Help! I screwed up quarantine..

by jay.mayhem Wed 06 Dec 2017, 6:09 pm

Hello..
I messed up.

I brought the babies home from PetSmart the other night and put their tank right next to Darcy's. Everything has been washed, sterilized, cleaned and sterilized between uses (including my hands, arms, and clothes), but they've been sat next to each other for 3 days.

I totally forgot about shared air space. My problem is that I keep all of my pets in my room. We were way crappy with quarantine last time with the girls as we had no clue how to handle mice, so I didn't think to put the tanks in a separate room. I'm so upset.

I'm washing all of the tanks and all of the equipment tonight and splitting everybody up for quarantine and monitoring. They're all getting their own cages, so is there any benefit at this point to moving them to separate rooms? I don't know that I have four rooms to put them in, but I could negotiate with my family. Are there any other steps I should be taking going forward?

Thank you so much.

by jay.mayhem Wed 06 Dec 2017, 6:17 pm

While we're at it, I just found out one of the babies is male (petsmart messed up, more on that later..) and he and his sisters are anywhere from 4-10 weeks old. They have been housed together probably their entire lives thus far (they'll be separated tonight), so if the girls end up being pregnant what do I do? I messed up so bad, I'm sorry..

by Peachy Wed 06 Dec 2017, 6:23 pm

Don't panic! And don't split up anyone who's currently together in the same cage (except the male), it's unnecessary and stressful for all of you.

Separate air space is a part of quarantine, but many of us take our chances just having them across the room. Ideal? No. But it works. Move your tanks apart and just keep a close eye on everyone. If you can score another bedroom, that's good too!

I'll come back for the pregnancy part. Smile

by jay.mayhem Wed 06 Dec 2017, 6:31 pm

Peachy wrote:Don't panic! And don't split up anyone who's currently together in the same cage (except the male), it's unnecessary and stressful for all of you.

Separate air space is a part of quarantine, but many of us take our chances just having them across the room. Ideal? No. But it works. Move your tanks apart and just keep a close eye on everyone.

I'll come back for the pregnancy part.

Thank you! I think moving them apart is the best I can really do at this point. I'll keep the girls together, but I'm concerned that if they stay together they'll be harder to introduce to Darcy (odd man out and all)? And thank you.. I don't think it highly likely, but I still have to watch (and email PetSmart).

by Peachy Wed 06 Dec 2017, 6:38 pm

Sorry. Can you go over your plans for the mice? I'm lost. Laughing

Here's our breeding packet: http://petmousefanciers.forumotion.com/t43-breeding-packet

by jay.mayhem Wed 06 Dec 2017, 6:44 pm

Peachy wrote:Sorry. Can you go over your plans for the mice? I'm lost.

Here's our breeding packet: http://petmousefanciers.forumotion.com/t43-breeding-packet

Sorry about the confusion! The plan is to introduce the girls to Darcy, my preexisting female. Those three will live together and the male will have to be separate. The plan as of right now was to separate them into different cages (one mouse per cage) for quarantine to make taming and introductions easier. Should I be separating the two girls or keeping them together?
Thank you!

by Peachy Wed 06 Dec 2017, 6:59 pm

So Darcy is female, too. Ok. Two-to-one introductions should go just fine if you make sure everyone is socialized and everything is neutral. Keep them together unless you want to set them up in a nursery cage. I would only do that if you start to suspect one of them is actually pregnant, though.

by jay.mayhem Wed 06 Dec 2017, 7:16 pm

Okay, thank you! I wish that meant I had to clean less cages tonight Laughing

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