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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 5, 2008 15:43:45 GMT -5
Well i hve unintentionally started a mouse colony. i went to go get beast some feeder mice and they gave me the two cutest pet mice as feeders. and by and even odder coincidence one is male and one is female. Well they were too cute to feed so their babies will be fed to the monster hat has tried to eat them 5 times since i got them XD I guess this means i need to go pick up a couple more females now *sigh* i'ma stick with one for now. when she has her first litter i'll got get another mouse. and if they dont breed they'll just be mai pets But the Doe is white with a few tan patches and white eyes. and the Buck is white with black markings. both cute as buttons and so intelligent loking that i couldnt BEAR to feed them to beast the white ones i dnt feel s bad for but these ones were just TOO CUTE so yeah =P looks like i no have a mouse colony and they have already been put on a raw diet they have some seeds, some veggies, some worms buried in their dirt to randomly find =D (gace has a dirt bottom with a special woodshavings i fount that they say is firtually dust free and has no aromatic oils in it =D that is placed in one corner for nexting material and they have some toys and tubes. i'm thinking abut maybe planting grass in their dirt so they can have a mini habitat but i dunno. their dirt is dry except the stuff i packed around their water dish (i wanted a small amount of it to be a little damp for the earth worms =D)
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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 5, 2008 22:40:22 GMT -5
LOL lucky you! Wish I could do a mouse colony, but I dont have the space or time. Its great that you will be raising the mice naturally. You should totally update us on the progress of your mouse breeding. If you update regularly in this thread with posts and photos I'll totally sticky it
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Post by Heather on Nov 5, 2008 23:04:40 GMT -5
Be careful what you wish for I have 47 little peeps of various ages, out of my 4 little mouse ladies. I cleaned out their living space today and did a tail count. The first time I did that I was totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of little red wiggly bodies. Now some of them have fuzz so they're a little more interesting My guys are eventually going to eat very well. ciao
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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 5, 2008 23:39:41 GMT -5
I'll totally update i only have one doe currently. They seem happy as clams and are currently cuddling and they enjoyed their strawberry =P
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lorelei0922
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Happily Feeding Natural!
Posts: 245
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Post by lorelei0922 on Nov 6, 2008 6:53:55 GMT -5
wont that be hard? feeding your pets babies to your ferrets? probably best to start with a pair you aren't attached to i'd think
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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 6, 2008 23:28:03 GMT -5
they wouldnt be my pets just the offspring. feeding them will be no problem its just Athena and Artemis are now family members as far as Adrian and Lincoln are concerned. Oh Athena had a close call today beast got out and got into their box. i got him just as he picked her up and he dropped her cause he didnt get a chance to get a good grip and she fell and landed in my lap thank god. i would have been sad if Beast had eaten my little mousie.
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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 8, 2008 17:39:05 GMT -5
Well Heres what i mixed up for their food today, i'll be switching it up a bit so they get lots of variety and are excited at mealtimes which i'm sure they are cause everytime food comes around they scurry up and look at me. much like the ferret XD Today they had two strawberries, some nuts and seeds, an eartworm a few crickets and some rodent food.
If anyone sees a problem with my mix tell me.
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Post by harrisi on Nov 8, 2008 17:45:58 GMT -5
This is why you buy the REALLY ugly ones!
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Post by harrisi on Nov 8, 2008 17:51:10 GMT -5
Well Heres what i mixed up for their food today, i'll be switching it up a bit so they get lots of variety and are excited at mealtimes which i'm sure they are cause everytime food comes around they scurry up and look at me. much like the ferret XD Today they had two strawberries, some nuts and seeds, an eartworm a few crickets and some rodent food. If anyone sees a problem with my mix tell me. There is definitly nothing wrong with the mix. Just be careful with the fruits, remember what you put into the mice you put into the ferrets! so its best to keep away from the sugar filled foods. If you wanted a good mix recipe (pretty cheap aswell) for feeder mice: 1/2 to 1 lb. dry rolled oats (1) 5.3 oz. box puffed wheat cereal (1) 6.4 oz. box puffed rice cereal 1 12 oz. box Total Cereal 1/4 to 1/2 lb. roasted, unsalted soy nuts 1/2 lb dried fruits 1/2 lb dry pasta 2/3 cup sunflower seeds 1/4 lb muesli (optional) Also pig breeder/weaning pellets are good to add.
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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 8, 2008 19:10:48 GMT -5
But dried fruit has way more sugar than fresh fruit =P. and i didnt but them cute intentionally. those were just the ones they put in a box and gave to me.
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Post by harrisi on Nov 9, 2008 7:16:24 GMT -5
But dried fruit has way more sugar than fresh fruit =P. and i didnt but them cute intentionally. those were just the ones they put in a box and gave to me. Ooh got it. The dried fruits shouldn't have any more sugar then fresh fruits (there shouldn't be any added) but this can either be left out or used less in the mix, but for the amount there is in the mix as long as the mice arnt still digesting food when they are fed it shouldn't harm the ferrets.
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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 9, 2008 13:39:25 GMT -5
dried fruit is cooke with sweetened fruit juices then dehydrated which adds sugar not to mention you need to eat more dried fruit to get the same fullness that fresh fruit gives you and because they are dried the natural sugar is concentrated havent you noticed that dried fruit is always sweeter than fresh? it has more sugar and because in the drying process its cooked they get better nutrients from fresh than dry.
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Darlene
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 287
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Post by Darlene on Nov 14, 2008 22:45:51 GMT -5
Be careful what you wish for I have 47 little peeps of various ages, out of my 4 little mouse ladies. ] Hi Heather,so your ladies finally had some babies...that's great! What do you think of it so far?
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Post by Heather on Nov 15, 2008 21:59:07 GMT -5
Somehow through things, I lost 6...I don't know if they were too tiny or what...the guys liked them I certainly couldn't feed them at that stage regularly, so other than the weak my guys are now going to have to wait for them to grow up They're not even a mouthful at this stage. I now have some that are up and about, still nursing so according to my calcs they should be going into separate bins when I clean out the cage this week probably about Friday or so. So there are about 7 or 8 of that batch that I will have to sex and separate. The females will be set up with new males and the males will be separated to become dinner when they get big enough. According to my calcs the rest should be about a week apart after that. I have a couple of leads on some different coloured males so that I can tell what my next breed batch from this one....these are all albinos. I have to figure a way to tatoo or colour these guys. One albino looks like another Trying to catch tails is just a hoot right now, I think ferrets are easier to catch. Catching 41 little tails is just crazy.... now half of those are still not very mobile but those little sods with their eyes open are a whole different story The one thing that I've noticed though, my original little girls are a lot less nippy now. It's certainly not because they get handled. I handle them only to clean their bins ( I can't afford to love food ) but I've got one little lady who insists on sitting in her food bowl to eat and she actually made me pick her up to get her out. She normally runs squeeking away. I have come to the conclusion though, they love their meat as much as their oatmeal....I can see where they might resort to eating each others young if they don't get meat. Even the new ones are now starting to sample the chicken necks when I put the fresh ones in. ciao
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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 17, 2008 10:29:22 GMT -5
No updates yet im going to go out and get a wheel and 2 more female mice today im pretty sure hes bred to her but we wontknow for sure for a few weeks they are both rather friendly and i give them almost as much interaction as beast. they are eating a mix of rodent food with fresh fruit/veggies some cheese some live prey (bugs and stuff crickets worms ect) and bones that the beast didnt eat.
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