When Do Mice Mate

Mice can breed quickly and in large numbers. Whether it is mice in captivity being bred, or wild mice breeding. When do mice mate in captivity is in your control. As a responsible owner of mice you should separate the males and females unless you are trying to breed mice.

Mice mating in the wild is obviously out of your control. If they are in your home and the numbers and sightings seem to be increasing you are going to need to take action before it gets out of control.

When Do Mice Mate

There are no times of the year that mice will not mate. There is a rough multiplier you can use as a guide however. For example, a group of 8 mice can increase to a number of 80 mice in 6 months easily.

The numbers are just staggering and a population of wild mice can easily grow out of control as you can see. Mice are sexually mature at just four weeks old. Keeping males and females apart is incredibly important.

How Big Are Mice Litters

A female mouse can produce between 5 and 10 litters in one year. Each litter can include 5-8 young pups that are then able to reproduce within around 30 days. Just looking at this you can see how mice populations boom. It’s not good for the gene pool to be so small however, so in captivity it can be dangerous.

How Mice Population Is Controlled

Pet mice are strictly under your control. You have to use separate cages to keep males and females separate. Separating mice as they being old enough to fend for themselves and before they are sexually mature.

In the wild it’s a different story. Nature has a way of balancing populations of animals, and this is through predators. Owls, hawks, cats and other large animals prey on wild mice and the numbers are kept under control.