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Other rodents?

waldo

waldo

Crazy Tarantula Lady
I'm thinking about breeding my own feeders but I hate mice, they smell and rats are bigger then what I want. Can I use gerbils?
 
Why not try South African multimammate mice. They weigh around 65g when adult size, around 3 times larger than normal mice , and produce up to 22 babies a time . They can breed at 33 day intervals and are almost odourless... Cute wee things too!
 
because there is no such thing where I live. I can get mice, rats, hamsters and gerbils. There isn't exactly a demand for exotic rodents in my small town. Thanks for the suggestion though, I wouldn't mind trying some if the were available locally. I'll have to ask if the pet store can order some.
 
Multimammate Mice, or African Soft Furred Rats, are starting to turn up more in the midwest. I just bought a trio at a local reptile show.
 
...and yes you can use gerbils, though you might end up with a snake that won't eat anything else.
 
Hamsters are fine too. Syrians usually have pretty large litters averaging 10-20. I used to breed these as pets. But personally I'd find it very hard to feed them off especially if they're fuzzies or older. They're just so darn cute!
 
Aren't Syrians harder to keep in groups? If you want to do hamsters Id say try dwarf hamsters, they;re more social and can be kept together in male-female pairs or multiple females with one male. I was going to try dwarf hamsters but ended up with the african soft furred rats instead. They were actually easier to find at a decent price than the dwarf hamsters.
 
I'd never do hamsters, I hate those nasty things. I went ahead and picked up a pair of mice for the time being. I still may get some gerbils in the future though, my daughter has always liked them and the breeders could be her pets. I only have 2 snakes so I don't need a lot of feeders. Thanks for all the replies:)
 
Use pelleted bedding and the smell doesn't get TOO bad. Like aspen supreme, alfalfa pellets, woody pet, or yesterdays news unscented cat litter pellets. I use woody pet with my mice to keep the smell down.
 
Flagg said:
Aren't Syrians harder to keep in groups? If you want to do hamsters Id say try dwarf hamsters, they;re more social and can be kept together in male-female pairs or multiple females with one male. I was going to try dwarf hamsters but ended up with the african soft furred rats instead. They were actually easier to find at a decent price than the dwarf hamsters.
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Syrians shouldn't be kept in groups. The male and female are only introduced during mating. But the litter size of syrians are usually larger than the litter size of dwarves with the same gestation period. Also, because they're not housed together you can choose to give the female some time to rest between litters.
 
I used gerbils for a long time...thinking about getting a pair again. They are great. They don't smell nearly as bad as mice. Only problem is the pinks are too big for hatchling snakes. You'd still have to use mouse pinks. But they work good for snakes that take young rats, they're about that size as adults.
 
One of the problems i am facing with my mice is the cold weather. I have to keep them outside (in a covered shed) and the temps have been getting down to 50. I am wondering if Russian Hamsters would breed better when the weather got cooler? Any one have any idea about this? Also, how is hamster smell compared to mice smell?
 
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