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Feeders Any and all issues about raising rats, mice, or anything else that you feed your cornsnakes.

"Take out" food....
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Old 03-03-2005, 12:42 AM   #1
Rosebear
Red face "Take out" food....

First off...I'm extremely new at this. Second, I'm obsessive.

That having been said, since it's so darn hard here to get the right size feeder mice for my corn, I decided to raise my own. I'm willing to dispatch the bambinos humanely, and at the right time... I've only got one snake myself, but I have 4 friends/collegues who have plenty to warrant beginning a mice colony. One of us started, but....when ya gotta feed...ya gotta FEED! So...a few days ago, I picked up (after reading copious threads) 1 male and 2 female mice, a starter cage (with amenities) and extra bedding. Initially, I had a wee bit of trouble handling the mice...until the snot-rotten little s.o.b. BIT me! That ended our love-affair right then and there. Immediately and thereafter they became known as SNAKE FOOD.

But I digress...

Night #1...As I'm going to bed, I watch the first little mouse wedge his face between the wires of the cage and calmly remove himself from captivity. Curses. Yes...even profanity. Especially when I "rescued" the creature and it "thanked" me by taking a teeny hunk out of my thumb.

Morning-after #1...(We'll presume it was) the same creature, (whom I found it very difficult not to smack against the desk-top the night before...remembering this IS my "feeder project" after all) was found strolling amongst the lettuce plants on the desk surrounding the cage. Hmm...I snatched the wee creature up and replaced him in the cage.

Day #2...no further major events...although hubby witnessed one of the critters poking its nose through the wires....

Day #3...Did I forget to mention we have a CAT? A cat who ignores my snake and hermit crabs but not these mice? ?? ?? And so...the morning of the third day, as I lie...peacefully abed...not needing to get up quite yet.... Hubby mentions as he's dressing that the cat knocked some plants around on the desk during the night...I mumble something unintelligible. He departs... The house is dark...peaceful... Suddenly, the bedroom is a flurry of activity! The cat is scampering around the room...beneath the bed! Across the floor...doing that...chasing thing... No, please... Say it isn't so. The cat has a mouse under my bed. This is NOT good. I slip out of the bed on the side closest to the door and check the cage in the living room... *expletive deleted* There's only ONE mouse left in the cage. Where's the d*** cat? I find him in our bedroom lying on a pile of the master of the house's socks...with a small white mouse (slightly moistened about the neck, but not at all bloody) crouching just beyond his paws. I pick the mouse up by the tip of the tail. The mouse kicks, squirms, then appears to convulse. Another profane comment. The cat reaches for the mouse in my hand. Not once...not twice...three times. The moment of truth has arrived. Do I give the mouse back to the cat, or return it to the sanctuary of its cage? Thinking of the likelihood of discovering said mouse, 8-10 hours later...thank you, no. The cage wins. But...there were three? Where, pray tell, is the third mouse? I return to the bedroom...the cat is still in the same place, but he's pawing amongst the socks... Yup. Buried amongst the socks is one decidedly deceased mouse. One half of my females has succumbed to kitty play. We're pretty much convinced that since the cat has been so amused by the mice that he "helped" the mice escape their cage...and so our kitty is a fan of "take out" food!

Guess who bought new accommodations for the mice colony...
 
Old 03-03-2005, 12:57 AM   #2
Joejr14
Problem 1: You have a wire cage.

To Solve problem 1: Buy aquarium with screen lid to not have to deal with said problem above ever again.
 
Old 03-03-2005, 01:45 AM   #3
Rosebear
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joejr14
Problem 1: You have a wire cage.

To Solve problem 1: Buy aquarium with screen lid to not have to deal with said problem above ever again.
How very true...as I said..."Guess who bought new accommodations..."
We are now housed in glass with a locking mesh lid, strong enough for said "take out" loving kitty to walk across... And yes...we've tested it already.
 
Old 03-03-2005, 02:21 AM   #4
Fatman608
I got a laugh out of your story. I grew up with rats, hamsters and cats as pets. So when my wife and daughter came home with 2 mice and a plastic mouse cage and knowing the cat we have is a mouser. I asked them if the mice were snake or cat food. My wife did not think that was funny. So, I dropped the subject until the right time – about midnight that night we heard the crash of the cage and I told my wife that dinner is being served to the cat. The cage went into the bathroom for the night. Then I picked up a 10 gallon and other supplies so dinner would not be served in the house. The cat loves to sit on top of the mice cage. Now I have to keep the cat away from the mouse and rat rack I made. It is a good thing that we have field mice or that cat would no fun at all. Between the cat and the rat snakes the field mice are kept out of the house. And, yes large Texas rat can fight off a cat.
 
Old 03-03-2005, 03:24 AM   #5
Quigs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joejr14
Buy aquarium with screen lid to not have to deal with said problem above ever again.
I really hate to burst your bubble, but that isn't 100% fool proof either. I thought so too until a couple weeks ago!

I have a tank with 10 females waiting to be setup in the rack. My wife went into the mouse room to do a nightly check on everyone before she went to bed and witnessed a little white head sticking out of the top of this particular tank!

Could it be? Sure enough! The little girls had chewed on the corner of the screen top long enough to pop the welds and spread the screen apart!

Everyone was accounted for and I had another lid for the tank, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

Point is, mice are very smart little creature and if there is a will, there damn sure is a way!

I'll post a picture tommorw, it's too late to be making a ruckus in the mouse room tonight.
 
Old 03-03-2005, 07:42 AM   #6
JTGoff69
This thread has been thoroughly amusing! Though I have to say after reading it, and the fact that I have a mentally challenged cat that lives on top of every cage in the house, I shall not be breeding mice any time soon.
 
Old 03-03-2005, 08:03 AM   #7
princess
Welcome to the obsession Rosebear! If you think your adults are good at squeezing through the bars, wait till you have a litter of 2½ week old mice to try to keep in one place!! Those little critters are FAST and can squeeze themselves through the most impossibly small gaps. I bred mice last summer on the balcony with pretty good results but they can quickly become a lot of work and you'll end up spending more time than you wish to cleaning and feeding the 'food' than you would have intended to in the first place.

I'd like to breed again this year but I think my boyfriend would have a fit! I'll try it on him next year though.

On a slightly note, It's so refreshing to see a new member taking the time to do the research and read up on old threads and other sites BEFORE asking a squillion and one questions. Well done and a very warm welcome!

Adèle
 
Old 03-03-2005, 10:14 AM   #8
TripleMoonsExotic
I purchased a few of these lab cages from bigappleherp.com. I'm very pleased with them. They're a lot easier to clean then glass tanks (which will get scuzzy walls after a few months). I have the medium size and keep 1.5 mice in each one.

 
Old 03-04-2005, 01:02 AM   #9
Rosebear
Well...we can be sure at my house, that if anyone "escapes," Snugs will make sure they don't get too far....and have the time of his life in the process!

And thank you...I'm a wee (guffaw-chortle-choke) bit older than most of the newbies here. I do appreciate your comment though!
 
Old 03-04-2005, 01:49 AM   #10
Quigs
Who said anything about newbies and what's that got to do with anything?

Sorry, thought it was a bit of a strange remark.
 

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