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How often do you clean your feeders?
- Thread starter JM :o)
- Start date
MichaelBoyko
Me
I guess the only time Ive dealt with mice was trying to convince them the snake feeding tub was " a lot of fun"... ROFL - I'd bite me too.
Sorry to re-ask a question possibly covered before. But for size, large litters, and growth rate (all around good feeders) which mice are the best to use/breed?
Thanks!!
Sorry to re-ask a question possibly covered before. But for size, large litters, and growth rate (all around good feeders) which mice are the best to use/breed?
Thanks!!
Quigs
"Got R Did"
This is a little off topic, more just a drive by thought.
Mice are very intelligent creatures. What I have witnessed in my mouse colonies seems to be habit. They know, we come in every week and pull each one out and put them in a bucket for a few minutes and then they go back home to a clean cage.
I also take whole litters at a time. Many people warn against this practice and suggest you only take a few from each litter. I have females that I only take pinks from. Every week, I take the whole litter. These colonies have never shown any ill effect. Again, I think this has to do with habit.
It really doesn't seem to bother them. I can open tubs and most of the time all the mice come check me out, almost a greeting as such. Never try and climb out though.
Mice are very intelligent creatures. What I have witnessed in my mouse colonies seems to be habit. They know, we come in every week and pull each one out and put them in a bucket for a few minutes and then they go back home to a clean cage.
I also take whole litters at a time. Many people warn against this practice and suggest you only take a few from each litter. I have females that I only take pinks from. Every week, I take the whole litter. These colonies have never shown any ill effect. Again, I think this has to do with habit.
It really doesn't seem to bother them. I can open tubs and most of the time all the mice come check me out, almost a greeting as such. Never try and climb out though.
Taceas
USW = UB313
Quigs..I was going to say the same thing, or something along the lines of that, but I didn't want people thinking me any weirder for observing my mice long enough to know their habits.
I get enough flak from my friends for knowing that when I raised pigeons, their sexual habits aren't all that different than people.
I only have a couple of higher-than-normal strung mice who whizz by at the speed of light when I move the tub in the slightest. Mostly just the younger females who're pregnant with their first litters who seem to do it. But I've never actually had mice to leap out of the tub. That's their home, why leave?
When I pull the tub down, they'll come to inspect me and sniff my fingers, and I may get the occasional nibble, or I'll have a few that just want to be show-offs and try and walk around the edge of the tub while I've got it down.
As for taking a whole litter...for some reason I don't think that mice have the concept of missing their babies. I for one wouldn't want to nurse 10+ babies, and it has to be a lot of work. Usually after pulling an entire litter, the once-was mother is lounging and enjoying her time of being able to sleep in the nest without the writhing mass of babies. And usually, she gets a portion someone else's babies a day or so later.
Call me strange, but I try to categorize the babies I have between the different colonies. If one group has large fuzzies and someone gives birth, I know those newborns are likely going to starve. So I take the fuzzies and move them to another colony with babies of similar sizes and will move newborns or near newborns to a colony where there are already some.
It makes my life easier of remember which tub had the peach fuzzies and which one had the smallest of pinks. Not to mention it keeps all the babies healthy. And if I pull all of a group's litter, I'll split up another size with two many in the group between the colonies and more milk for everyone. So even though they don't have their own complete litter, they still have babies to attend to.
I get enough flak from my friends for knowing that when I raised pigeons, their sexual habits aren't all that different than people.
I only have a couple of higher-than-normal strung mice who whizz by at the speed of light when I move the tub in the slightest. Mostly just the younger females who're pregnant with their first litters who seem to do it. But I've never actually had mice to leap out of the tub. That's their home, why leave?
When I pull the tub down, they'll come to inspect me and sniff my fingers, and I may get the occasional nibble, or I'll have a few that just want to be show-offs and try and walk around the edge of the tub while I've got it down.
As for taking a whole litter...for some reason I don't think that mice have the concept of missing their babies. I for one wouldn't want to nurse 10+ babies, and it has to be a lot of work. Usually after pulling an entire litter, the once-was mother is lounging and enjoying her time of being able to sleep in the nest without the writhing mass of babies. And usually, she gets a portion someone else's babies a day or so later.
Call me strange, but I try to categorize the babies I have between the different colonies. If one group has large fuzzies and someone gives birth, I know those newborns are likely going to starve. So I take the fuzzies and move them to another colony with babies of similar sizes and will move newborns or near newborns to a colony where there are already some.
It makes my life easier of remember which tub had the peach fuzzies and which one had the smallest of pinks. Not to mention it keeps all the babies healthy. And if I pull all of a group's litter, I'll split up another size with two many in the group between the colonies and more milk for everyone. So even though they don't have their own complete litter, they still have babies to attend to.
I don't really re-arrange mouse pups~ just because in my expeirience mice are hatefull and will sometimes kill the new pups if they don't smell like thier colony. I do it with rats all the time though.
As for dashing out of the tub~ I don't really have a problem with that either. If it is a problem it is usually with a young animal. They do learn. They all dash to the front of the tub if I just open the tub partway and look for a treat. Got to watch some of them~ I've got a few females that get so excited about a snack they will grab the plate~ napkin or my hand and try to run off before another rat can take the snack!! The only time I ever pull the tub out completely is on cleaning day~ and the rats learn to run to the back of the tub and jump over into the clean tub when I lean the old tub over. The mice never really get that convenient~ they just stand around and wait for me to pick them up. Babies of both mice and rats are just hard to catch. I keep a cat whose job is to ensure anything I drop is caught right away. She's very good at her job!! And I'm very fast so I rarely drop a rodent!
As far as what breed~ some people go for Swiss websters or other lab strains. All of mine are just fancies~ I like to breed for color and form. I'll try to get pics up soon. I've got lots of great colors in both the rats and mice.
As for dashing out of the tub~ I don't really have a problem with that either. If it is a problem it is usually with a young animal. They do learn. They all dash to the front of the tub if I just open the tub partway and look for a treat. Got to watch some of them~ I've got a few females that get so excited about a snack they will grab the plate~ napkin or my hand and try to run off before another rat can take the snack!! The only time I ever pull the tub out completely is on cleaning day~ and the rats learn to run to the back of the tub and jump over into the clean tub when I lean the old tub over. The mice never really get that convenient~ they just stand around and wait for me to pick them up. Babies of both mice and rats are just hard to catch. I keep a cat whose job is to ensure anything I drop is caught right away. She's very good at her job!! And I'm very fast so I rarely drop a rodent!
As far as what breed~ some people go for Swiss websters or other lab strains. All of mine are just fancies~ I like to breed for color and form. I'll try to get pics up soon. I've got lots of great colors in both the rats and mice.
Quigs
"Got R Did"
In fact I'm fairly certain I have seen smiles on momma faces and heard the "wheew.." sigh of relief after they have discovered I have taken ALL the babies!Taceas said:
I tend to take certain sizes from certain tubs. Soon I will have racks for sizes, just haven't gotten that far yet. (Although, I am picking up a bunch of tubs tomorrow morn.) I often wonder though, since mice are intelligent and definately creatures of habit. If I have a colony that I only pull fuzzies from and then say an extra week or two passes where they have hoppers or even weanlings, if that has any adverse effect on the breeders. Since they are used to me pulling all fuzzies all the time. Just a thought. I do honestly really enjoy raising mice, perhaps too much.
I don't segregate babies. I literally take whole litters and then they are off til they pop some more. Now, I have been known in the past to take runts out and toss them in with other moms with smaller litters or no babes at all. Sometimes this happens with bigger litters, one or two just don't get to feed. Actually, my assumption is this happens more often than I realize, but it just depends if I catch them in time or not. I'd be willing to bet nature takes it's course more often than I intervine.
Now if there are two or more litters of different ages in say one of my fuzzie colonies. I'll take the fuzzies and give the pinks another week. Most of my mice are on the same birthing scedule though. I have two good weeks and drop a week. Not always but quite often. (Yes, I'm a geek about it, I chart what goes on and what I harvest each week...along with an expense report.)
With my next rack I will be experimenting a bit with the introduction of females. I plan to stagger them in. My theory is, I will get babies every week then out of at least one female and I'll never have the drop week. We'll see.