Who's the Mouse that Got Mine Pregnant?

I'm an obvious animal lover.  Slowly over the years I've acquired a little more at a time.  Just to get used to the care of each type.  So the other day I was looking in my son's mice cage and noticed one of the mice sleeping an awful lot. Since the weather has been gorgeous we decided to put them out on a table on the patio a few weeks ago. About 5 days ago my son Ryan yelled and said he saw a 3rd mouse in the cage and it was grey.  What the heck?  By the time I went to check there was no 3rd mouse.  He said over and over that he did in fact see it.  I wonder how long he's been visiting there?  Well, I figured we'd find out soon enough.  I have two female mice.  

Big tummy

Today I went to feed the mice and thought one of them had a pretty big tummy. What the heck?  They are both thin.  I look again and notice she is waddling big time when she walks.  LOL!  So I call for the kids and they all come running out to see.  

Big tummy

So then I thought I'd better go check online how to care for mice that are about to have little ones.  This one is new for me. I find this article.

What to Do if Your Mice Had Babies

It says when you find out they are pregnant, clean out the cage since you won't be cleaning it for awhile.  I disturbed her nest I'm sure but she was quick to make another one.  I explained to the kids that they can't mess with the mice for awhile and they definitely can't hold the babies till they are at least 3 weeks old.  I also learned that the pregnancy takes 18-21 days.  That's it?  Whoa?  Can you imagine?  "Guess what, Honey, I'm pregnant!  We'd better get a crib next paycheck because he's comin' fast!"  Heh heh.  In fact, this article said that by the time you even notice they are pregnant, most likes the mice are coming any day. Seriously, I want to see this in action.  I've already thought of different ways to put a tiny camera in there to watch.  Darn.  I really need to invest in something like that. Would be fun to put in the chicken house.  

So I was talking aloud and wondered why the other mice isn't pregnant yet.  Ryan said, "Oh, well the boy mouse just didn't want to commit adultery.  That's why."  Haha.  He said that the male mouse only wanted to "kiss" one mouse and now that's his wife.  Sooo, that works for now.  

Ivy then told me she was scared for the mouse because she didn't want to see the mouse' tummy open and then have to die.  I said, "Oh, mommy had babies and I didn't die."  Ivy asked "And you were okay? You didn't die?"  Silence.  "No, Ivy.  I didn't die.  I'm still here.  Talking to you. Right now."  She sighed and was relieved.

Just for memory sake I did a search on my blog to see when Jasmine had her kittens.  We got to watch her birth them.  It was so neat.  Here are 3 blogs with pictures.  :) The bottom post is when the kittens were only a day old or so.