My 1st litter!!!

[danigurrl]

My female Jelly just had her 1st litter last night! 7 adorable little pinkies. I'm going to let them grow into fuzzies. They are so damn cute!! I almost feel guilty breeding them for Kahn's dinner. But hey...as it says in Finding Nemo "Fish got to swim, birds got to eat." My other female Butters is nesting, she should give birth any day. (I have 3 females, Peanut, Butters, and Jelly. LoL. And my 1 male mouse, Mack.) Mack is with Peanut right now, hopefully making me some more mice.

I'm happy, this is my 1st mouse litter! :crazy02:

I'm not sure how fast baby mice grow, or how long it'll take them to become fuzzies. This is a learn-as-you-go experience for me.

 

[Bobo's Mama]

I'm so happy for you! Its wonderful to hear of someone else's enthusiasm. A lot of breeders here are so used to breeding that its no big deal. Don't be surprised if you see Mack trying get with Jelly tonight. Females go into heat right after they give birth and WILL get pregnant again. Before you know it you will be overrun with pinkies! Not really a bad thing, since you can freeze the left overs for later. It will take them about 8 or 9 days to become fuzzies. Good luck with the others!

 

[danigurrl]

Right now all my mice are in separate plastic shoe boxes with their own nesting areas, water bowls, food etc. I'm waiting on a 10 gallon tank to put them all in. My boyfriend's old fish tank is in his mother's shed and we haven't been by there yet to grab it.


:-offtopic I'm sorry to kinda hijack my own thread, but if I keep my 3 females and one male in a 10 gallon tank, do I need to cover the tank? Its glass, I don't think they could climb out, but I'm just checking. haha. I don't feel like spending another $10 on a cover if I don't need to.

 

[Bobo's Mama]

You should get a cover because they do climb quite a bit. They will climb on the water bottle and jump up to the top and climb out. It's worth the $10.

 

[danigurrl]

You should get a cover because they do climb quite a bit. They will climb on the water bottle and jump up to the top and climb out. It's worth the $10.

I don't use water bottles. I use water dishes. haha. There won't be anything to climb on unless they climb at glass.

 

[SnakeCreations]

mice housing

I don't use water bottles. I use water dishes. haha. There won't be anything to climb on unless they climb at glass.

Hi Dani!!

Congrats...it's always fun to get new litters! Mine are housed in 10 gallons as well, 4-5 females to one male.

You would be SHOCKED at how high they can jump! It would be very sad to go in one day and find one gone

It is definately worth it, especially if you have other animals than can climb in!

My .02 :grin01:

Tonya

 

[curiousL]

Wait until they become hoppers and that is when they can really jump. I have seen it, they are pretty quick at that age too so you wouldn't want one getting out and running off. Good luck with the 1st litter.

 

[danigurrl]

Update:

Actually I have an update. I totally forgot that I had an empty 29g high top tank in my heated basement! (I had to buy a 55 gallon tank since I have an Oscar fish...damn she grew fast!) So I've moved all the mice (except Jelly, she's still in her plastic shoe box with the babies) into the 29g tank downstairs.

The tank sits on 3 or 4 layers of towels on an old rug because I was afraid the cool cement floor would crack the tank, so the bottom is insulated. I filled it with Woody Pet (I used it for my bunny and guinea pig, and they don't stink at all) and got the mice 4 little cheap plastic houses to nest in. I also put lots of shredded newspaper and soft paper towels in there for them to make beds out of. I'll be getting some paper towel and TP rolls as they become available so they have something to munch on.

Its a perfect set up! They are within 2 feet of the furnace so they'll be nice and warm (probably around 60-65 degrees.) And they are out of my bedroom!

I'll keep Jelly in her plastic shoe box until I remove the babies in a week or so. I don't want to disrupt her. Then I'll move her into the 29g with the other 2 girls and boy.

 

[tcr03]

got a guestion about breeding mice. im only going to have one corn snake. is it worth me breeding mice. i think i will have more mice than i know what to do with.

 

[SnakeCreations]

Breeding Mice

got a guestion about breeding mice. im only going to have one corn snake. is it worth me breeding mice. i think i will have more mice than i know what to do with.

Hi Tc

Just depends upon what you want to do and how available mice are in your area.

I personally enjoy breeding and taking care of my mice colonies as much as I do taking care of my snakes. I have approximately 10 snakes, from hatchlings to adults, so I like having pinkies to adults available.

If it were up to my husband we wouldn't have mice, rats or guinea pigs at all. He can't stand rodents or their smell despite how clean I keep them.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is your choice.

Good luck!

Tonya :crazy02:

 

[tcr03]

well i live in st. louis. i can get mice easy. i just dont want to be over ran with a bunch of mice, just to feed one baby corn

 

[Jessicat]

Then don't breed mice. Keeping them is probably more work than it's worth if you only have one snake. Just because you have a pair of mice doesn't necessarily mean they will breed nicely for you either; even if they do produce for you you'll have to care for them for awhile until you actually see babies.
Unless you think you'd really enjoy keeping mice and are willing to dedicate time out of your day to care for them I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[danigurrl]

Just one more annoucement...my other pregnant female just gave birth to 13 little pinkies sometime last night! Thats all the pinkies for now, my 3rd female isnt due for a while...if shes even pregnant, we don't know yet. Okay...I'm done. :cheers:

 

[SnakeLuvrs]

you dont get attached to the mice? all the work to breed them...and the names...i would

 

[danigurrl]

you dont get attached to the mice? all the work to breed them...and the names...i would

I haven't fed Kahn any of my home-grown micelings yet. But its nature. I'm a vet science major in college, so the whole 'circle of life' thing facinates me. I don't think I could name the pinkies, but I named my breeders because I have no intention of feeding them to Kahn. Kahn is still a baby, he's just starting to eat fuzzies (I gave him his 1st fuzzy yesterday.) I think it'll be a while until he eats full grown mice.

 

[manog]

Danigurll,

You mentioned earlier that you kept them in plastic shoe boxes. How did this work for you? I am thinking of breeding but dont want to invest a lot to start with incase it isnt something i want to continue doing. I spent $28 on mice this week and am thinking that it is time to look into breeding them. I have 2 adults, 3 '05's (two are eating fuzzys one is eating pinks still) and 10 baby snakes on the way (due to hatch in a month) What do you think?



P.s. sorry to hijack your thread, but i figure it goes along with what you mentioned earlier

 

[Baba-Lou]

i have one colony in a cage and have my weanlings in 2 sperate storage containers. and so ny setup works fine.

 

[SnakeCreations]

Colonies

Danigurll,

You mentioned earlier that you kept them in plastic shoe boxes. How did this work for you? I am thinking of breeding but dont want to invest a lot to start with incase it isnt something i want to continue doing. I spent $28 on mice this week and am thinking that it is time to look into breeding them. I have 2 adults, 3 '05's (two are eating fuzzys one is eating pinks still) and 10 baby snakes on the way (due to hatch in a month) What do you think?
P.s. sorry to hijack your thread, but i figure it goes along with what you mentioned earlier

Hi Chris!

I agree with Dani, any container will do as long as it's easily cleaned. My hubby hates rodent smell, so I clean - a lot I didn't want a huge investment either, so I utilized old aquariums we had setting around. Then found a petstore going out of business and bought some of their old cages. I'm sure if you look around at secondhand stores you'll find all sorts of things that will do!

Good Luck!

-Tonya

 

[danigurrl]

Danigurll,

You mentioned earlier that you kept them in plastic shoe boxes. How did this work for you? I am thinking of breeding but dont want to invest a lot to start with incase it isnt something i want to continue doing. I spent $28 on mice this week and am thinking that it is time to look into breeding them. I have 2 adults, 3 '05's (two are eating fuzzys one is eating pinks still) and 10 baby snakes on the way (due to hatch in a month) What do you think?



P.s. sorry to hijack your thread, but i figure it goes along with what you mentioned earlier

The shoe boxes worked well (and cheap, $1.19ea at Walmart!)...but the mice had to be separated since the containers are so small. Get a bigger Sterilite container that you can keep the mice together. My 1st female mouse had her little in the shoe box (she's still in there with her fuzzies) and she's doing well. I had an old 29g aquarium sitting in my basement, which I use for my other mice (2 females, one male. Soon to be 3:1 when I put Jelly back with the colony.) The aquarium is working much better because all the mice help each other take care of the babies. You can get 10g aquariums at Walmart for under $10.