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Frustrated feeder breeder . . .UG!

carnivorouszoo

carnivorouszoo

Crazy Critter Lady
Hi all! Sorry I've been away. Anyway on to my frustrations:

I have at this moment I think 7 female mice. My ONLY male died and the other I THOUGHT was a male turned out to be female! Before passing my male only got one female preggers and she JUST had her babies this morning. About 9 I think. I have to feed my snake today as its already been 12 days since her last feed and I feel awful. I'll be giving 2 since they are so tiny. I am wanting to keep two males so I will have to try really hard to not feed off any males. At this stage I know it will be hard. Then I have to wait for my males to mature UG!!!!!!

I also have 1 male and 2 female ASFs. Have had them for 2 months. NO BABIES. No clue how old they were when I got them. One female has not changed in size but for around the waist. When she sits looking at me she looks like a little baseball. I am really hoping she is preggers because the male has been very obviously a male since day one. The male and the other female are now the same length as the other female but not as um. . . wide. Or is hefty a better term? The older (I'm thinking) girl has looked like this about a week now. Should I be looking for babies in a week or two? Or do I need to adjust the diet? They get the only rat block available to me (8 in 1 I think) with a tbsp of seed mix each day. Also they killed 4 water bottles that were in a holder designed to keep that from happening! So they have a water bowl instead and I have to clean it out 3 times a day! They put food they don't like in it and bedding! These things are nutters!

Finally I have a pair of argente russian dwarf hammies that bred last night and for the life of me I can not remember how long til I can hope for pups. Yeah I'll google in a minute but figured a post with the info might help others later on :)

Thanks for letting me vent!
 
I know the feeling! I recently got a ASF 1:3 colony and the guy said it would take a month for them to get going. Well that is up next week and I have all crossables crossed for them to have some litters soon (all so KNOCKING on WOOD!). I am currently using all of the pinkies/fuzzies I can produce in one or two weeks. It seems I can never get ahead and get the freezer stocked. Oh well atleast we vented together about the same problems!
 
Good to see your back Carnivorouszoo, I too got some ASF's about a month ago. Nothing not even a run in with the male doing the deed. I don't know what to tell ya there boss. I really hope she pops for you soon.
I might get another male for your mice though. It might be a challenge introducing them but I wouldn't be able to wait 2-3 months for a male to grow to reproducing size.

On my frustrating note. The pet shop I have been selling to just up there order from 10-15 mice a week to 20-25 a week. I don't know if I will be able to keep up with the shop. So I just set up 5 more colonies of mice. So now I am feeding my 7 (plus 35 eggs) my buddies 9 (he has 3 hovabators full of eggs), He just sold a couple, and the 25 for the pet store. Not to mention I just got 2 private buyers today....Whew..... I guess business could almost get too good.
But it is starting to pay for itself, So I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Sorry got caught up rambling
 
Long time no see! I'm pretty sure rodent issues are universal.. The buggers are a PITA.

From my original 1.3 colony, I'm down to 1.1... One turned out to be a cannibal, and the second just isn't receptive. Just my luck. As for colony #2, I've effectively gone from 1.3 to 1.2 this week... One of the REWs decided to try cannibalizing the other REW's litter for the nesting spot, so she's likely going to be snake food once she's weaned off her current litter.
 
Not that this will help a whole lot but I recently went through many of the same frustrations with the breeders and here is what I learned...
I bought several pair of ASF from a breeder close to me that were supposed to be young ones. Of those I eliminated an extra male that somehow got into the mix. I lost a couple due to mites...(they seem very susceptible to rodent mites by the way)...and finally after 3-31/2 months I produced a litter of 12. from one grouping. From that litter I kept 9 or 10 babies. I set them up 3 to 1 in assorted housing to see what worked best. I found that it did not matter what they were housed in but if I changed a set from say a drawer in my freedom breeder to a 10g aquarium they appeared to stop producing for months. If I changed from aquarium to aquarium it was no big deal. So it seems like once they breed a certain way they do not like to alter that format. I now have 5 colonies of 3-4 females to 1 male all set up in 10 gal aquariums, all have 8oz water bottles, a hamster wheel and feed hopper. I find the wheel gives them something to do and I found my production was better when they had a wheel vss when they did not. I have stopped breeding them in the freedom breeders only because they seem happier/healthier in the tanks.
As for the mite issue I mentioned...I add sevin granules to the bedding every time I change it. That keeps them pretty well under control. With 21 rat tubs 6 mice tubs, 5 asf's and 2 hamsters mite control became a sheer necessity. Hope this helps some.
 
If you don't have a wheel in with your ASFs, I would say that will help with the water bottle, all my colonies have a wheel, and have never chewed anything, except the paper and toilet paper roles that I put in for them to chew. I have also made bottle protector for my bottles, which I can tell you how to make if you would like.
 
If you've got a PetSmart around you they now offer glass water bottles. This was the only solution I could find to some pesky pet rats, haha. It's held up great!
 
Thanks everyone! She finally had a litter of 15. I immediately pulled 7 so I could feed my snake. The babies are odd looking buggers! Born with what looks like guard hairs. Their noses are more pronounced at birth than mice too. I'm letting the remaining 8 grow out a tad more then going to pull all of them. Never saw the male do the deed either. So I either got her while preggers (?) or they are very private about it lol! A week or so ago I saw my D.H's go at it Yippee! I kept 3 males from my mouse litter to grow out. The reason I won't buy a new male is this. The first male I got at my local shop died of an odd, not contagious disease. The second "male" I got turned out female with a tumor on her rear that made her "look" like a young male :( When I noticed her having issues going to the bathroom I put her down to keep her from having pain. The third I got I don't know age, but is same size as my saved girlies (about 6 or 7 weeks) got really big like she was going to have pups, then shrank back down, no pups. Now my adult female and 2 of the saved females are rounding out too. I spent money I didn't really have to check for worms and it came back neg. Tiny chance I was wrong on one of the girls and she is a he but I'd think the girls are too young to breed yet?

On a happy note I got a trio of gerbils who have always been together so should have no issues on the females fighting :) Saw the male chasing one of the females in the mating prowl lol!

So things are now back on track again :)
 
Glad to hear, Carn. Well things must be looking good all around, last week my ASF's gave birth to an uncounted number. But I was attacked in the process of changing water dishes. Yikes. The hair thing is kinda different. Wasn't ready for that. Wow you had a string of rough luck with those males. Hope everything works out, and it is good to see things are looking up.
 
Good to hear things are going well for you now, carnivorouszoo!

Lol, Buzzard, that must be it.. My mousey luck is beginning to look up, too. My Petco colony is doing well--each of the girls has dropped one litter so far, coming in at 10, 14, and 14, respectively. One of them was removed doing cannibalism issues, but she's raising up four of her litter very nicely on her own. My first colony is doing well, too, aside from Cinnamon, the second female, very likely now going through moosie menopause. Her tiny litter has been weaned off for two weeks, she isn't pregnant yet, and her sister is already nonreceptive, so it's not a far-fetched conclusion by any means. Luckily, her two daughters are doing very well, and may already be receptive. =)
 
i know how it is i decided to try to breed mice "how hard can it be right" well had them two months and no babies at all then they started to eat each other oh goody and gross. so know i have one male left he ate the females.. and im not sure if i should try again. but i have 10 reptiles all eating mice and 2 clutches of corn eggs on the way.. its getting expensive to buy from the pet store and the ordering frozen well the shipping fee is outrages for my area I'm currently buying mice at 99. cents each even the babies.. so its kinda a decision.type thing know any way i share u frustrations. good luck
 
Lizardgal, maybe you should buy a ton at the next expo? I know there's one in Hillsboro... I think once in fall, and then again in February--the last Feb show as actually my first Expo, lol. But, anyway, you can go to a show to get mice... There are two companies that go to the expos. Slippery Creek Ranch and... Gosh, I can't remember the name of the other one!

Other than that, I find the shipping worth it... It's certainly less expensive than going to Petsmart or Petco every couple of weeks and paying 10-15 times (or more!!) what the frozen rodents are worth!! The key is buying in bulk.. Load up on stuff you know you'll be able to use and go for it.

I decided to breed mice for pinkies, so I could get them when they're small enough and, more importantly, not have to worry about having enough or feeding a picky eater (live mice under Weanling size are very much nonexistant here, without making the 2 or so hour drive to Tacoma!) when my little clutch of corn eggs hatch. That and it's proving to be fun.. (uh oh! Another hobby??) A great use for them, and you don't have to worry about it really being established until your eggs begin to pip! =)
 
ty but i moved to cali recently i miss slippery creek ranch they were so good. i miss them lol.. so i live near palm springs close to gene, Stephen. but anyway ya i may have to buy a bunch of mice. ty
 
Ah! Lol, your location still says "Hillsboro"... I'm sure Cali has a lot more expos than Washington and Oregon combined, so you can probably still do the same.. It just takes tracking down an expo in your area!

Slippery Creek Ranch is alright. I've only ever purchased hopper mice and a bunch of large ("medium" as they called them) rats. The hoppers were fine, but the rats were very... Poopy. I feed Lucy in her tank, usually right over/in her water dish, so all that fecal matter comes right off in her water if I don't take five minutes to scrub it off pre-thaw... Yuck. =P I've personally fallen in love with The Mouse Factory, though. Shipping can hurt the wallet a bit, but the quality of the product is SO worth it, even to my not-very-snake-savvy mom! Lol. =)
 
For mice eating each other I'd check that the water bottle isn't clogged at all and check the protien level of the food you are giving. I remember when I was big on breeding gerbils that a slightly upped protien in the diet stopped adults from killing and eating each other as well as being sure they could always get the water they needed. Just a thought!

Oh on my nutsy mice, checked, double checked and checked again. I have 2 colonies going right now. 1 has 5 females (I swear NO males there!) and the other has 2 females and 2 baby males. I had to cull one as I noticed on front paw did not develop right and was not noticeble until recently. So no clue what the bloat was all about. I tossed the food mix I had incase something had gone bad.

I have to research my gerbils they are a really neat color. I wanna know what it is and try to figure if saving any to sell to the pet shop live would be worth the effort :p
 
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