Should I call it quits?

[graffixcs]

I do not know if my method is the best or not but this is what I did just recently as I had exactly the same thing happen, allthough I did get some bad mice that wiped out half my colonies.

I too have local stores that seem to have only one sex in stock, so I got 3 males from one store, 6 females from the other and started 3 lots of 1:2 colonies. I let them go for a month to see which ones were showing signs of reproducing and then fed off the seemingly slow starters (who knows if they would ever breed). Once I got babies from the good breeders I kept a few back that will replace the once recently fed off. (my theory is that they came from good breeders, so why won't they be as well).

This way will take a little longer to get a healthy, established few colonies so buying frozen feeders is still a necessity for a while, but the path is layed down so to speak.

The main reason I am producing my own is to have live pinkies on hand for those problem starters, or to "kick start" anyone that may go off their feed. Economically it works out pretty much the same when doing it in relatively small lots (say 3 or 4 colonies) as buying in F/T.

 

[dionythicus]

I am so glad that my hubby is allergic to rodents and that we have several local pet stores that breed mice for reptile owners. I couldn't put up with the headache of keeping a colony.

I hope it all works out.

 

[JTGoff69]

Don't know if this will help you out any? :shrugs: We have three different Petsmart stores within about 20 minutes of my town. I also noticed that one sold only males, but another one sells only females. So if there's a second Petsmart nearby, you might want to give them a buzz and see if they happen to sell females.

Yeah, we (Petsmart) only sell one sex per store so we don't have a population explosion. There are usually 3 stores close to each other, so at least 1 of the others will sell the opposite sex. The thing that sucks is people will return rodents to us from the other stores and we can't put them back out for sale, they have to be adopted out which can take some time. But another option for you all that raise colonies, ask at your local Petsmart if they happen to have any that need to be adopted out in the sex that you need. There's nothing wrong with them, (most people decide they can't deal with the smell) they just can't be put back in "general population".

 

[mbdorfer]

Yeah, we (Petsmart) only sell one sex per store so we don't have a population explosion. There are usually 3 stores close to each other, so at least 1 of the others will sell the opposite sex. The thing that sucks is people will return rodents to us from the other stores and we can't put them back out for sale, they have to be adopted out which can take some time. But another option for you all that raise colonies, ask at your local Petsmart if they happen to have any that need to be adopted out in the sex that you need. There's nothing wrong with them, (most people decide they can't deal with the smell) they just can't be put back in "general population".

That's interesting to know, Jen. I always assumed all Petsmarts sold only males. There are 2 Petsmarts in Clearwater and they both have only male rodents, I thought it was to inhibit budding young breeders and limit the competition :shrugs:

 

[mbdorfer]

I am not ressurrecting this thread!

But I do believe in correcting myself when I'm wrong. I was in the North Clearwater Petsmart today and they do indeed sell female rodents. :wavey: