A new addition to our home

I got some pet rats and mice for my small animal metabolic rate lab a few weeks ago, and after we were done with the lab it became clear that one of the mice was pregnant. My SO and I decided that we'd take care of the mouse during her pregnancy, and we've had her living in a cage on our coffee table for about a week now.


This picture was taken almost a week ago, and you can see how lumpy she was even then. The (empty) tea tin is serving as a nest box, so the mouse has a protected place to have her babies if she desires.

Here's another picture from only a few days ago, showing her bulges even more clearly:


Having her in our house has reminded my SO and I how much we miss having pets. We were originally planning on keeping her, and her babies, only until they were old enough to adopt out, but we're already reconsidering that plan. It's been quite fun watching her rearrange her cage contents every day, and playing with her nightly. I hadn't realized how much I missed the soft prick of rodent claws on my neck and whiskers gently tickling my ear ...

We haven't named her yet, partially because we're not sure we're going to keep her, and partially because we're having trouble thinking of a name. We've been pondering anime-based names, but it's hard to imagine most of our favorite female anime characters getting pregnant. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments.