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Post by goingpostal on Mar 5, 2009 20:45:43 GMT -5
I finally managed to whine my boyfriend into allowing me to breed mice! Spent all last night cleaning out one of my walk in closets in my iguana's room for them and we are moving my snake downstairs so he won't constantly be in hunt mode with prey so close. I have 2 x 10 gallon, 2 x 5.5 gallon and a 33 gallon long I'm going to split into three sections, plus a ton of rubbermaid tubs if needed. I bought a couple on Monday from the pet store for my snake and the one female looked like she was going to pop so I set her up in a tank and let her have them. She had 10! on Wed. so I'm going to cull a couple of the males tomorrow most likely and keep most of the females as breeders to start the colony. I wanted to know how old the mice were before breeding and this seemed like the easiest way. Wondering if just one male is enough or should I buy two? I know they are the stinkers and in the summer they will probably be living in my basement instead but right now it's too cold. It's not going to be a big enough operation to feed nonstop but since mice are almost $4 a pop here I need to save money where I can.
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Post by AnimalFarm2006 on Mar 5, 2009 22:10:08 GMT -5
Yippie! One more person starting a breeding colony.
I've always found plastic containers to be easier to deal with than the glass containers. I would get two males so that you have two different colonys and than you can get a third from the offspring. If you just want a small scale thing, One male would be good.
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 6, 2009 7:16:19 GMT -5
Yeah, originally I had planned on mostly tubs but my boyfriend thinks they will escape. Is that not an issue? I'm horrible at telling sex of baby mice apparently though, took out mom and checked them out last night and I got no clue so I took one out that looked runty and I think was male to give her a little break. Guess I'll wait until they are a little older to cull out the males. I wasn't sure if my ferrets would know baby mouse is still food since they've only eaten adults but it took my littlest girl about 5 seconds to figure it out.
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Post by harrisi on Mar 6, 2009 8:00:11 GMT -5
I didnt like tubs for mice - they were too sneaky and major chewers so it is easy for them to chew through the tubs, instead I use "Rody Hamster by Savic" cages as they are very strong and I can make it up to keep the mice busy (mice easily get fat if they arent kept busy!), glass tank also worked but they were very heavy. I would say though, dont split up the 33 gallon tank. Use it for growing on - dont put any more then 1 mouse in the 5.5 gallon tanks and no more then 3 mice in the 10 gallons. The 33gallon will probably take 10-20 mice depending on the activitys put in there if you keep it without seperation. You only need 1 male for up to 10 females, remember so you can have 1 big colony as opposed to 2-4 small colonys.
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 6, 2009 19:02:35 GMT -5
Yeah I wasn't sure on the 33 gallon, thought I would put growing litters in there but I wasn't sure if you could put different litters in with each other. The 10s are going to be pregnant or whelping moms, 5.5 for males and non-pregnant moms. I have a co-worker going out of town next week and I asked her to pick me up a male that way I know they aren't all related for sure.
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 7, 2009 15:52:12 GMT -5
Getting a little better at telling sexes, figured out one was a male for sure last night and gave him to my alpha girl. So we are down to 8 babies which seems more manageable for mom. I'll probably let the rest get to separating age and feed off the males. Felt horrible, changed out the water and realized it's clogged and she hasn't had any for at least a day or two, lucky she's been getting some canned cat food and arugula in her mix for moisture. Mom went nuts drinking the water after I put in a new bottle.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 16, 2009 8:43:47 GMT -5
Not sure if this question was answered or not, but female mice should not be bred until they are at least 12 weeks old. Males can be bred as soon as they are mature at 6 weeks old.
I would advise against glass tanks if you can use something else. I'm using glass tanks right now and I hate them. They are so hard to clean and so heavy.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 16, 2009 8:45:32 GMT -5
Oh, and I forgot to say this. You don't have to move your snake from the room. I keep 12 snakes in the same room as my rodents and they are never in hunt mode and eat just fine on feeding day.
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 17, 2009 14:10:23 GMT -5
Well I didn't end up getting a male yet, which is alright, I'll be out of town myself end of the month and will buy one. All the babies have fur now and are moving around like mad, Mom is getting friendlier too, god those things poop a lot though! Not a fan of that. I ordered some lab blocks so hopefully those will show up before the babies are weaned. I'm going to pick up a couple more mice today from the pet store and those are pretty much guarenteed pregnant so I'll hold out a female to see if I get more babies. My snake's fancy new cage showed up this week and it's still upstairs for the time being, we have to build a stand for it, it's too big! He doesn't seem to mind the mice so far so maybe he will stay but his cage is so nice looking now it deserves an audience. I know the tanks are a PITA but tubs seem too risky if any try to escape, we shall see how it goes I guess.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 18, 2009 9:03:46 GMT -5
If you don't mind me asking what kind of snake do you have?
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 18, 2009 16:29:25 GMT -5
Ball Python, male, I've had him 3 years but he was fairly large when I got him so no clue on age.
I finally got all the babies sexed today, out of 8 I only have 2 girls! So I may start feeding off some of the males, haven't decided if I should let them get to weaning stage so they are larger or not. Picked up two more mice today, a male and a female so they are in together for about a week and then I will feed him off and hope she took.
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 21, 2009 14:38:09 GMT -5
Well plans changed, ended up keeping the male I got Weds. because he's extremely friendly and has black eyes instead of red so I can tell him apart. The new female hid the entire time and didn't eat or drink at all from what I can tell so I fed her to my snake today, I don't think she was healthy.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 24, 2009 12:47:52 GMT -5
Ball pythons are the best. I have 9 of them. Mice are little eating machines. If they are not interested in food or water, there is definitely something wrong. I wish you luck on your mice. They are hard to get going.
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Post by goingpostal on Apr 21, 2009 21:11:48 GMT -5
My mom went out of town and picked up a tan and white male for me yay! I re-bred my first momma with my previous male and fed him off, I don't need multiple males. Figured out my last "male" from the litter was a girl so I put her in with the two I am holding back to breed. They are only about 2 months old now so still waiting for them to grow up. My pet store got in some colored mice finally and one just had a litter so I'm going to nab 1 or 2 females when they are weaned.
Currently have: 1 pregnant female 3 growing girls 1 male
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Post by goingpostal on May 4, 2009 18:26:17 GMT -5
Mom just had her 2nd litter today, not sure how many, I gave her a holey sock for a sleeping spot and she had them in there. I'll check in a few days. By the time this litter is weaned my 3 females I held back will be ready to breed and I'll actually get my colony going for real! Planning to hold back 2-3 females from this litter as well.
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