obtaining mice...

hey, everyone! okay, there's probably been a thread on something like this before, but why bump a really old thread with my question when i can make a new one? from what i gather, no one here likes it when people bump threads...

alright, here's the thing: i have a large unheated garage. i have no plans for heating it, but i can provide pieces of fabric for the mice. i'd like to breed my own mice. true, i only have one snake, but i have my own uses for them as well. i have neighbors who *may* try to call the cops on me if i breed mice, so that could be an issue. darn, after all the trouble i went to in order to move out of a snake-hating neighborhood, i end up right back in the same situation. but they moved in after i did, so too bad for them, lol!

anyways, i need to find a way to obtain feeder mice in order to breed them. but how do i make sure i get both sexes?

In Michigan, I wouldn't keep them in an unheated garage in the winter. Unless you have a lot of snakes you won't need that many mouse cages, why not just keep them inside where it's the proper temperature.

Mice will cease production and die off if it gets too cold or too hot. All the cloth in the world won't keep them warm enough if it's in the 30s or colder.

As for obtaining the breeding stock, find a decent pet shop or a feeder breeder at a reptile show and ask for the specific sexes you want. If the pet shop is too stupid, have them let you pick them out yourself. The male parts are usually pretty obvious unless they are really young. Look for nipples on the females.

Don't get any that are noticeably sick or sneezing. I've had the best luck with feeder breeder mice over pet shop mice. I've had a lot of pet shop mice just die off for no reason, or never reproduce.

At the Taylor MI show, their is a person their who sells live mice and rat of all sizes.

Awesome! but my neighbors... how do i keep them from knowing? they like to socialize, and i usually hold my get-togethers in the garage/backyard...

by the way, i plan on taking the mice inside in the wintertime.

Well honestly if you can keep them inside in the winter it doesn't make sense to keep them outside, especially if you're worried about people seeing them there.
And uh...How would that phone call to the cops go "Officer I would like to report my neighbor, she's breeding mice" :sidestep: what are they gonna do to you? :shrugs:

Keeping in a garage will also increase the chances of outside vermin spreading parasites and disease to your feeders.

How would that phone call to the cops go "Officer I would like to report my neighbor, she's breeding mice" what are they gonna do to you?

Click to expand...

well, they don't like the idea of living next door to someone who breeds mice for snake food plus for her own research when they have small children of an impressionable age.

Oh please! lol I wish some people would just get over themselves...good grief, they probably don't want their kids watching lions mating on animal planet either! lol Fact, snakes eat mice, lions eat buck etc etc, it's the way of the world.

I really don't think there's a single thing the cops can do about it actually, unless it's illegal to keep mice in your area...lol

I am assuming that you have an open garage then? (Mine are in a closed garage that was converted into a study) I think as long as you keep them inside in winter, that's fine.

Where I live (in South Africa) we usually don't have much to do with our neighbours at all...lol I honestly couldn't even tell you what they look like let alone their names.

Call the cops on your for breeding mice?! Hahahahaha
Just don't tell them. Two breeding mice will produce plenty of offspring and don't need a terribly big enclosure, just put it in the back room when you have company or throw a sheet over the cage...it's none of their business.
If you really think you need to keep them in the garage at least leave them a heating pad under part of the cage, especially in winter, but I don't think they will take up much room in the house. I had 4 pet rats in the house and they weren't a problem at all.

or...
you can get them a wheel and a cute house of sorts and name them (mine are snickers, snack, ..., and blackie :shrugs: ). then they're pets with a purpose. they don't need to know that you're using them as a food factory. it is perfectly ok to keep the stinky little vermin as pets. their kids will love watching them run on the wheel, and will soon be bugging their parents for pets. when they cave (they sound like the sort who's kids rule the house) and buy the kids the things. the kids will grow tired of them. then what ever will they do with these unwanted pets and giant cage? ...oh the neighbor! :bang: ...not that I've ever done this or anything...
hoo-ray for free stuff :grin01:

lol funny! but knowing these people they'd sooner release the mice into my backyard like they did with their cat after the kids got bored. i brought the cat back, telling them "hey, i found your cat, she showed up in my backyard last night" and they pretended to be all happy. the next morning the cat mysteriously showed up in my garage (i must've left the side door to the garage open, and the garage is not attached to the house). so, every night that cat shows up near my house. and every morning i bring her back. "oh, the silly darling keeps getting out" they say. yeah right.

then again, the cat could merely be an outdoor cat that's attracted to my yard because of the birds....