How Do Babies Develop?
The first thing that will let you know that the babies have arrived is likely to be a lot of little squeaks emanating from inside the nest. The babies start out as tiny little pink things no bigger than the last joint on your little finger. They are blind, deaf and hairless. The only real sense they have that is fully developed is determining temperature so they can find their littermates. That is why if you watch them after the mum has moved away they will burrow under each other to be the warmest on the bottom.
Left: newborn pinkies less than 24 hours old, Right: two day old pinkies
They start getting pigmentation very quickly (about three to five days or sooner), and you will be able to tell if they are going to be marked, self, tan, etc. The darker pigments are easy to tell from the normal pink and show a lot earlier. At around seven days they suddenly start getting fur. It is very fine at first, and mostly on the back. They are considered fully furred when their stomachs are furred at about 10-12 days, and this is the best time to sex them.
'Velvet' baby at around 8/9 days
The babies open their eyes at around 14 days (although runts may be a day or so later than their brothers and sisters). From the time that they are furred until about three weeks, or 21 days, they are in what is known as the 'flea stage'. You must be very careful when handling them at this stage because they have no fear of heights and will jump right out of your hands. Babies tend to jump around all over the place and it may be hard to pick them up.
Young cream mouse ready to be separated from its mother
I tend to separate at four to four and a half weeks (leaving girls with mum), depending on the development rate of the litter. At this point you will notice that the babies are not always burrowed under the mother and you will see them eating solid food. The boys and the girls should really be separated by five weeks unless you want a LOT of babies!
How the Experts Explain It: Postnatal Development
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