Well I took the plunge

[rockmonky]

I finally talked my girlfriend into letting me breed mice (she hates them)
So yesterday I read up on it for 5 hours trying to get any tips and tricks
I went to Home Depot today and got a cement tub and some 1/4 screen and then to petco and got 5 females and 1 male then came home and fashioned a top for the tub. I put in 3 tp rolls and a few plastic blocks of my sons
I just put the water nozzle though the screen, is that going to be to high for them or will they just clime up to get it?
And after a hour they already stink!! Glad there in the basement
Hopefully in a month or so we will have some nice little pinkys

TIM

 

[Tula_Montage]

how do you plan on killing them?

and do you feel right about raising the mice then feeding them to the snake... sounds a bit silly but i couldnt do it!! tis a brave thing to do in my mind.

 

[rockmonky]

I don't want to get in to the euthanasia of them. there seems to be a debate on what is best I am going to use mostly just pinky's from them so I am going to do what allot of people do for pinks and fuzzys

As for having a problem killing them. I will not
they are breed to the circle of life just like the hamburger I had for dinner last night

TIM

 

[stangs13]

the paper towel rolls wilol be shredded pretty fast ,lol.Actually depends on the mice ,lol.And the wood would be used as a chew toy also.Get a iglue to sleep in a big one made for giune pigs will work or you can get a small one and it will be very cozy for them.I got a small one for my 4 that resently past on (they were my pets) and they had room for anothr in there.get another 10 gallon so you can put the male in when done breeding so he dosnt eat the pinkies.

 

[crazyforcorns]

My daughter and I also just decided to take the plunge. In reference to the males eating the babies, my research proved that males actually help tend to the young.

Which is true??

Thanks
Kathy

 

[ratsncorns]

I have always left the males in with the females, as they do help them out. But like anything, there are exceptions.

 

[rockmonky]

Well my luck has not been the best so far I had one female die the day after I got them so I replaced her mid week and last night another one died.
They have plenty of food but it seems like there not drinking much water I originally had the bottle coming in the top of the tub though the mesh but I don't think they found it so after a day I drilled a hole in the side of the tub but it still sits at a little bit of angle. In the last week they have only drank about 1.5" of water from there bottle I would have thought they would drink more?
Any thoughts?
Thanks TIM

 

[Baba-Lou]

They are drinking the water. So thats good. Good an eye on them. Not to mention sometimes Some petstores have a thing with selling mice to old to breed, or close to breeding end for them. I always ask the petstore here how old they think the mice could be. But Breeding mice long enough to eyeball age is pretty good for me. What ticks me off is they feed all Their rodents Hamster/Gerbal food. So oh well. I've learned that if they bring in new mice get them on Friday Afternoon Saturday morning. That way I know how old the mice are and That they havn't lived in those conditions for to long. Yes sometimes some do feed Mice Hamster Gerbal food. But the food they give them is so poor for them.

 

[schilsound]

I would be very very careful in drilling any kind of holes in rodent tubs; given the inclination and enough time they can use ANY aperature to start cheking the hole larger, regardless of whatever chewing items you may have left them.

In my screentop rubbermaid tub racks I use an inverted cat litter pan [about $1 @ your local superstore of choice] to insure that the rodents can get to the top of the mesh and reach the food. I topfeed through the mesh so as to eliminate any issues with mice with fecal matter on their feet stomping through their food- This also lets them easily reach the nipple on the temporary water bottles I am using until my autodrip watering system is installed.

Your females deaths could be caused by any number of factors; it's possible your entire starter colony has been exposed to some sort of illnes or another. Stress, excess heat and many other issues can be a factor as well; I suggest you stick it out and don't give up- if these don't make it scrub out the tub, replace all the fixtures after bleaching and a heavy wash, and try another source for your rodents if possible.

Some pet suppliers are notorious for taking leftover lab breeders and second rate rodents on the basis that they are meant for feed purposes, not pet/breeding stock, and some of them have not had an easy or good life, regardless of how healthy they appear to be.

I would also suggest purchasing the best quality food you can find. I recommend 2018 Teklad Global 18% Protein Rodent Diet from Harlan. it goes a long way to bringing a malnourished rodent back to good health rapidly.

This could have some bearing on your stock as well... in any case I hope your colony recovers, breeds, and multiplies for you.

As an extra option you can check this out;

http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/

I use this method to freeze my feeders if I have extra stock on hand so that I can feed as f/t later- it's an alternative if you don't care to take the risk to feed live rodents to your snakes. It's also a way to humanely end any suffering of sick mice [if you should notice any untoward outward signs] instead of feeding a sick rodent to your snakes.

Hope this helps!

 

[rockmonky]

They are from petco so they came from gormet Rodent
when I got them they were big hopper size
I didn't like putting the hole in the side but I didn't see them using there water at all I was thinking about putting a small shoe box tub in upside down so they can use it to reach the food/water and use it as a nice hide that I don't have to dump out to check on them
how much water should a 5/1 colony use in a week

Thanks for the help
TIM

 

[rockmonky]

Oh yea
I am using the lab blocks that Petco sells in bulk and thats what is feed at the store

TIM

 

[Baba-Lou]

Depends I have a 1.5 and a 1.3 and my 1.3 goes through more water then my 1.5. I've noticed it totally depends on the mice them selves.

 

[crazyforcorns]

do you have any problems as the males mature fighting for territory? Do you remove the males at a certain age and just leave one breeding male in the colony?

I bought a pregnant female, a male and another we thought we female, but I have my doubts now, after seeing him run around the aquarium.

I was thinking of removing the younger male, and starting a new colony for him once the babies are born and matured.

Or do you think they'll all be ok.

I try to think what it is like in the wild mouse world when there can be thousands of mice scurrying at one given time.

 

[Baba-Lou]

check the one running around. It is totally possible its a male.

 

[rockmonky]

Well i got more GREAT news :shrugs: :shrugs:

The one that died right after I got them must have been the male and I didn't notice until after I got another female today and while I was at petco I got another female for our big bloodred that has been "in the season" and of course he didn't eat it so now I have 7 females and no males
And I got them a med size food tub to put under there food and water
My colony keeps growing but not from reproduction :sobstory:
TIM

 

[Penman6668]

Quick question

What is a good age to buy for breeder mice and if you buy them from a local reptile show (alive of course) are they good for breeding? They are a lot cheaper than pet stores.

 

[schilsound]

What is a good age to buy for breeder mice and if you buy them from a local reptile show (alive of course) are they good for breeding? They are a lot cheaper than pet stores.

Well any weanling [larger than a hopper, with a longer body like an adult yet still smaller than a full size adult] can go on their own and be ready to reproduce within a couple weeks usually.

One thing to remember [seeing this in a lot of threads] is that mice may not breed immediately.

Oh, they'll have sex- they sure will. . . try doing ANYTHING that requires concentration while THAT'S goin' on. ~sheesh~

But if you keep adding to/subtracting from, or constantly disturbing/changing the surroundings of the colony they may not produce offspring for some time.

Temperature, food, and noise level of the environs can affect their breeding pattern as well, but usually a lot of problems are introduced into colonies with more than one male. Fighting, injury of females [from smelling like another male after mating], and of course they are BOTH marking their territory so the urine levels can rise to ungodly levels. . . .

just stick to 1.xxx and it will go much better for everyone. And yes; I have kept up to 1.6 in a 10 gallon- plenty of room with no issues regarding cannibalism. . . once again they're a colony, so the females should help the birth mother.

Another note on food; the stuff that you get at petco, spetsmart, and your local mom and pop petstore in the plain white bags is usually a lab block more suited for Rats and gerbils- a lot of times that ash content is way way too high for the tiny bodies of mice- I highly recommend using something pro level [aka REAL lab blocks; so named for their high quality manufacture and their ingredients] like Harlan or Mazuri.

And finally- if the mice make an ammoniatic urine what do you think the addition of an acidic liquid [like vinegar] will do to the urine? Man oh MAN I cannot figure out where some people get their ideas or info, but I think somewhere in the back of a pet store some pranksters are laughing their butts off. . .

take a look at the bottom of this post- I'm upping a pic of mice sex so the constant issue of male vs female can be solved. Note that the males can retract their testicles [they frequently do] so you may not see them, or they may appear as a flap of pink tissue and not what we'd expect from virile males. Hope this image helps.

 

[rockmonky]

Thanks for all the great advice schilsound
I checked them again today and they are all females the picture was very helpfull
What it a good suppler for good lab blocks?


Thanks TIM