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Let my daughter pick the breeding feeders?

chaoticstone

chaoticstone

New member
Since we have 5 corns now my wife thought it would be good to get some breeding mice. Our daughter is 15 and she wanted the breeders to be pets so we let her pick them out. Here's my problem, when we were at the store I just told her to get 2female 1male. Was looking at other stuff while she picked them out. Got home and she brought the male out she'd picked a black male and the instant I saw him I asked why she picked him. "He was so cute sleeping", he looked lathargic to me. Anyway he died a week later. My wife felt bad and went and picked her up another male. I also went back to the same pet store looked in the tank where we got them and they all looked the same as the male when we got him. (not sure if I'm allowed to say name but it's a mass chain) So last nite when I checked them out I told my wife 1 female looked sick and I was not feeding anything from them to my snakes. Checked on them this smorning before work and yep she was dead. The new male also had the lathargic look so I'm sure he is going to die soon also. I know I should just pick up some co2 and put them all out so I'll pick that up from work tomorrow. My question is in everyone's experience is it better to get your breeding stock from a mass petstore chain or a mom and pop store? We have a mom and pop store that's an hour away or so and they sell all kinds of rodents. They even have ASFR but our corns are all 08's and none of them are bigger then 15grams. So don't think the cud even handle a 1day ASFR pink. So was going to stick with the white lab mice unless anyone has any other suggestions. Thanks for any advice. For some reason I can't get spell check to work so sorry about the bad spelling.:awcrap:

Chaotic
 
Spell check doesn’t work on the feeder forum. Don’t know why.

Big chains or mom and pop, it’s not really going to matter. The mice will be good if the pet store takes care of them or buys them from a breeder that takes care of them.

All the pet stores buy from breeders. Breeders typically have good stock that produce well. That is their business. Breeders with sickly stock don’t stay in business long.

Since the big chain store has failed you twice, I would try someone else. Hope you have better luck with the next batch. Are you sure you are doing everything right on your end?
 
Most pet stores have a 14 day return policy. If you have any problems or they die within this time you can return them and get your money back. Hope you have better luck some where else.
 
wade said:
Spell check doesn’t work on the feeder forum. Don’t know why.

Big chains or mom and pop, it’s not really going to matter. The mice will be good if the pet store takes care of them or buys them from a breeder that takes care of them.

All the pet stores buy from breeders. Breeders typically have good stock that produce well. That is their business. Breeders with sickly stock don’t stay in business long.

Since the big chain store has failed you twice, I would try someone else. Hope you have better luck with the next batch. Are you sure you are doing everything right on your end?
Click to expand...

We have them in a 20L with a screened top there's a wheel in there a hide box and bedding is aspen, water bottle, and the food that we got was what they were currently feeding at the store, (Kaytee Forti-Diet mouse rat hamster) I haven't had a chance to get out to the livestock store to get some Purina yet but was planning on doing that. Oh and my daughter just told me that she gave them some peas? My wife has pet rats and they love peas so she thought that the mice could have them I'm not sure on that so will have to research to see if that was what is causing the problem.
Chaotic
 
I have a 10 gram king who can take one day old ASFR pinks so your babies should be able too. They are so much better then mice IMO.
 
I have to agree with waldo...I am allergic to the mice but have asf's and regular rats. I feed my stubborn newly hatched corns live if needed and use asf babies. I wish they stayed that small longer than 2 days for sure.
 
Petco mice are always sick. You need to fnd another source.

Nothing wrong with colored mice but as you have learned, avoid any that are overly lethargic or slow moving. Get them relatively young, even if they aren't quite breeding age yet.

I'd feed off the current sick ones or those living with them, sterilize everything and start over with mice from another source.

Find a good lab block, from a feed store not a pet store. The Kaytee brand is the worst possible and I have heard many complaints of mice or rats not doing well on it.
 
I think I may complain to the big chain about their quality of mice and have them take better care of it (if they are responsive.. that is). It seems irresponsible on their part to not take care of their animals and still sell them to people.

As for advice, i'm too new to owning a snake to offer any, but good luck!
 
Just giving an update last night my daugter said the male was dead. So I went to dispose of it and he wasn't completly dead. So took care of that quickly and the 1 female that was left started going into convulsions (basically looking like she was having a seizure so my daughter asked me to take care of her also). So scrubbed and bleached the tank out and hopefully I can get out to the mom and pop store this weekend to get some more. My wife is now freaking out that her rats might get sick even though there in a totally seperate room and they've never been in the same area. Thxs for all the responses.
Chaotic
 
I would def go back to the pet shop and complain about the quality of the mice you have purcased but go somewhere else and start a new colony.

I have been quite lucky with my mice I was given 1:3 with one of my corns and then got another 2 and so far I have had no problems with any of mine, so maybe a new pet shop will give you some better mice and you will have better luck.
 
The most important thing is to buy the healthiest mice possible. NEVER buy mice that are thin or scruffy looking, never buy mice that are inactive and look ill. NEVER buy healthy looking mice that are in the same container with mice that look ill. Chances are they have the same disease you just can't see it yet!

Trust me on this, I really learned the hard way! I had two full, healthy breeding colonies of mice. I saw a pretty little girl mouse in a petshop and bought her, instead of keeping her seperate and waiting for a week or two before putting her in one of the colonies, I did the unthinkable and popped her straight in the colony.

The disease she was carrying was airborn so not only did it wipe out the ENTIRE colony she was in with, but the other colony too! This little mistake has costs me HUNDREDs as I then I had to buy food for the snakes which I never needed to do before. I have only recently been able to find healthy, young adult mice for breeding again.

I breed ASFRs (got them after the Great Mouse disaster) and newborn pinks should be fine for young corns (provided they are not tiny hatchlings and are already eating 2-3 mouse pinks) Be advised though that ASF pinks grow faster than regular mice so will get too big for small corns quickly.

Personally, I ADORE my ASF because they don't smell and then don't affect my rodent allergies NEARLY as much as rats and mice do. :)

Best of luck!!!
 
* Correction, I meant 2-3 DAY old pinks...not 2-3 pinks, I don't believe in EVER feeding more than 2 prey items at a time! :)
 
yes this is the reason I started breeding all my own mice, the petshop nearer to me mice are always thin looking and small so I got my extra mice from a diff petshop which is miles away and all my other breeding tubs I have started from their babies.

I am thinking of getting a pair of breeding rats but I have not managed to find any nice healthy looking ones yet.
 
I breed mice for feeders, and back in 06 I got some rats to try out for feeders, but they quickly became pets. They are rarely bred, maybe a couple litters per year working towards whatever genetic goal I have in mind at the time. When they do have a litter I try to keep at least 2.2 and the rest will go for feeders.

Rats are just far too tame, loyal and smart for me to use them solely for feeders. Plus, breeding rats for feeders, you need a LOT more room and have to be quick to euthanize them at the right size because they quickly become too big for corn snakes.

Right now I have 2 female rats that look pregnant, I'm hoping for some double rex (pseudo hairless) dumbo eared himilayans and huskies.

Be very careful in choosing rats, they have a lot of respiratory issues and finding healthy ones can be difficult.
 
Well our house is pretty much a little zoo. My wife has 3pet rats and (one is a hairless dumbo), 2 Labradoodles, 2cats, 2birds, fish, now mice, and 5 corns. We drove out to the mom and pop store on Friday and got 1.3 they called them fancy but the were the same price as the white lab mice 2$. They are younger just weaned and 1.1 are white and tan blotched. then 0.2 black white ring and face is white. We had gotten all my wifes rats from that store and they are all fine, and these little mice I have had no question on how they look. So hopefully everything goes well this time around.

Chaotic
 
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