worried

[Serpent2007]

im new to breedin mice and one of my females is ready to explode and im a bit worried shes barely moving round the place and is very sluggish is this normal.do i have to give her a nesting substance or will the substrate do?thanks

 

[dawnrenee2000]

What kind of substrate are you using? Does she have any hides in there for some solitude to lay in?

 

[Serpent2007]

small animal wood shavings......ya i have log hides

 

[howhigh402]

I would put a small box in there that with papertowels that she can go in to give birth...make sure to give her lots of water to

 

[dawnrenee2000]

Mice prefer softer substances. I have in the put papertowels in their cage that they can then chew up and position as they like for a soft bedding area.Now I use a soft substrate instead and they nest well in it. I would suggest you switch your substrate to a better nesting material for the mice if you can. Care fresh or something like that is softer for them to nest and give birth in.

When giving birth the females want seclusion..I would also reccomend some other type of hide that is closed most of the way around on the sides so she can relax in a dark spot.

 

[howhigh402]

aspen is pretty good and cheap...plus you can use it for your snakes also

 

[Serpent2007]

:cheers: i put in a small cardboard box with an entrance hole filed with a mixture of shredded cloth papertowl n cotton wool

 

[dawnrenee2000]

That sounds good

 

[Serpent2007]

thanks for the help she passed away a while ago

 

[Flagg]

I wouldn't use the cotton, it could get wound up around the pinkies and strangle them

 

[snakemom1961]

I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully you will be able to have better luck down the road if you decide to try breeding again.

 

[snakepunk]

No nesting box

When I raised my own feeder rats and mice, I didn't use any nesting box or special materials. Mine were in homemade racks with only aspen bedding and I did pretty good with production. Of course I only checked on them when it was time to clean cages (or I needed live pinkies) and the cages were not transparent/glass.