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Post by tss on Dec 14, 2008 18:49:39 GMT -5
Leaving the wings in the cage for 10 hours is fine, I leave stuff in my ferrets cage for a max of 24 hours. Since your fuzzies are eating wings now their poops should improve quickly but now until you are setteled back into tour house.. Going on trips can stress them out.
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Post by Chelsea on Dec 15, 2008 18:18:19 GMT -5
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Post by tss on Dec 16, 2008 13:12:30 GMT -5
Well, your albino is pregnant!! Or atleast she really looks like it.
As for the other mice, they have a "frizzle" coat and the color is broken coffee most likely.
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Post by Chelsea on Dec 16, 2008 14:18:01 GMT -5
Well, your albino is pregnant!! Or atleast she really looks like it. As for the other mice, they have a "frizzle" coat and the color is broken coffee most likely. Im not sure... its hard to tell. They look like they might be pregnant (the one in the pic is the bigger female, i think shes older than the other one) but they all look fat, even the boy.. and im pretty sure he isnt pregnant lol. |
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Post by Chelsea on Dec 19, 2008 6:42:23 GMT -5
Well uh.. this morning was...different. I went into the "ferret room" as usual to check on them. And in one of my tanks of mice (the 2 little grey/white ones not the albinos) there was blood EVERYWHERE. I looked in and... the boy, was eating some part of the girls body in his little den. Her what looked like half a body was all bloody and torn apart.... I really liked those mice  Im not having very good luck trying to breed mice. Its just not working out. Do you think this might be a good chance to introduce them to mice, since it looks like he killed her, and her body is already ripped open and such.. they might be more interested..? What made this morning worse is after i got ready and got on the computer for a little while before i have to leave. The radio said school was cancled because of the big storm. I wish i knew that like a hour ago before i even got ready lol. This poops seem like they are getting better. They really like those wings, they eat almost all of the bone now. |
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Post by tss on Dec 19, 2008 12:11:52 GMT -5
You can give the left overs to the ferrets and see how it goes. I really doubt the male killed her though. Chances are she just died on her own, I think there may be something freaky up with mice that have that coloring. Different colors can come with different things, you see how in they kinda look brindle and their coats look a bit greasy? I had a mouse like that, she was bred twice and only birthed 1 live baby out of a total of like 12. She didn't even take care of it. The fur on her face fell out a few times are her coat always looked greasy like your mice coats did in that pic. She just dropped dead one day for no reason. Mice are cannibals, when one dies they automatically eat it for protein and so predators can't smell the dead body.
As for the ferrets, once they are eating a minimum of 3 kinds of meat, a minimum of 3 bone in meals and1 day organ each week they will be ready to graduate.
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Post by Chelsea on Dec 20, 2008 14:15:01 GMT -5
Yea, i dont think i should try and give the dead mouse to the ferrets... i just went to check on them.. and 2 more mice are dead. I think i must be some sickness or somthing... I only have 2 mice left now. The boy grey/white one and one albino one. The 2 other albinos that died were both half eaten... Is there something im doing wrong?? Forget breeding, im working on just keeping them alive lol
Can i just give them the last albino mouse, and see what they do?(the alive one) Im going to try the pinkies tomarrow and see what they do after i cut them open for them. I also have some beef marrow bones i just got (Bailey looves them) they dont have a ton of meat on them but its enough for them to get some big chunks off.
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Post by tss on Dec 20, 2008 15:50:04 GMT -5
Since the others passed away I would avoid feeding them to the ferrets. As for the albino, is it the one that looked pregnant in that pic? If it is I'd probably just keep it and see what happens.
Lets go over a few things so I can try and figure this out, of course it COULD always be that it is just that the mice have bad genetics.
What are you keeping them in?
What bedding are they on?
What are you feeding them? (have they been given anything acidic like tomatoes, pineapple or citrus?)
Are they given vitamins?
What kind of water "holder" do they have? (water bottle or bowl?)
What all do you have in their enclosures??
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Post by Chelsea on Dec 20, 2008 18:34:18 GMT -5
I havent checked what abino is the one left yet. I'll look when i go check on them again. If its not, would it be okay to give him to the ferrets?
Theyre in 10-15 gallon tanks. It seemed an okay size since they were only 3 of the abino in one tank and the 2 grey/white ones in the other.
Bedding... i have no idea what kind. Its something i had for a while. Its the same kind they had them on at the petstore.. i think it *might* be pine shavings. I didnt even really think about it until now. I got some cedar ships i was going to put them on when i cleaned out their tanks... Idk which is better.
For food, i dont really feed them any specific mouse food. I give them different veggies, carrots, and lettuce stuff. Bird seed, and i gave them the rest of the ferret kibble (i had no need for it since they are eating raw so i didnt want it to just get wasted) They like to chew on leftover chicken boens from the ferrets dinner. I usualy gave them 1-2 a week of those.
I havent given them any vitimins... I didnt know i should?
They had a water bowl, but they kept crapping in it so i got them both water bottles.
Besides the bedding, i throw in a couple pecies of paper towl so they can rip it up and making their nest out of it. I have a little plastic container with a hole cut in it as their "den". And i have 1-2 of those cardboard paper towl tubes for them to play with and chew on.
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Post by tss on Dec 21, 2008 10:49:21 GMT -5
It is fine to feed the last one to the ferrets.
10-15 gallon tanks are fine for the number of mice you had in them, are the lids mesh?
You really aren't suppose to use pine or cedar bedding. I think pine is okay as long as the mice are in a vented cage but under no circumstances is cedar safe to use. Pine and cedar both have aromatic oils that can cause major lung problems in small animals it is only safe to use in dog beds but is useless for anything else. cedar is just much worse then pine, my father does woodturning and the cedar even chokes HIM up.
Lettuce isn't very good for them either, it's really just water and can cause mice to get major "wet tail".
Mice don't need vitamins. The reason I was asking is because the liquid varieties that are sold contain stuff that is really bad for them such as proplyne glycol, BHT and other horrible preservitives..
Did all of those females live with the same male?
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Post by Chelsea on Dec 22, 2008 18:33:17 GMT -5
It is fine to feed the last one to the ferrets. 10-15 gallon tanks are fine for the number of mice you had in them, are the lids mesh? You really aren't suppose to use pine or cedar bedding. I think pine is okay as long as the mice are in a vented cage but under no circumstances is cedar safe to use. Pine and cedar both have aromatic oils that can cause major lung problems in small animals it is only safe to use in dog beds but is useless for anything else. cedar is just much worse then pine, my father does woodturning and the cedar even chokes HIM up. Lettuce isn't very good for them either, it's really just water and can cause mice to get major "wet tail". Mice don't need vitamins. The reason I was asking is because the liquid varieties that are sold contain stuff that is really bad for them such as proplyne glycol, BHT and other horrible preservitives.. Did all of those females live with the same male? Now im down to 1 mouse. The boy grey/white one just died. Yes the tanks had mesh lids. I checked the bag of bedding, it was pine. But it was well vented, and its the same thing they were on at the petstore where the adult grey/white mice were breeding.. so i dont think that is what killed them. I dont give them regular lettuce. I give them the same things i feed my bearded dragon (mustard+ collard greens. I dont give my BD regular lettuce because of it being mostly water) I didnt know that was bad for them.... The 2 grey/white young mice lived in one tank (male/female) and the 3 albino mice lived in the other tank (1male, 2females) Im trying pinkies, and beef with them tonight. and possibly the 1 mouse i have left if they eat the pinkies. So we'll see how it goes i guess... I hope they like them |
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Post by tss on Dec 22, 2008 20:56:49 GMT -5
I'm sorry to hear that you lost the other one. It might have "just" been the mice, they could have had poor genetics that just wouldn't allow them to survive. Or they could have had some mouse virus, it wouldn't effect you or the ferrets but I'm sure just like with humans, dogs and ferrets there is something that can effect mice in the deathly manner.
I thought there may have been something wrong if it was just one male that lived with all of those females. I figured maybe there was something wrong with his half of the genetics that may have caused the females to miscarry and kill them.. But since it was two males I know that isn't the case.
Collards and mustard greens are fine for mice. When I heard "lettuce" I just thought of iceberg.
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Post by Chelsea on Dec 23, 2008 6:53:11 GMT -5
Is there anywhere like online you can order breeder mice? I know theres tons of places that sell frozen rodents.. but not live ones. Maybe ill try getting more mice the next time i can go to petco or petsmart. There arnt any really close to me but they are a better quality petstore than the one i got these mice from. Well, all my mice are now dead. But there is some good news. Jasper really liked the beef. He ate most of the meat off the bone, and licked alot of the marrow out of the bone. Cesar(his current name. its changed like 10 times now. i cant find one that fits him lol) didnt seem as interested. He ate a little bit of the beef but not as much as Jasper. I cut open the pinkies and put them in right next to the beef so maybe they might get a taste of it.. no luck. Jasper licked them but thats it. The last live mouse was the albino boy. He didnt look like he was going to last much longer... So i put him in one of those small plastic critter cages and put it in the ferrets "eating" cage to see how they would react to it. They were both really interested at first. Then Jasper went back to eating the beef. Cesar was sniffing through the container lid and finally after much experimenting he figured out how to open the lid... bye bye mr mouse I dont know if hes ever had a mouse before, but he seemed like he knew what he was doing. Either that or his instincts kicked in. When he saw the mouse come out he went over and sniffed it. Jasper kinda sniffed it from far away but never went any closer, and went back to eating his beef. Cesar went and started pushing it around with his nose. The when the mouse started to run away he pounced on it and bit its neck and then shook it really hard which i think killed it pretty quick. and omg... he started eating it right after he killed it... but the only thing he ate of it... was its HEAD. He ate the whole head, and nothing else. But he didnt seem very hungry last night either. I left the leftover beef, both pinkies and the headless mouse in their eating cage overnight. Since they didnt eat much last night im hoping they will finish the mice or at least eat some of the pinkies tonight. They seem to like food more after it sits out overnight. This poops arnt really getting any better. They are still quite nasty. Compared to when they were eating kibble, id say it smells worse now than it did before. Its kinda like what cat food looks like the next morning after you leave it outside in the rain. When i dump out their litter box into the garbage it just kinda.. drips out. I dont really know what a raw fed ferret poop is supose to look like... but this just cannot be normal. If its anything like a raw fed dogs crap is supose to look like... its not even close. |
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Post by tss on Dec 23, 2008 10:50:28 GMT -5
This place sells live mice, I'm not sure how much shipping costs but you can email and ask. www.exclusivedragons.com/FeederMice.htmlIf you can PM me your city I will try and find a quality mouse breeder somewhere near you. It's good that them liked the beef, and that Cesar liked the mouse. Eating them head first is normal, I'm sure he was just too full to eat any more. And I promise you, the reaction he had to the mouse is normal. Even a ferret who has never eaten any raw food would have that reaction. As far as the poops, my ferrets poops really aren't firm. They are more soft serve (that would be different if I were feeding more fur on prey), the poops are just smaller then they were on kibble.. But they don't smell like kibble poops. You might try going onto the medical section to ask, with Cesar's past it is possible that he caught a parasite in the "wild" and Jasper also contracted it causing them both issues... I'm not saying that is what happened but it's a possibility. Can you post your current weekly feeding menu?? |
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Post by Chelsea on Dec 23, 2008 20:00:02 GMT -5
This place sells live mice, I'm not sure how much shipping costs but you can email and ask. www.exclusivedragons.com/FeederMice.htmlIf you can PM me your city I will try and find a quality mouse breeder somewhere near you. It's good that them liked the beef, and that Cesar liked the mouse. Eating them head first is normal, I'm sure he was just too full to eat any more. And I promise you, the reaction he had to the mouse is normal. Even a ferret who has never eaten any raw food would have that reaction. As far as the poops, my ferrets poops really aren't firm. They are more soft serve (that would be different if I were feeding more fur on prey), the poops are just smaller then they were on kibble.. But they don't smell like kibble poops. You might try going onto the medical section to ask, with Cesar's past it is possible that he caught a parasite in the "wild" and Jasper also contracted it causing them both issues... I'm not saying that is what happened but it's a possibility. Can you post your current weekly feeding menu?? The shipping would probably cost a ton. Ill PM you my city so if you know any mouse suppliers near me. The ferrets are in their eating cage now, with the leftover beef, the 2 pinkie mice and the headless mouse. Im bringing them some gibblets up in a little bit, and ill see if they are any more of the mouse. Jasper didnt seem to have any reaction at all to the mouse. I can just buy live mice for a while at the petstore until i get some healthy breeders from somewhere else. as for the weekly menu, for now its basicly whatever i take out. With Bailey since he eats pretty much anything, i just aways just take out something thats different than he ate the day before, and he gets some type of organ meat 1-2 times a week usually. Once the ferrets are eating any type of meat ill probably do the same with them. On Saturday they each had a chicken wing, on sunday they shared a chicken leg, on monday Jasper ate some of the beef, and Cesar had a mouse head. Tonight im trying to get them to eat the pinkies and leftover headless mouse, and the rest of the beef. Its not a whole lot so they are getting some gibblets too. The store still hasent gotten any chicken liver or hearts, but my sister is cooking a turkey on x mas and i already told her to save the inside stuff for me. Bailey gets the neck and the ferrets are getting the organs. Their diet isnt very much right now, but they will have a bigger variety once they start eating more things. |
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