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Post by bluedove on Apr 3, 2009 2:38:13 GMT -5
The more I learn about breeding, the more questions I have... so I thought I'd make up a survey for members to fill out, if they like. I'm primarily interested in breeding mice, but I'm sure others would appreciate the info on rats and others as well. I tried to make the questions so that the answers could be concise, but some will ask for detail. Thanks in advance to all of your for the input! What type of animal(s) do you breed? What style of breeding do you use? ("harem" style, rotate the males, etc) What age do you begin breeding? What is your housing set-up? (how are colonies housed? older litters? size of enclosures?) What type of bedding/litter do you use? How often do you change it? How many females/males do you keep? What is the ratio? (ie, 1m:3f) How many females do you keep together? How long is your breeding period if you rotate males? How long do you leave the litter with mother? Do you cull young from the litters? If so, at how many days? Do you rest the females between litters? If so, for how long? How often (on average) do your females produce litters? How many young in your average litter? Have you lost litters to cannibalism? Why, do you suspect? When do you retire females from breeding? Males? Do you keep track of bloodlines to prevent inbreeding? If so, how? What type of diets do you provide for your breeders/feeders? (added by fuzzymom) Also if anyone has a question they'd like added, I'll edit it in.
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Post by harrisi on Apr 3, 2009 6:41:05 GMT -5
What type of animal(s) do you breed? Mice, rats, quail, insects and everynow and again we have a rabbit litter. What style of breeding do you use? ("harem" style, rotate the males, etc) Mice and rats - I put the females into the males breeding bin then when they are pregnant (not fat!) I move them to a birthing bin. Quail females and males are left with each other all the time and eggs picked on a daily basis for eating or incubation. Rabbit females are taken to males cage in the morning and then taken out after 1 sucessful mating and put back in 8 hours later for another sucesful mating. Insects are left together all the time apart from some roach males as they are fed off to avoid overcrowding - females are left for breeding. What age do you begin breeding? Mice and rats, no younger then 14 weeks, preferably 16 weeks. Rabbits, no younger then 7 months, no older then 9 months. Quail - whenever . Insects - whenever. What is your housing set-up? (how are colonies housed? older litters? size of enclosures?)Rat racks with plastic ventilated tubs (various sizes), 4ft soozone or rody hamster cages for mice, the quail have rabbit hutches and runs at home then growing on quail go to our barn (5 minute walk from our house). Insects have storage tubs, rabbits have homemade play pens (8 sq/ft of space per rabbit). What type of bedding/litter do you use? Wood pine pellets for rodents, grass, hay and rugs for rabbits, wood shavings for the quail and no litter for the insects. How often do you change it? As needed with most, but with the rats and mice currently its about every 5 days. How many females/males do you keep? Countless What is the ratio? (ie, 1m:3f) Rats and mice: 1.3-1.10. Rabbits - never keep more then 1 female with 1 male. dubia roaches - 1.3. Quail - 1.5. How many females do you keep together? Rats and mice: 2-15. Rabbits - as many as will bond lol! for birthing and breeding they are taken to a seperate cage, though.. Insects - as many as are put into the tub! Quail - currently we have 100+ female quail in the barn which will be used to grow on (nearly ready to be culled, just another week to go, YAY!! How long is your breeding period if you rotate males? How long do you leave the litter with mother? Until weaned. Mice and rats - 4 weeks. Rabbits - 9 weeks. Quail - never with their real mother. Insects - N/A Do you cull young from the litters? Sometimes If so, at how many days? 1-14 days Do you rest the females between litters? Most, yes. If so, for how long? Rats and mice - 1-3 weeks between weaning from the last litter and mating again. Depends on the female. Rabbits - at least 2 months. Quail - dont rest as they lay eggs and are always with the male. Insects - always together. How often (on average) do your females produce litters? Rats and mice - every 8 weeks or so. We get at least 2 litters a week with the amount of them we have though. Quail - N/A. Insects - N/A. Rabbits - every 6-8 months. How many young in your average litter? Rats and mice - 10, give or take a couple. Rabbits - 8. Quail - N/A. Insects - 50. Have you lost litters to cannibalism? Yup, mice. Why, do you suspect? When we first started out we had 5 females to one male, the males grand fathers father started a line of males that produced runts so the females killed off any runts that the male produced, apart from that, I cant think of a time I have had females eat the litter. When do you retire females from breeding? Rats and mice - 1 year old maximum. Males? When they retire themselves, they dont exactly have a bad life in their opinion do they Do you keep track of bloodlines to prevent inbreeding? Mostly If so, how? Marking, numbered and most if not all of the mice, rats and rabbits have ID cards on the tubs. Edit to add in new question (good idea Fuzzymom!!)What type of diets do you provide for your breeders/feeders? Raw veggies, dry unprocessed grains, raw meats and cooked meats. Further info can be seen in my feeder animal blog.
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 3, 2009 10:34:58 GMT -5
What type of animal(s) do you breed? Mice
What style of breeding do you use? ("harem" style, rotate the males, etc) Currently, harem style, but I hope to develop a rotational breeding schedule when I have more breeding groups.
What age do you begin breeding? No younger than 12 weeks for mice.
What is your housing set-up? (how are colonies housed? older litters? size of enclosures?) I have them in a 10 gallon glass tank, as I only have one breeding group. I am in the process of getting materials together to make ventilated mouse tubs.
What type of bedding/litter do you use? How often do you change it? I use wood pellet bedding and give soft materials like socks, toilet tissue, newspaper, paper towel, ect to birthing mothers. I change bedding once a week.
How many females/males do you keep? What is the ratio? (ie, 1m:3f) I try and keep the ratio no more than 1:4.
How many females do you keep together? Up to 4.
How long is your breeding period if you rotate males? I do not rotate males at this time.
How long do you leave the litter with mother? 3.5-4 weeks.
Do you cull young from the litters? If so, at how many days? I cull any weak or sickly babies and if I need a mouse of a smaller size, I will cull one. (for a young snake) This is done anywhere between birth and weaning age.
Do you rest the females between litters? If so, for how long? Currently I do not but once I have more breeding groups I will start a rotational breeding schedule that will allow females a 3 week break between litters.
How often (on average) do your females produce litters? As I am just starting my colony back up, I haven't produced any litters, but in my last colony, my females produced litters once every other month or so.
How many young in your average litter? On average, about 8-10.
Have you lost litters to cannibalism? Why, do you suspect? Yes, usually due to stress.
When do you retire females from breeding? Males? I retire a female after she's had 6 litters, which puts her a little over a year old.
Do you keep track of bloodlines to prevent inbreeding? If so, how? I will be keeping track of bloodlines with my colony. Each breeding group is assigned a letter. Right now I have group A1. When a female has babies and I keep back some females to form another group, that second group will be given AA. If I pull another set of babies from A for breeding, that group will be AB. If AA has females that I keep back, that group will be AAA. If I pull babies from AB, they are then ABA. Am I making this confusing? It makes sense to me.
A question I'm adding in.
What type of diets do you provide for your breeders/feeders? My mice currently get a 50/50 diet. Half of their diet is made up of fresh raw foods like veggies, fruits, grains, cooked eggs and meats, ect. The other half is made up of Mazuri brand lab blocks. I hope to tip this ratio in favor of more raw foods when I have the time to organize a feeding schedule.
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Post by harrisi on Apr 3, 2009 12:37:41 GMT -5
Added fuzzymom's Q (great idea).
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Post by bluedove on Apr 3, 2009 15:45:40 GMT -5
Thanks to you both for taking the time to fill out the survey! Added the diet question. harrisi, what do you use to "mark" your rodents when keeping track of bloodlines? fuzzymom, why have you decided to move to rotating breeding colony? Did you experience negative effects from harem breeding? I was trying to think of a "A1" style of labeling too! I thought I might designate the males by letter and the females by number so offspring of buck "A" and doe "1" would be labeled "A1". And then just make sure I don't ever breed those to any other "A" or any other "1"... but I think it would be too cumbersome in practice. Now I'm leaning toward a color system.
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Post by harrisi on Apr 3, 2009 16:11:45 GMT -5
I use a sharpie marker and colour or number the ear (perfectly safe if the ferrets or rodents ingest any but I usually snip the ear off if possible anyway) to keep track of different lines.
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 3, 2009 16:45:26 GMT -5
I want to avoid as much stress to my colony as possible. Harem breeding does not give the females downtime between litters. They get pregnant, give birth, and get pregnant right after. So by the time the first litter is weaned, she's popping out another. It is too stressful for her body.
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