New grandpa - 1st grand-litter! :-)

Well, now the fun begins. I went to fill food dishes & see how
everyone was doing when lo & behold, I lifted up the cashew can
beneath which my albino female, Jackpot had made her nest and -poof-!
She was nestled among a bunch of soft, warm little pink things. My
first bona fide grandmice! :-) I had only lifted the can long enough
to realize she'd had her litter, and replaced it immediately. I've
been prancing around even more quietly than a mouse all night just to
keep from disturbing the brand new mommy & her brood. I was planning
to move the daddy out (Andy, dark brown fur with a more creme colored
under-side) before she had them and acquaint her with a female
playmate (Jade, another albino), but I didn't realize she was so
close. However, daddy doesn't seem to be bothering them. He's
staying almost exclusively outside of the nest, like he's guarding it
or something. He only goes in when I get close, then he comes right
back out. Jackpot's been downing the cat/egg chow I made (from the
suggestion of someone here) like crazy, and I've yet to see any blood
or anything indicating any pup deaths as she goes in & out of the
nest. But I'm not going to look in on them again until the new
mother's had more of a chance to acclimate herself with the situation
better.

I'd had a female give birth before, but she ate the whole litter (I
didn't know about the ravenous protein hunger at that time). This
litter appears to be working. I'm just not sure about removing the
daddy now, as this would leave her alone, and I don't want to put a
new female in there _after_ the babies have been born. As long as
Andy's staying out of the nest pretty much and I don't see any signs
of pup death, I guess I'll leave them all pretty much where they're at
(Jade has her own man, Bhudda, though he seems to be infertile because
they go at it like... well... like _mice_, I guess, and she has yet
to get knocked up - he'd been with other females before who never got
pregnant, she's never been with another male, so I assume the
sterility is more likely his than hers).

Anyway, I was somewhat excited about this, and while I'm hoping it
will become "old hat" after awhile, just felt like sharing the news.
This seems to be the place to do it. :-) That's all, later! :-)
--
Uncle Buck (aka Uncle Dollar Bill)

On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 20:21:14 -0500 in alt.pets.mice, Uncle Buck
<UncleBuck DeleteThis @SpamMeNot.com> defied the status quo and scrawled upon the
toilet stall:

>Jackpot's been downing the cat/egg chow I made

Wups, should read "cat _food_/egg chow"... soiree... didn't want to
leave any "wrong impressions"... ;-)