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Post by harrisi on Nov 8, 2008 18:28:14 GMT -5
So prices for rats are through the roof at the moment, and for mice so its not really worth buying them considering I have to strip 11 mice every few days so it takes most of the good away, and am now thinking about trying to start a colony but wanted you input on this:
I will have 4 originial females. 2 in each tub/tank. 2 are marked RED 2 are marked GREEN (I can use a sharpie pen in the ear for this). Then there will be 2 males one marked RED one marked GREEN (sires will have both ears marked, young will have one ear marked to avoid line-breeding). Green males will be bred to green females, and red-red. I think this will be a good way to keep track of lines should I mix some females in the future, I plan on breeding green-green and red-red a week after I get them, then breed again after 2 weeks of the pups, I am guessing after that litter I will have about...26-40 rats? so they will be raised and a week before culling the females will be bred again if I wanted some more. Mice will be culled at 9-10 weeks, and rats (if I breed them at all...) will be culled at 4months.
They will have bin cages or if I can get some glass tanks with mesh lids on them (although rats will have proper wire cages) and tubes etc to run in. They will also get as natural diet as possible, probably 50% natural and 50% dog foods.
Sound good or bad?
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Post by bullet on Nov 8, 2008 20:38:22 GMT -5
Everything sounds ok there minus the whole dog food thing....If you are feeding these to your ferrets then your ferrets will get the dog food in their system as well. Dog food isn't good for the mice/rats either...
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Post by harrisi on Nov 9, 2008 7:13:59 GMT -5
Everything sounds ok there minus the whole dog food thing....If you are feeding these to your ferrets then your ferrets will get the dog food in their system as well. Dog food isn't good for the mice/rats either... Dog food helps along with a staple diet for rats and mice. It probably wont make up even half of the diet to be honest, it was a for instance but pet rat owners (myself included) sometimes feed dog food as a staple part of they're diet, some even feed it exclusively. I dont see how this could effect the ferrets either (unless it was high in sugar/calories or they were still digesting the food) ? |
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Post by bullet on Nov 9, 2008 12:17:37 GMT -5
I've honestly never heard of anyone feeding dog food before. It is your choice but their are so many added fillers in it that it really isn't great. Dog food is a no no for ferrets and I would not give it to rats/mice I am planning to feed to my ferrets.
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Post by tsslilsis on Nov 9, 2008 13:22:08 GMT -5
If I were doing that I would feed a high qaulity dog food (Like Evo). I wouldn't feed much of it but mice would be concidered omnivores because they are canabolists and they eat bugs. They also eat their sick, dead or dying young. When I had mice, at one point they didn't have meat in their diet and then when one of them, Oddball (they were pets) died, her mom and sisters ate some of her.. Probably because they wanted meat and there was a lack of protein in their diet. If I ever have mice again I also won't feed corn or comercial diets. THE best diet for them is home made with millets, whole grain pastas, puffed rice.. A little fruit and veg and a little meat. That is what my mouse Panda ate and he lived to be around about 3 1/2 and for a mouse, that is a great age.
-~Ketlin
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Post by harrisi on Nov 9, 2008 14:41:51 GMT -5
It is your choice but their are so many added fillers in it that it really isn't great. Fillers like oats, corn etc are fine to feed them. Infact alot of commercial rat foods match easily up to dogfoods, but rat food is 10x the price. tsslilsis - They will be having a homemade mix of foods mainly but also kitchen scraps and the dog food. |
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Post by fuzzymom on Nov 9, 2008 16:09:20 GMT -5
I use dog food in emergency situations when I run out of rat food. The thing is, dog food doesn't provide the correct amounts of nutrients a rat needs. Rats are not dogs. It's close, but not exact. If you want healthy rats, get a rodent lab block. You can buy a 50lb bag online and depending on how many rats you have, it will last you a long time. (50lbs lasts me two months and costs $55 to have it delivered. 30ish for the bag and 20ish for shipping). I also provide fruit and veggie scraps as well as bits of cooked pasta and a homemade mix that consists of the following: cherrios bran flakes corn flakes oatmeal dried split peas dried lentils Kashi (I think its 7) puffed grain cereal tri colored pasta - dry My ratties get spoiled.  But they make me lots of babies. |
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Post by harrisi on Nov 10, 2008 5:10:21 GMT -5
I use dog food in emergency situations when I run out of rat food. The thing is, dog food doesn't provide the correct amounts of nutrients a rat needs. Rats are not dogs. It's close, but not exact. If you want healthy rats, get a rodent lab block. You can buy a 50lb bag online and depending on how many rats you have, it will last you a long time. (50lbs lasts me two months and costs $55 to have it delivered. 30ish for the bag and 20ish for shipping). I also provide fruit and veggie scraps as well as bits of cooked pasta and a homemade mix that consists of the following: cherrios bran flakes corn flakes oatmeal dried split peas dried lentils Kashi (I think its 7) puffed grain cereal tri colored pasta - dry My ratties get spoiled. But they make me lots of babies. The mice will be getting everything my pets did - A good quality dog food mixed with the homemade mix is a staple diet. I can't find lab blocks in this country, otherwise my rats would be on them and I wouldnt be messing about looking for other diets. No petshops stock them, no labs, no rat fanciers and no vets have them. |
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Post by fuzzymom on Nov 10, 2008 10:55:29 GMT -5
What country do you live in? I'm not sure if Mazuri will ship to other countries, you you could check it out. When I went to look up local dealers in my area, several countries were listed, so they might also ship to these locations. www.mazuri.com While I don't like the ferret food they offer (corn is 3rd ingredient), the rodent lab block is wonderful. |
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Post by harrisi on Nov 10, 2008 18:02:16 GMT -5
I'm in the UK. I don't think mazuri will ship to the UK, I have looked before (site is messed up at the moment aswell). Harlan Teklad wont ship directly to the UK either.
Anyway, if we do start breeding them I will try to find some 18"x24"x10" tubs instead of the ones we have now and have them stacked. They can house 10 mice maximum but I will be keeping 2 females and babys in there and once (Female) babies are weaned they will be put into another tub until they are culled.
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