-
Hello!
Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.
Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....
Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.
Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.
Take Two
- Thread starter mbdorfer
- Start date
carol
Down with the sickness
How often do you change the chow? If it is on the ground like that, they really won't eat it unless it's changed everyday, and even then, if chow is left on soild substrate, they won't eat it either (unless they are starving). Lack of food (or lack of food they are willing to eat) can often cause canniblism. I also found that with pregnant females it has helped a lot to supliment their mouse chow with a good quality dog food. I used Kirkland Supreme Chicken Dog Food from Coscto, it is very high quality and $13 for 40lbs. It would probably be best to make some sort of hanging wire container to feed them through. My hubby made one out of PVC pipe with a wire mesh at the bottom, that way they couldn't climb it and soil that too.
carol
Down with the sickness
That could be part of the problem. I don't know what experiances others have had with that, but over here if I feed them like that, they eat to live but don't eat to thrive. Before I had the "pipe feeders", if I didn't change their food every day, they stayed pretty lean and always ate their young.
Taceas
USW = UB313
My mice have to eat their chow through hardware cloth nowadays, but before I just dropped it in a bowl when they were in aquariums. They ate it up and I added more.
But I have noticed with the dozen or so weaner mice in the 20 gal I've got, they collect the chow blocks and stash it all over in a corner where nobody poos. My rats do the same thing, empty the bowl and stash it in a clean corner.
I tried the bin style feeders for ferrets, and they worked ok, but the nasty critters climbed to the top and pissed all down the sides. After a few weeks it eventually reached the food in the tray at the bottom. I was never so happy to have a rack than to end the slimy water bottles and bins. If they want to piss on their own food, they can do it on the floor. =P
Like Carol, I do suppliment their lab blocks with high quality dog/cat food (Nutros) once a week when they got cleaned out. Has good omega fatty acids for pregnant females (or so the human baby books tell me).
But your setup doesn't look at all unlike mine when I started out. Although mine were in a 20 gallon longs. The bigger the tank, the less often you have to clean it out. But at least Aspen Supreme works great for that. I just wish it wasn't so heavy on my rack tubs.
But I have noticed with the dozen or so weaner mice in the 20 gal I've got, they collect the chow blocks and stash it all over in a corner where nobody poos. My rats do the same thing, empty the bowl and stash it in a clean corner.
I tried the bin style feeders for ferrets, and they worked ok, but the nasty critters climbed to the top and pissed all down the sides. After a few weeks it eventually reached the food in the tray at the bottom. I was never so happy to have a rack than to end the slimy water bottles and bins. If they want to piss on their own food, they can do it on the floor. =P
Like Carol, I do suppliment their lab blocks with high quality dog/cat food (Nutros) once a week when they got cleaned out. Has good omega fatty acids for pregnant females (or so the human baby books tell me).
But your setup doesn't look at all unlike mine when I started out. Although mine were in a 20 gallon longs. The bigger the tank, the less often you have to clean it out. But at least Aspen Supreme works great for that. I just wish it wasn't so heavy on my rack tubs.
cornykids
New member
Picture of a "hanging wire thing to feed them through"
Some of you guys mentioned contraptions to hang the food in:
Carol mentioned "some sort of hanging wire container [that her husband made] to feed them through" with PVC pipe and wire mesh
and
Taceas mentioned a "1/4" hardware cloth"
I guess I am a little challenged when it comes to picturing these things but I am interested in "re-creating" them for my little colony. Any chance either of you (or someone else) has a picture of one of these? I would love to see some examples!
Thank you!
Kathy "corny kids mom"
Some of you guys mentioned contraptions to hang the food in:
Carol mentioned "some sort of hanging wire container [that her husband made] to feed them through" with PVC pipe and wire mesh
and
Taceas mentioned a "1/4" hardware cloth"
I guess I am a little challenged when it comes to picturing these things but I am interested in "re-creating" them for my little colony. Any chance either of you (or someone else) has a picture of one of these? I would love to see some examples!
Thank you!
Kathy "corny kids mom"
Joni Garcia
Gotta love 'em!
Feeder Tube Idea
Mike and Kathy... I know there are lots of different feeder tube designs out there, but here's what I made for our mice and rats. They're inexpensive to make and work great too. Initially, they didn't have caps on the top. One little mouse liked to hop up to the top, unload the food, get in the tube, go to the bathroom and make a big mess. The caps solved that problem. I love our feeder tubes.
Rat Feeder Tube (left) Mice Feeder Tube (right)
Mike and Kathy... I know there are lots of different feeder tube designs out there, but here's what I made for our mice and rats. They're inexpensive to make and work great too. Initially, they didn't have caps on the top. One little mouse liked to hop up to the top, unload the food, get in the tube, go to the bathroom and make a big mess. The caps solved that problem. I love our feeder tubes.
Rat Feeder Tube (left) Mice Feeder Tube (right)
Attachments
Quigs
"Got R Did"
cornykids said:
I don't have a picture because I don't use them myself. Although, I do use a rack system with 1/4" hardware cloth on top, where the food is placed.
What I'm thinking is, basically a small box made by bending the wire mesh. It will have to have some sort of "lockable" lid to it as well. Although at first glance the 1/4" mesh spacing seems small, it does work and the mice can eat their block from it just fine. Anything bigger, they will gnaw the blocks down until they can pull large pieces out. Leaving you essentially in the same boat as you began with.
Another thought about how to "stitch" up the sides of this feeder. You might look to small animal or bird caging suppliers. They make these little clips that you bend (with pliers) around two pieces of mesh to close a seam securely while being very safe for the animals with no pointy things sticking out. I'll look for a link or at least a pic of what I'm talking about.
Hope that helps a little bit to better paint the picture.
Mike -
Caleb is doing great, thanks for asking. We've had some rough nights but for the most part all is well so we really don't have any room to complain. His first doctor's appointment was last friday and in just a week after he was born, he gained 3/4 of a pound. He's eating 4-5 ounces almost every 4 hours like clockwork. His doctor said that is normal for a 1-2 month old....Caleb is now 2 and 1/2 WEEKS! lol I'll try and put up a few new pics of our little man in the other thread this evening.
Q