nesting questions

[sumguy]

I'm currently using aspen pellet bedding and its working well. I also add alfalfa and grass straw, dry corn husks, and pieces of cottony fluff for nesting material. They love the corn husks. A lot of times they will clear the floor of bedding where they build their nest. Added a bottomless plastic box (4x4x2?) with entrances on the side. they all sleep in the box. Lately they've piled up a lot of bedding and other material around the box so that its half buried.

Do most breeders add a hide or just let the mice build up a nest? I try to clean once a week. Should I leave the nest intact or trash it and let them start from scratch each time? If there is a new litter should I leave the nest alone and if so for how long? that's all I can think of for now. Any information is appreciated.

[TripleMoonsExotic]

I don't give my rodents anything to play with (or hide in). Just one more thing I'd have to scrub down every week. I also don't give them anything "extra" to nest with. My rodents are kept on Yesterdays News and Good Mews bedding...They have no problems having there litters without the "extras."

[Taceas]

I have my mice on shredded aspen bedding, and every week when I clean them out they get a new small handful of timothy hay to make a nest with or eat. And when its really cold outside and the heater in the garage is barely keeping up, I give them cotton/fluffy stuff as well.

As for a box or hide for the nest, nope. I tried it before and all it is is a hassle when you're trying to get pinks for snake feeding day. And then having to put the thing back just right without smooshing babies..and yeah, just too much trouble in the long run.

If they're doing good with the "extras", just leave it be. Sure they'd like to put their babies in a house. And if I were breeding for show mice or pet mice, they'd have a house. But I like the convenience factor of prodding the adults aside and "picking the berries".

If I have any that aren't being used for small snakes, I'll give them a toilet paper roll with a few squares of TP still left to fool around with. Seems to break the monotony of being in a container all the time. And in time they chew it up and add it to their nest.

[Quigs]

I guess I'm the odd guy out here. And ironically, I think I run the most mice out of the two prior poster.

I do give every tub at least one toilet paper roll. I also give each colony 3 squares of cheapy toilet paper each week.

Now we also have 7 tanks setup as well. 2 "pinkie farms" and one "host" colony from which I grow up future breeders. The other four tanks are holding tanks and house males and females seperately. All the tanks also get toilet paper rolls, toilet paper and a hide (whether it be half a tissue box or my new toy, half a drink caddy from a fast food joint)

Yeah, I tend to spoil the mice a bit. But it cost me next to nothing to do so. And for me it is no more time consuming than regular cleaning without these things. It also keeps them entertained.

I only keep added hides or whatnot if it is not soiled.

[sumguy]

The floorless house thing is turning into a regular compound. They put the food on top of it and the sides are piled up with bedding; the sides with entrances have small tunnels of nesting material covering the entrance to the main tub. Living alone, I don't think there's any way to provide toilet paper rolls on demand :)

I guess the hide is going to go and they'll get empty rolls when available. Looks like most of you scrap everything on cleaning day including nests. Maybe I'll just start putting a lot less nesting material in there as well. When they were in a wire cage without a hide their nest was probably 5x5x3. I gave them as much nesting material as they wanted.

[Quigs]

Living alone, I don't think there's any way to provide toilet paper rolls on demand :)
Only two of us here. Paper towel rolls cut in half make two toilet paper rolls! We seem to go through a ton of paper towels. :shrugs: Also, bless her heart, my mom saves toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls and wrapping paper tubes for us!

We have never asked people to save them for us, to me it's not that big of a deal, but I do like offering them to the mice. You'd be surprised at the people willing to donate these items if they know you have a use for otherwise garbage!

[sumguy]

hehe...
:cheers: to everyone and thanks for the advice.

[Bluebeard]

I keep gerbils so its a bit differnt , i use 20g tanks, 3/4 full of woodchips and timathy hay, and a new roll of cheap TP, of course with the gerbils they don't need to be cleaned nearly as often.

[Rosebear]

I'm usimg cedar chips and Care Fresh (I don't like it that much) bedding, and they have a small cardboard box for a hide at this point. If and when we have babies I'll decide what stays and goes! TP rolls are an easy addition; and I have np with "fluff" to keep them healthy and "content." Happy food is healthy food in my eyes!

[sumguy]

I keep gerbils so its a bit differnt , i use 20g tanks, 3/4 full of woodchips and timathy hay, and a new roll of cheap TP, of course with the gerbils they don't need to be cleaned nearly as often.
You really fill the tank 75% with bedding? Tried live gerbil pinks once with my black milksnake and cornsnake hatchling and they wouldn't take em. The petstore I got them from had 3 tanks with 20+ gerbils each. Maybe they stunk from being so crowded :shrugs:

[Taceas]

'm usimg cedar chips and Care Fresh (I don't like it that much) bedding, and they have a small cardboard box for a hide at this point. If and when we have babies I'll decide what stays and goes! TP rolls are an easy addition; and I have np with "fluff" to keep them healthy and "content." Happy food is healthy food in my eyes!

Cedar should be outlawed from being on the shelves at petstores for small animals. The volatile oils that it and some of the pines have can be lethal to small animals and reptiles. I would suggest you switch to aspen or some other sort of bedding before offering cedar-scented mice to your snakes' diet.

Yes cedar smells good, but the chemicals that make up that lovely smell can harm the delicate respiratory systems of animals that have to breathe it in much higher concentrations than you or I, and for a 24/7 all day thing as well. There's a reason why cedar is one of the top pest repellents being used in closet devices.

I didn't like CareFresh either. Personally it had an odd odor of its own I didn't like and it didn't do much to combat the smelliness of the mice. However, its hands down much safer than cedar.

A few articles I found about cedar/pine toxicity:

http://www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1475&S=4&SourceID=56

http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/guineapigs/a/woodshavings.htm


Hope that helps.

[Rosebear]

I saw "no cedar" in a post earlier this week...and wondered why not. My immediate thought was tht if I don't put my snake on cedar, perhaps cedar raised food wouldn't be such a hot idea. Thank you for the excellent explanation. Ok...we'll find some aspen... I don't like the Care Fresh either - yuck!

[Godzilla2000]

I at least like to put an excercise wheel in my mouse enclosure because I want healthy, well active mice to breed. I use Pine Bedding as well, since it's not toxic. I can't believe way back in the day we used to use Pine Bedding for all of our rodents little knowing how extremely harmful it was for them.

[sumguy]

Godzilla2000 - welcome back to the forums. hard to tell whether you still use pine or not, post slightly contradictory. The aspen pellets are working good. I think they liked it better when they had tons of nesting material and a hide but access will be easier now. :cheers:
haven't had any litters since 1-30-05. Pulled the wheel out last week to encourage other forms of exercise. Momma mouse mated after her last litter (1-30-05) but I haven't seen any excessive weight gain. She's actually lost weight. She was labeled a large at the show where I bought her in Oct '04 so maybe she's past her prime. I kept the 3 female offspring and it appears most of them may be pregnant now. Kind of funny after I pulled the wheel. They are in a 45qt rubbermaid with 1/4" wire screen mesh top and all the young females suddenly learned how to jump up and grab the screen then walk around. Think I preferred hearing the wheel all night than them jumping, walking around, then falling back down. Will probably do what Taceas does and alternate weeks with the wheel.

[sumguy]

One of the three offspring from my original pair had a litter. The two remaining female offspring are pregnant as well and will probably be birthing soon.
Out of curiosity, how soon are pinks able to make noise? Will the soon to be moms make their own nests or will I end up with a community nest?

[TripleMoonsExotic]

Congrats! :)

I believe from birth they make noise. At least that's what I gather from the "complaining" I hear when Mama mouse walks off the offspring. I usually see a community nest in my mouse colonies...My rats on the other hand...Some have their own nests, some use a community nest...

[Taceas]

Newborn mice can squeak, and thats usually how I know new ones are in a colony buried under all the adults. When they're jostled around or stepped on by the adults, they squeak.

Most of my mice use the community nest strategy. Some may give birth in a different area and start a nest of their own, but within a few mins of her walking off..the other females have moved the newborns over with others.

Just be careful if you have say, fuzzies in the colony and then a different female gives birth. The newborns quickly settle to the bottom and are smothered and/or starved. I just had a few I found last week, a day too late. =/

[sumguy]

thanks. can't wait till I get regular production going and stop relying on petstores or online orders.