Feeder delima~ to retire or not?

I'm planning on retiring several old/slow breeders today. Really past time to do it, the ones I will be retiring to the freezer were started in Spring 04, and they really just do not produce much anymore.

But I have a delima. I've got one male I purchased in Dec 04 that is the CUTEST mouse! He is a seal point (I'll try to attach a pic) and is just the cutest guy, and being so cute~ I named him. "Fat Boy" He should be right in his prime breeding his 5 girls. However, he is hands down the WORST breeder I have ever owned. He has maybe produced 4 or 5 litters in just over 5 months~ and the litters he does produce do poorly. (I don't believe it is the girls, as they are from my stock and my stock usually produces very well). Usually I would retire him~ but did I mention he is the cutest mouse? And he has a name! I don't kill anything with a name~ so retiring him will mean moving him into a private tank and waiting for him to get old and pass on~ or finding him a home where he can be a pet.

I really want more Seal point mice~ but is it worth trying to keep any of his very few pups~ or will they be just as bad as he is? I did buy him at a pet store~ and I've heard before that some stores do *something* to them to keep them from breeding well~ is that true~ or a story?

I know how you feel...I defrosted and fed off Mr Spotty and Brown-nose just a few weeks ago and it was a little sad but it's gotta be done...

Ask yourself a hard question...What's your priority? Is it breeding pet mice and the excess go to the snakes...or breeding feeders and it's fun when you get a pretty one in the mix?

If you're breeding for productivity, then accept that fat-boy is not doing his job and either make him someones lunch or get rid of him because all that space and cleaning time that he'll be taking up will be much better used with a more productive mouse.

If your priority is pet keeping, then sure, go ahead and keep him, that's what pets are for, for your enjoyment and companionship.

If I were in your position and really attached to the mouse, I would put him in a separate tank with only one or two females. That way he's not just doing "nothing", but should be able to better service 1 or 2 OK. Use the 1 or 2 females he has done the best with in the past.
Give the next generation of seal points a chance to see if they are poor breeders. If they are, I'd feed the second generation off and use "Fat Boy's" offspring soley as feed.
I am having the same delema with one of my males, and also a couple of my females that need to be retired, but they have done so well for me I hate to just feed them off. But lets face it, mice have no concept of time and when they die they die. I don't think in that moment it matters to them if they had an extra 6 months of retirement. :shrugs:

I think Carol has a great suggestion, but other than that, I would retire him, and try to get another that is like him...

Just curious, if you don't mind telling, how much did you pay for him? Are they expensive?

I don't remember for sure what I paid~ I think he was 5 or 7 bucks~ a bit much for a mouse~ but I'd never seen a seal point mouse before (rats, but not mice) and I really wanted his genes for my colony. Since I've seen some more seal point mice on-line~ but not locally.

I think I'll go with Carols suggestion. Maybe I can get better production from his pups. I just can't beleive what a poor breeder he is!