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Post by nwheather on Dec 30, 2008 4:21:05 GMT -5
I have started off my colony with 9 bins, each with a trio-one male & two females....I am waiting for my first litters, which should be in a couple weeks. I have read some people who keep the males in with the females throught the whole time, resulting in back to back pregnancies. I have read others who remov the male when they see the female is pregnant. What I want to do is figure out which is best overall....have more male mice & keep the trios as they are, or reduce the number of males, & pull them out when the females are pregnant, & have a separate bin for each of the males. It would be more space efficient to keep the trios, but I could rotate the males with different females if I do not keep them together. It would cut down the smell if I had less males, but my baby turnout would be less, because of timing. Those that have experience in raising colonies, what is your thought on this?
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Post by bigsis7 on Dec 30, 2008 12:04:06 GMT -5
Well I'm not experienced raising colonies, but I have read some about this. If you want more babies I'd say keep the male with the females. It could possibly shorten the life span of the female, but I don't think it's very likely. The babies may also not be as healthy as mom might not be able to produce as much milk and it will wear down mom. If you want fewer, but healthier babies and moms (who possibly could produce more babies per litter if not back to back litters) than I would separated the male for 4-5 weeks after she gives birth. So 3 weeks raising the babies and then 1-2 week break. Hope this helps a bit!
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Post by Heather on Dec 30, 2008 14:00:26 GMT -5
I'm raising my own mousies....I keep the males in with the females. I find that this eleminates the petty bickering that seems to go on when a strange male gets dumped in with a batch of females. I place a juvenile male in with the juvenile females and then they grow up together, the male never leaves that batch of females. My understanding is that this will shorten the lifespan of the females (back to back breedings) but my guys aren't pets they're food. They have large space, tunnels and wheels and they get the best care that they can get but they're still food. It seems rather callous but that's the way I have to look at it. So once the females stop producing then they become dinner for my furbrats. The lady that I get my rats from says she feeds her females after their 3rd litter, I will see. She says she sees a decided reduction in both wellness of the babies and quantity (she raises for snakes). She also maintains that if you do the take out the male you will indeed allow the female a longer life span but she will still produce about the same number of kits as age then starts to interfere with the health and production of kits. Right now I"m still in the sort of setup process. This is my 3rd litter by females and male A (they are fantastic parents and I've only had one episode of cannabalism, my fault, I wasn't aware when I was cleaning out their tank that the one female was in process of giving birth). Their first batch of females are now just about to give birth for their first time out of male B. I have another tank set up with male C. My furbrats have had a treat of one batch of almost adult males out of the bachelor tub (it was enough for everyone to have one mousy for their midnight snack, I do have 16 ferrets ). I don't feed little ones, but feed juvenile males and adults (they also get whatever little pinkies don't live for what ever reason). Also, a note all the females nurse the babies and they all share with the responsibility of baby care For my set up, and the number of ferrets this works well for me. I'm hoping to eventually have enough in process mousies to allow my guys one meal of mice a week. I'm sure you will get more input on this but this is how I've got my mousies set up ciao
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Post by nwheather on Dec 31, 2008 12:14:13 GMT -5
Thanks guys! I really appreciate the input! I am planning on adding three more bins & add more breeders. I'm still tossing around the idea of either keeping with the trios, or (lets see if I can explain this to make sense); Have two breeder males, one in each of their own bins...have 10 bins with two females in each bin....take two females from the first bin on each shelf & put them with a male for two weeks (I read 10 days to ensure pregnancy, but for record keeping ease I picked 2wks as an example)...after the 2 wks is up, put the females back in their own bin & take the next two from the next bin, they get put in the male bin for two weeks....etc. That gives each breeding female set, two weeks with a male, then 8wks to themselves, they should have the babies within a week or so after leaving the male, then about 5wks until the babies are weaned, a wk or 2wk break, depending on how long it took to get pregnant & deliver the babies, then back in with the male. It will produce less babies overall, but a little less strain on mom & babies. On top of that, I will only have two males to contend with the smell..rather than 12 males. So if I keep the trios, I will have 12 breeding males & 24 breeding females, or have 2 breeding males, & 20 breeding females. I will keep the trios for now, but I am seriously considering dropping down to 2 males. I think I will wait til this batch of babies is born. I am also watching for potential holdbacks for future breeding. If the trios work well, I may just keep it that way. I I also hope to use some pinkies in hopes to get some other ferrets to start on mice. I will start a colony blog soon...
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