily the rotti female is lactating so if the kits get hungry they can always go to her who is currently being an excellent mother.

Half of the pinkies are now in the middle, proably tumbled there from their nest by the kits. The kits are exploring the tunnel mouth, wandering an inch in with heads waving as they smell. They only go about an inch in then they turn around and scurry back into the chamber.

Just as I was wondering where the rock I use to block the tunnels when I clean the chambers went I looked into chamber D and saw it laying there and the male sitting nearby. He apparently didnt take too kindly to the chamber being blocked.

I weighed the rock and my other large adult male mouse on a gram scale (I have one for gecko breeding, may as well have some fun with it). The rock weighs 76 grams and the mouse 44. It is much heavier than a mouse and the male was able to shove it out of the tunnel. This makes me wonder just how strong mice are. (Is definatly not imagining mice in tiny harnesses pulling tiny carts full of weights.)

 

8/5/2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015

I have been deciding who to keep in. If the gold/butter spotted kit is a female she will stay in for sure to help in my calico project. Besides that I have not been paying too much attention to who else I will keep. Whenever the mothers are out of the nest chamber next I will take a better look.

The kits and pinkies are now mixed all in together. Organization just wasnt happening with the kits tumbling all around. Both are nursing plently though so I am not worried. In the tub group (rotti's and spotted's sister) the kits are already out of the nest exploring. In the colony the kits now ignore the tunnel mouth as if there were a wall there instead. Maybe there is a rule in place by the mothers telling them to not venture out.

Everyone but the male have been quick about dashing into the tunnel when they are on the surface and I come about. The male stares and waits until he must move, which is when I reach in and poke him. The rotti female last night saw me walking by and stared but didnt move, because it was night. She knows night is safe. During the day all she has to see is my hand waving and she dashes into the tunnel.

Got a chance to look at the kits while the mothers were away. There are atleast two females that I will be keeping in the colony. The pinkies are already getting some nice colors. As I put the chamber back the male came charging in and starting investigating where the tunnel connects to the chamber. He went in circles, then checked on the kits. One of the mothers may have summoned him to protect the chamber. And like with human kids, as soon as dad showed up all rules went out the window and the kits went POURING into the tunnel. One after another, shoving the one infront of them as the one behind them shoved. The mothers are off doing their own thing and dont know yet.

 Adorable chaos. Kits scattered all about in the tunnels and one lost in chamber D. Kept circing until rotti and diluted came and showed it the way. Few moments later it popped back into chamber D. It knows its way out now and it exploring, one of the butter kits. It's missing out on a feeding now, everyone has returned to the nest. It is trying to get through, but the male is asleep right in the middle of the tunnel. His fat butt is taking up the entire thing. He is sleeping close to the nest now, might be more protective now since the disturbance. He hasnt done this to previous times that I have removed the chamber, so im not really sure what he is doing.

8/6/2015
Thursday, August 6, 2015

The rotti female sleeps and eats in chamber B, the male is sleeping in chamber C, and the spotted female is sleeping in D as a butter kit (the only one who regulary leaves chamber Z) nurses from her. The diluted is in with the kits and pinkies.

The one spotted kit is always seen taking advantage of a mother taking a break in another chamber.

8/7/2015
Friday, August 7, 2015

Two of the kits are foraging on the surface now with the mothers watchful eye. They must have some good jump to be able to get up, or maybe the mothers pulled them up. I was wondering how they would wean the kits, and it looks like the kits are going to do it on the surface. I was expecting the mothers to bring food down until they were old enough to get up but they never brought food into the nest chamber.

8/8/2015
Saturday, August 8, 2015

Two of the kits were on the surface as morning came. I opened the surface chamber and the rotti looking kit dashed into the tunnel right away. I am not surprized because that entire line with that color is more alert and vicious. One of the spotted butters was up there but just woudnt go back into the tunnel, either didnt know how or was just too scared so I scooped it in there. I would have just taken it away and put it with the mother's sister but it is one I would like to keep in the colony.

Two kits have now been captured and relocated.

8/9/2015
Sunday, August 9, 2015

An unusual silence has fallen over the colony. The constant peeps of kits and pinkies is no longer heard. Checking in on them half of the nest materials, all the pinkies, and some of the kits are now im chamber D with the spotted female and the male. Maybe chamber A got too crowded with the kits moving all around now, or maybe it was just disturbed one too many times.

Four kits have been removed and placed with the sister. Mice must be able to reconize kin because she made no fuss with the new arrivals. She smelled them then went off to do her own thing. When I tried to introduce another young kit from another unrelated litter she attacked it endlessly. The lil guy is fine now. There is one kit from the sister that I want to bring to the colony, and thinking the same kinship would happen switched I introduced it to the surface. The rotti female was the first to find it and has been charging it, ramming into it, and grabbing its fur. There is not more damage than some spit on the top of its fur. It seems the rotti color is a tad more mean, and I am considering removing the rotti female all together. The male came up and went and met the new kit. He was very kind and gentle with the kit. Next time the rotti female is up on the surface I am going to try to nab her, but she is the quickest and most alert of them and it will be hard to block the tunnel mouth when she next comes out.

The male is now grooming the new kit. The rotti female has yet to return since I blocked the tunnel to check on the kit. It seems like she is going to be the only one who has a problem as she is the one who attacked the last new arrivals I tried to introduce. Defending her home is great and all, but attacking a kit that can't do any harm isnt the right kind of defence.

As the male was grooming the kit the rotti female charged up and attacked the kit again. She went far enough from the tunnel that I was able to cap it, she almost got back in though. She is now seperated and her fate will be decided later. Another female may be added to take her place, but I am not sure yet.

The diluted female is now moving all the kits from the new nest chamber back to the origional.

 

8/10/2015
Monday, August 10, 2015

Five kits have been removed, all captured from the surface.

The nest that was in chamber D is now in chamber B and all the pinkies are there, though they are not really pink now.  Half of them are black, and the other half I thought was pew but they are getting a very light spot on their backs. When more fur comes in I can tell what's going on with their color and pattern.

The spotted female is abosolutly huge and should be having another litter any day now. This one will be from the colony male and may produce tri colors!

The male is a great baby sitter when the mothers are away. He keeps them warm and keeps them inside the nest. The spotted female came in for a few moments then left a trail of kits scrambled behind her. The male picked them up and returned them to the nest.

The pinkies are now being moved again, this time to chamber A.

As I go to bed the mothers have not changed chambers again. The kit from the other litter is doing fine and seems to enjoy being in a pile of tiny squirming pinkies as I can always catch her there. The male is now going in and out of chamber A and resting there as well. All the litter that was in chamber B is now into chamber A. I don't know why they decided to move to so many cambers then just decide to go back to the first one.

 

8/13/2015
Thursday, August 13, 2015

The spotted female had her litter today. It will be hard to wait for them to start showing color and pattern. The diluted female is now looking very large and should be birthing in the next few days as well. All but one kit has been removed, the one remaining is the butter colored spotted female. This one will now be called butter spot. The long haired orange one will simply be called orange. The male has been mating with the spotted female on and off for all of today. The rotti female's litter is very far behind in progress than they should be. Over two weeks old and they have not opened their eyes, have only a light cover of fur, and are only a tad larger than the new pinkies. I am not sure what is happening with them, the mothers have a constant food and water supply and the babies are being nursed by more than one mother. First time in all my breedings that I have had something like this happen. They otherwise seem fine, nursing whenever a mother comes close and active around their nest cup.

8/15/2015
Saturday, August 15, 2015

The kits are now called  orange and butter spotted, the pinkies are now called kits, and the newborns are now called pinkies.

The orange female is grooming the kits and pinkies. When taking a quick look in the chamber today some of the kits have finally opened eyes. There were a few food pieces near the entrance along with a half devoured pinkies. Eaten butt to middle and the other half near the entrance. Usually the head is eaten first to kill the pinkie instantly, but this time that did not happen. There looks to be a good amount of pinkies gone since when I looked when they were born. There may of been too many mouths to feed.

8/16/2015
Sunday, August 16, 2015

The butter spotted was removed and placed with the main female group in another area. The male was removed last night (he has some other things to do) and all the tunnels and every chamber but A was cleaned. He will only be returning for visits from now on. In responce to the cleaning the diluted female has taken a single kit to chamber C and has started making a nest around it. The spotted female just came in and dropped off another kit. If they change nests again and it stays that way I may have a chance to do a full clean and remove the dead baby parts from chamber A.

While the mothers handle the kit transport the orange female is putting the paper pieces together to make a nest. She is already a big help around the colony by tending to the nest and babies.

While everyone helps out to put together the new nest one of the kits decided to run off down the tunnels from chamber C. It was quickly grabbed and put back. A few moments later and both the kits are waddling down the tunnels. The orange female is doing her best to keep them close to the chamber.

8/17/2015

The nest was moved again back to chamber A. I was able to clean it out and put in fresh litter and nesting materials yesterday. It smelled like rotting corpse, it needed a good cleaning.

Pinkies kept getting eaten so I removed about half of the kits and placed them with another mother with near aged kits. This should make the colony mothers stop eating their pinkies if too many babies is the problem.


8/18/2015

No more pinkie parts have been seen scattered about. Another mother with pinkies had near a dozen few days ago and now just has three that were scattered so those three have been moved into the colony and were accepted. A kit was moved to make more space for the new pinkies.

Some of the kits are walking around the tunnels already. The diluted female tries to pull them back to the nest but they hop right back out when she isnt looking. They are yet to go to the surface.

.....

What are you feeding the mice? Do they have meat in there diet? If not that may be the reason they are eating there babies. I had that happen when I was raising mice for a science project in school years ago.