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New Setup For Breeding (DUW)

HoosierHerper

HoosierHerper

Josh
As promised to a few people, here are some pictures of my brand spankin' new setup! It cost UNDER $30 total, w/bedding, not including the animals...

Basically three drawers($13), top is mice, middle ASF, bottom if to house the males in while female raising up some pinkies...empty for now, storage :)
Cornsnake014.jpg


Top Drawer, my two fancy mice, $.50 pottery bottom food dish in the back, a hole is sodered into the side for the nozzle of the water bottle. (They ALREADY threw around the bedding when I took this...)
Cornsnake016.jpg


Middle Drawer, my ASFs...same food dish, same water bottle setup, need to pick them up a wheel (Walmarts only one was too big)
Cornsnake017.jpg


Water bottles are simply affixed with velcro. It is plenty strong enough to hold these, they are 8oz. bottles. 4ft of velcro adhesive was right at $5.
Bottles were like...$1.87 or so.
Cornsnake018.jpg


My "locking mechanism" (for now:))...
Cornsnake019.jpg


KEY TOOL: SOLDERING IRON! Invaluable if you are doing tubs for your snakes too...pics of those are coming in about 15 min. :D

Questions? Comments? Let me know...
Thanks,
Josh
 
One question though:

Do the insides of the tubs have any edges where they might be able to chew a hole? If so... well you might be in trouble.

A while back we realized we had a mouse getting into stuff and since I didn't really want to kill it we decided to use live traps and keep it in the same kind of tub that we use to house snakes in. Well, the near the handle set up is an edge and that little jerk chewed its way out and ruined my tub! It didn't get far, it ended right back up in one of the traps. :p

But anyway, you might want to watch that. We took extreme care with our rats when we bought them a tub. (these are our pet rats, not feeder/breeder rats)

I do like your set up though, I'll have to look into something like this for when I do my set up! Thanks so much for posting pictures, Josh. :cool:
 
No problem...the good thing about the two species I am breeding...fancy mouse, and the ASFs is they are relatively "small"...
It's hard to tell with the pics, but the walls are about 3.5-4X as tall as the mouse is when it's on hind legs...
Now if the entire bottle were inside the tub, seems like the LOVE climbing on those, and could easily get to a height to chew on an edge...but with that eliminated, and with the height of the walls I think these rodents should be ok.
There is a guy that has something like this on another site...(Not my original idea...I meant to indicate that) and he has the individual drawers that are stackable...he is like 6'5" and stacks them up really high...they have worked for him for a while...
I will definitely be watching for any signs of chewing for the first few weeks...but I give them TP rolls and they chew the hell out of those :D

Hope they helped!
Josh
 
All right, just warning. :D I do think it's a good setup and plan to copy-cat it... so don't think I was putting you down! ;)
 
So...you didn't need to add any more ventilation?

Because I have a set of those same drawers and was wondering about using them.
 
The more ventilation they have the less they'll smell. :shrugs: If you can I would go ahead and put some more holes in it, unless they're going to be in a location where it doesn't matter if they get a little more stinky.

When we could take the lid off our rat's enclosure they stunk a lot less. Unfortunately one of them discovered that if she jumped she would be able to get out. I caught her sitting on the edge of the container... Needless to say now that it has to be closed it smells more when you open the lid. We put in more holes and it's a LOT better.

Just something to think about. :)
 
I may have to do that with the fancy mice...the ASFs are known for not stinking...like at all :) So...if when my corns get a little bigger, they like the ASFs, I will just switch to them...but for now you're right, the reg.mice...which is what fancy mice are...will probably start stinkin' eventually...
But as far as "enough ventilation" I thought she meant to breathe and live :)
Wasn't even thinking about the smell...yet...lol
 
That looks great, Josh! :dancer: I've always wondered what a set up of mine would look like if I decided to breed my own.... I might be stealing this awesome idea sometime in the future :D
 
Do you have a empty tank or somewhere to place the mice when its clean up time? They will find a favorite spot and mess it up pretty bad with urine and poop. Also about the bathroom part will the plastic stain or hold the smell? I just think glass is better to house mice since its non-porous and you don't have to worry with chewing. I have seen plastic racks with the 2X4 and 2X2 wood legs and slide bars but haven't asked the guy if its easy to clean. Good luck with your rack system!
 
Every breeding rack I have ever seen uses plastic tubs...the insides are like..."textured" I guess would be the word? They are smooth...so I would imagine that it will wipe clean like a glass tank...
And yes, I have a 5 and a 10 gal tank that are out of use now, and will be used for keeping them in for a brief period when I am cleaning them out.
 
Great setup! I've been looking into maybe breeding mice if I get anymore snakes... I'll definitely keep this in mind, since we have a couple of those same storage things sitting around in the garage.

Concerning the ventilation, I would think they would need more. After all, mice get pretty stinky... Mine are terrible, and they're in a plain-old wire cage, so plenty of ventilation there. Instead of soldering holes they might chew out of, though, I've been wondering if you could just cut out a square of plastic (or melt out, whatever works!) and silicon/melt a piece of hardware cloth/mesh over the hole (probably on the inside, with all sharp edges completely covered to keep them away from the plastic edge). It might be a bit messy if you put the hole too close to the bedding, but I think it may actually work. It doesn't seem like mice would be able to chew out through a metal mesh, but, then, I guess I wouldn't know! :)
 
Sounds like a great setup! I will be interested to see how it works out for you. One thing that helps with smell is putting a couple drops of vanilla in their water. I keep water with vanilla made up to refill my water bottles and it really helps. Right now I only have one pair of mice, however in the next month I plan on getting 8 more female mice and 2 more males so I will have plenty of pinkies for my 4 batches of hatchlings I'm expecting. I only want to raise them when it is warm enought to keep them in the garage. Way to stinky to keep that many in the house for too long.

Also what is ASF mice and where do you get them?
 
ASF's aren't mice, they're rats. ASF stands for African Soft Furred Rats. It can be difficult finding a breeder as they aren't a standard rodent you find at pet stores. Your best bet is to post that you're looking for some on a forum to try and connect with a breeder (and also check out your state reptile shows).
 
I don't want to be a downer but the asfs will get out in short order. I have a few colonies and only glass holds them.
 
great set-up =]
..but there is a risk u are taking of the rats and mice getting loose
they tend to chew and scratch through plastic quite often
if i were you i would be very observant to ensure no one gets out
 
They can't chew out unless there's a lip or edge for them to get their teeth onto. At least in my experience.

My pet rats live in a large sterilite tub with no edges and they can't get out. :shrugs:
 
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