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Post by josiesmom on May 18, 2008 19:20:28 GMT -5
Hi all! Didn't want this section to go completely blank... I don't have a question, just some info.
I am currently busy trying to establish my own feeder colony of mice. Am also feeding the mice as "naturally" as I can, so they grow as healthy as they can!
I feed apples, potatoes, alfalfa cubes, sunflower seeds, oats, crickets, superworms, chicken bones and jerkified meats.
So far I have four mouse houses, harboring two dozen individuals. Mostly female adults and juveniles. Two breeding studs get to visit the girls every couple weeks.
I've had four litters born so far but one litter was recently eaten. Surprisingly enough they were eaten late in their life cycle as fuzzies, not newborns, and were eaten by a "nanny" who was pregnant herself.
This has caused me to revise my grouping and I am in the process of establishing different housing for them. Currently I am utilizing 3 hamster habitrails and one tank enclosure.
I cull the male juveniles while they are still fuzzies. This allows the females to grow stronger and takes stress off the mommas. Each of the litters born has been around ten pups! ANd almost a 50/50 split of male to females.
One recent catastrophe was that my deaf flyong ferret Crytal managed to get into what I thought was a relatively safe nursery and she decimated that colony! WHich was fairly large because the container was a huge rubbermaid tub!
She was quite pleased with her accomplishment and had her hard won prizes all stacked up neatly in the corner of the bin when I caught her!
Needless to say the four stacked up mice were ALL pregnant! Ah well, live and learn!
Mice make great food packets for the ferrets. Live mice offer the ferrets supreme enrichment and an outlet for their inner predator! Feeding the live mice has been a key element in eliminating Fizzle's propensity to staple human flesh!
Cheers, Kim
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Post by Forum Administrator on May 19, 2008 6:18:01 GMT -5
Thank you for this wonderful post, Kim We used to have several posts in this section (whole prey) but I messed up and accidentally deleted the ENTIRE nutrition section and we lost all our old posts Oh well, live and learn.
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on May 19, 2008 7:53:31 GMT -5
Kim, I would like to learn more about your breeding of mice. Hubby and I have talked about breeding our own mice for the fuzzies. But we are not really sure where to start or what all it will entail.
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Post by tss on May 19, 2008 10:44:41 GMT -5
If anyone needs help with breeding mice I have experience. I bred a few litters of pet mice.
I was wanting to post something like this but my family would not be happy if I got more mice. Culling the males when they are young is a good idea, you don't need to worry about them fighting as adults and they won't be able to impregnate any of the females.
The only 2 places near by where I can buy live mice have very sickly ones so it would be hard to raise them for food anyways.
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Post by josiesmom on May 21, 2008 4:42:01 GMT -5
Hi Buzzone! Well, nothing really spectacular in setting up a breeding colony. I picked up 5 male and five female mice from Petco. I put the females in a bin and the males in a smaller bin. I watched the males for a while and the one that was the quietest and least aggressive I set into the female bin. THe remaining males got invited to ferret dinner. I left the mice alone for several days in the bin, then put them into a habitrail. Within a few weeks it was evident that the male had done his job. Byt the end of a month a couple of the females looked like they'd swalloed golf balls! Every few days I'll put my hand in the cage to catch a mouse or two, pick up the male and just get them acclimated to my hand being in there. I use the Kaytee Sof sorb as a bedding material and toilet paper as nesting material. Toilet paper tubes offer chewing as well as hide outs. NON perfumed or softeners added of course. Since I keep them in the bathroom they are denied a natural light source. My bathroom is an inner room. So to compensate a little I installed natural light bulbs ( full spectrum) and I flip the light on when I am home for about 8 hours a day. When the pups are born I leave them alone for the first three days, and watch which mice are Momma and which are Nanny. THen Momma and Nanny get moved to a tank house. I scoop up the nest materail with the pups, so Mom doesn't stress out with new smells in the new place. WHen the pups are around 9 days old they'll start getting fuzzy and this is when you can also see nipples on the girls, so the boys get culled. I go ahead and offer these fuzzies to any ferret maw that has followed me into the bathroom. I don't want underage mice having babies, so the female pups when weaned will go into their own house and the male will get introduced to them when they are three months old. Be sure to use a male OTHER than their own sire to breed the healthiest mice. Fresh food, clean bedding, fresh water, adequate ventilation, ability to exercise and act naturally (chew & tunnel) and so far so good. This link offers great ideas: www.captivebred.com/How%20to%20set%20up%20a%20mouse%20colony.htmThe only other thing to do.... keep flying ferrets away from the colonies! Cheers, Kim
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Post by Forum Administrator on May 21, 2008 4:57:12 GMT -5
Thanks for posting this, Kim. I'm going to change the title of the thread and sticky it
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on May 21, 2008 8:37:17 GMT -5
Thanks so much. Hubby and I are going out of town in June but we are talking about starting to breed some mice in Aug. YOu might be getting some questions from me then.
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Post by jennifer5799 on May 22, 2008 10:48:35 GMT -5
This is GREAT info! Thanks for being so detailed. I plan on breeding my own mice eventually as well. One question - you said you have them in your bathroom - how do you keep the smell down? I had a couple pet mice and they stank horribly (they were both males though, and I've heard males smell worse). btw - thanks for including the flying ferret story, that one made me (my hubby didn't seem as amused though LOL) ~Jenn
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Post by tss on May 22, 2008 11:50:48 GMT -5
Females really don't stink. With the males you've got to clean out the pee corners often but don't wash them, the majority of the smell will be in the corners but if you scoop them out AND wash them the males will just do the best they can to re-mark it.
BUT if you use top soil or potting soil from wal-mart, lowes ect for $1-2 a bag (NOT the kind with anything added like the styro beads). Bake it for about 30 minutes of 300, let it cool then put it in the tank. Some people put 6" of the stuff in but I used about 3", just shovle the top layer off every 2 weeks. You can still scoop the corners every couple days. The fun think about the potting soil is you can bury tunnels (PVC pipes), just make something out of straight PVC and elbows. The ends of the elbows should stick out above the dirt. With the soil the mice won't smell at all, just keep their wheels and stuff clean.
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Post by jennifer5799 on May 22, 2008 14:37:00 GMT -5
I'd have never thought to use soil instead of bedding. That's awesome!
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Post by Forum Administrator on May 23, 2008 3:19:50 GMT -5
That sounds like a great way to raise mice naturally, Maria! Great idea! I like that the mice also have access to enrichment (yes, they are feeders, but I think it is good for them to have a "fun" life before they are killed).
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Post by Forum Administrator on May 23, 2008 3:24:24 GMT -5
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on May 27, 2008 9:41:30 GMT -5
Soil i would never have thought off and i agree they should have fun before they are eaten
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Post by josiesmom on Jun 3, 2008 12:33:44 GMT -5
HOLY baby boom Batman! You wanted mice - you GOT mice! I had three litters born in the past few days! The first litter has 19 pups! The second has 18 pups! THe third has 11 pups! Almost 50 micelets! So far all are doing very nicely. I stopped by LOWES today and picked up some stackable plastic drawers. Examined them closely to be certain the tops of the drawers were completely framed in so the mice cannot climb out and that the drawers were fairly deep enough that they can't jump to the top edge of the drawer either. They only come in black, but they should work. Right now I'm using small crock dishes for water and food, but will look for side mounting water bottles and small J feeders to mount on the front of the drawers. The drawers are deep enough for a small wheel too! Right now I'm using the Kaytee sof-sorb as a substrate, but like the idea of the soil too. Putting it in the oven does what exactly? I need to get at least 4 more drawers right away, because I have as many, if not more momma mice due to whelp soon. For now one drawer holds the 5 young mice, who are old enough to breed now, so I put the male in with them. And the other holds the first mom, who should be pregnant again, and her nanny, who is due soon. Each mom (doe) with a litter has two nannies that are helping care for the pups, but each nanny is pregnant also. The litter that got eaten was eaten I think by a nanny, so I don't want that to happen again! I am thinking that the nanny ate the litter to "make room" for her own impending litter. I'll separate the nannies as they get closer to whelping. Because I don't know exactly when that is all I can do for now is go by their outward appearance. Right now they are fairly pudgy, when they look like they swallowed a golf ball, I'll move them. I've still got all 4 cages/bins in use too, so that's 6 containers now. Doing a nose count my mouse colony is now 66 mice! Of course none are edible yet - but they'll get there. Two of the litters have a piebald parent so some of the pups have dark eyes and even a few are showing patterned skin! I agree that the mice should be able to live as natural and enriched a life as possible before being invited to dinner. I have full spectrum lights in their room and turn these on for at least 8 to ten hours every day, hooping that this will give them some sort of daily cycle. Something else I'm going to track during this whelping and breeding is the moon phase. Currently these three litters were born during a no moon ( or just before the "new moon") phase. These guys are ALL out of reach from my "flying ferret"! Cheers, Kim
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Post by tss on Jun 3, 2008 13:36:10 GMT -5
Did you drill some small holes for venilation?
Baking the soil will kill any mold or pests that may be in there.
You can also give the mice enrichment, go get some live crickets and turn a few loose in each drawer. They will hunt the down and eat them, my mice LOVEEEEEEEEEED them!!
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