Do you breed mice/rats for your snakes?

[Taceas]

My mice are just common garden variety mice. I started out with albino lab mice, but after a while white mice got boring. So I bought a couple colored males and off we went. Production really hasn't slowed down at all. I'm now about 10 litters after getting the new males and with having to shuffle the older females out and retaining younger females I haven't noticed any drop in production thankfully.

I've found that if you leave the male in with the babies it works out best. My males aren't aggressive in anyway to the babies (their own or others when thrown in). And all three of my males will "nurse" the babies. They lay on top of them and keep the babies warm.

Also I found that if I separated the male from the female/babies for a period of time, when you reintroduce the male the females can act very hostile towards the male and can end up mutilating his testicles. It took me once to figure that out, so now they just stay in there all of the time.

If you're going to start up a colony, I would suggest trying to get an older male and younger females, or males and females of roughly the same age. That prevents most scuffles and any fighting that may occur.

But to be honest, I've found breeding the mice to be just as fun and satisfying as breeding the snakes. Having white mice initially, and then adding in the colored males and then re-breeding the offspring to the males I've come up with funky patterns and colors. Its a surprise each time a female has babies, to see what comes out. =P

Only problem is...some of the babies are sometimes too cute to convert to food.

 

[Krenna]

Thanks for your response

My Nephew is the one breeding the mice, its his first big responsiblity on caring for pets .

Leaving the male in the cage was a subject of topic at the house. And I had him read your response and take your advice on the subject.

We just got him set up today with his viv and mice, he has them in a rubbermaid with water food etc.. My nephew knows I am getting a corn and he wanted a pet as well so he suggested the mice. However they will probably not be the whole source of food for my corn, But I think the extra food supply will help.

For another question, how many pairs of mice could sucessfully feed one corn snake in your opinion?

 

[Taceas]

It depends on how often you feed your snake and what size mice it's eating, really.

I've got 3 colonies of mice, all of them are 1:5. I find that this helps to feed 25 snakes who eat mice from pinks to adults.

It's nice to have a staggered supply so you don't have a rush on babies and then a dry spell. There are mice being born just about every week around here by someone, and then you pluck them as necessary. Sometimes I'll use up all of the available pinks through hoppers and my adult snakes will have to do with frozen/thawed adult mice.

What do you and your nephew plan on doing with the babies that don't get eaten? At the moment, I'd say a 1:1 would be ok provided you have a use for that many babies. A 1:1 would give you a sneak peek at how many babies can be born and how you'd use them up. If you need more later on, just raise up a female pink to adult. Thats a lot easier than trying to add a new adult female to the group, as they definitely have a pecking order and enforce it viciously.

Just remember, a mouse gives birth roughly every 30 days to 8-12 pinks. If you get too many mice, ask around on here if someone lives nearby and would like to buy them off of you. Or you can advertise in the paper as well.

Sometimes its better to rationalize: Get more snakes to eat all of the mice.

One thing though, he has them in a Rubbermaid container? Is that with a wire lid or the Rubbermaid lid? I tried that early on and it made the mousy smell unbearable. It held too much humidity in there and caused some problems with respirtory illnesses. If you're just going for a 1:1 I would suggest a 10 gallon aquarium and a sturdy wire lid.

Mice and rats need quite a bit of ventilation due to ammonia build-up in the urine. Around here I buy my 10-gallons from Walmart for $6 and then get the ESU wire lids from Petsmart for $12 or so. Plus that way there's no chance in Hades they're going to chew through the plastic and you can see them a lot easier without actually having to disturb them by taking the lid off to peek in.

Also as for food, I would suggest lab-type blocks versus seed mixes. The seed mixes just don't have very many vitamins and minerals and are mostly just fat that can cause health issues. Plus what does have the vitamins the mice will pick past and ignore. If you can't get ahold of Mazuri blocks or another lab block, then L&M makes a good quality block as well. I buy mine locally in a 50 lb bag from a grain elevator that makes custom feed.

Just thought I'd add in those FYI's. =) Good luck with the mice to both of ya. I raised mice when I was a kid too and it was a fun experience.

If you have any more questions, feel free to e-mail me. I'm always around and will get back to you pretty fast.

 

[Clint Boyer]

I usually keep a tank or two of mice just so I have some live ones handy for the picky eaters.

I used to raise both mice and rats but found them to be too labor intensive and STINKY!

I've got a local supplier now that even delivers! The Lazy Slither Ranch has my undying gratitude!