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Post by fuzzymom on Feb 28, 2010 11:35:05 GMT -5
A milk band is basically the mouse's stomach. Because a pinky mouse's skin is pretty much see through, you can see some of the organs. When the baby's stomach fills with milk, you can see a white band.
The bins are normal rubbermaid or plastic tubs you'd find at Walmart. I use different sizes for different needs. The one in the picture was my first bin I ever made into a mouse enclosure. I simply cut out a window using a soldering iron, cut wire mesh to cover the window on the inside, and attach with zip ties. It is fairly simple to make and allows for better ventilation than a glass tank would. And they are very easy to clean. I'm about to make one for my sister (for her rats) as soon as I get a new soldering iron so I might make a "how to" thread for the bins.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 3, 2010 18:47:22 GMT -5
Group A:
The does are all looking great. The four smaller does are now 20-25g each and are 6 weeks old tomorrow. I will be weighing them again next week and the week after to make sure they are large enough so that when they hit 8 weeks old, I'm putting a male in with all 6 girls.
Group B:
The black self's litter is doing great. They are all dark in coloration and are a week old tomorrow. The agouti self female does not appear pregnant. I'm going to give her two months and if she does not produce a litter by then, I'm replacing her.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 5, 2010 14:23:16 GMT -5
Group A:
The blue does were in with a male but they are showing no signs of pregnancy and their weight stays the same. (40g) I am considering throwing in a male early. The younger does are 6 weeks old and should be up to weight (my minimum breeding weight is 25g) within a few days. I used to wait until 12 weeks, and then I decided to go with 8 weeks, but I need to start producing mice and build up my colony. My snakes alone go through 8-16 a month (depending on if the boa eats mice or rats. If she eats mice, then it goes up to 16). And I'd like to get the ferrets eating mice at least a few times a week.
Group B:
I will be keeping all females from the current litter and build an enclosure for Group C. Since any does I keep are agouti that carry black self, I might wait until I get a litter from Group A in hopes of getting a male that carries satin and angora. I think it would be neat to try and make some agouti satin angora mice. Might take a few generations, but I'm going to try it out.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 7, 2010 12:01:08 GMT -5
Group A: They are doing great. I can't wait to move a male in with them. I technically have to wait until they are 8 weeks old though. They are 4 days away from being 7 weeks old. I'm so close to just throwing a male in with them anyway. They are all a healthy weight but at the same time I don't want to breed them too early. Group B: The litter is doing great! Sexed them today. 4 males and 1 female. Just my luck. Oh well. I'll be keeping one male and the one female. The male will go to be Group A's male and the female will stay with her mothers. Plans: Soon I plan to build another enclosure (maybe this week) and add Group C which will consist of a 1.4. Maybe I'll try adding an enclosure every week. I guess we shall see. It all comes down to whether or not my husband will give me money to do so. I'm out of a job so he's bringing home all the money. I hate asking him for money. I need to find a job!
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 10, 2010 14:04:58 GMT -5
Group A - Were finally moved to a larger enclosure. They are in with a male so we will see in about 3 weeks time if anyone is pregnant. With 6 females in there, I hope to have many litters.
Group B - The litter is doing well. They will open their eyes soon. The agouti self female is showing no signs of being pregnant, despite being in with a male for several several weeks. (The weeks before the black self got pregnant, the 3 weeks of the black self's pregnany, and now 2 weeks after she gave brith, and the agouti still doesn't appear pregnant.) Now the two does are no longer in with a male so we will see. Once Group A has a few pregnant does, I'm moving the male back in with Group B (the litter will be weaned by then) in hopes of getting the agouti pregnant. If she doesn't become pregnant soon, I will have to feed her off.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 15, 2010 22:29:48 GMT -5
A little update for Group B.
Group B is doing well. The litter is almost 3 weeks old. Only 1 more week till they wean. I'm keeping one male and one female. And I've been watching both adult does carefully and they are definitely pregnant. I would say since the current litter is only a few days away from being 3 weeks old and gestation is only 19-21 days, they should give birth within the next few days. I'm excited. I hope I get plenty of females because I'm holding back all females from both litters. Pics to come of the new litters when they arrive. Should be 3-4 days.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 22, 2010 10:48:46 GMT -5
Update:
Group B - The agouti female had her litter but destroyed them. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep her or not since she took so long to get pregnant in the first place and then for no reason at all, mutilated them. The black self female gave birth to 13 babies last night.
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Post by 1 on Mar 24, 2010 23:41:40 GMT -5
Update: Group B - The agouti female had her litter but destroyed them. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep her or not since she took so long to get pregnant in the first place and then for no reason at all, mutilated them. The black self female gave birth to 13 babies last night. Why would she do that? I'de imagen a female beging in sleeples nights, praying on her life to get pregnet, and she's an aborshonist!!!? She deserves to be eaten!
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 25, 2010 14:45:49 GMT -5
It was her first litter, and I always give a female 2 or 3 tries before feeding her off. She is actually doing really well with the other female's litter. She tends the litter while the momma goes to eat and take a quick break. I'm confidant that she will do better on her next litter.
A small update on the litter. They are getting bigger and some are starting to develop a darker pigment. I think these will all be agouti babies again, but we shall see. I plan on keeping all of the females from this litter and feeding off all the males.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 28, 2010 14:00:33 GMT -5
A small update on my mouse colony. This colony is going far better than any previous attempts. I have one female sitting on a litter and another 2-3 pregnant females. I just purchased Group C. It consists of 1.2 - a male that is either himilayan or siamese, a himilayan or siamese female and a long haired brindle female (I think she is a brindle) I will be getting pictures soon.
Breeding Males: 2 Breeding Females: 10 Holdback Females: 1 Holdback Males: 1 Litters Produced: 2 Current Litters: 1 Expecting Litters: 2-3
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 5, 2010 16:04:59 GMT -5
I feel like I am swimming in mouse babies. Group A had a ton of babies in one litter but the momma mouse was so overwhelmed she has dropped soooo much weight. She is skinny and not doing well so I took all her babies and fostered them into Group B which has exploded with babies. So all babies are in Group B's tub and the momma mice in there are taking great care of them all. 35 babies in all! I had fostered a few babies into Group B a few days ago to see if that would help Group A's female but you can see the difference in them already. To the left is a baby from Group A that I pulled and fostered out a few days ago. The baby to the right is one I just pulled today. They are the same age but you can see the size difference since the baby to the left has not been getting enough milk from mom. This picture is a view of Group B's tub. You can see all the babies. And this was before I put in the babies from Group A. And I'm expecting another 1-2 girls to drop soon. I plan on holding back about 6-12 females from this litter explosion and make 1-2 new 1.6 groups. Breeding Males: 3 Breeding Females: 10 Holdback Females: 0 Holdback Males: 0 Litters Produced: 4-5 Current Litters: 3-4 Expecting Litters: 1-2
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 22, 2010 11:06:49 GMT -5
Well at this point it is getting harder to keep track of how many I'm producing. Group B is doing well. Most of the babies are close to weaning age and I'll be holding back 6 females and 1 male to make a 4th breeding group. It will be my 2nd breeding group of 1.6. The other two "groups" are actually pairs.
The female in Group C is about to pop any day now. The female in Group A is possibly pregnant. I have another 1-2 females obviously pregnant in Group B. I'm going to be swimming in mice. Since I only require 3 adult mice per week for the snakes, I will soon be introducing mice to the ferrets as a regular part of their diet.
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 23, 2010 11:40:40 GMT -5
The female in Group C popped last night. 8 babies. The female in Group A is going to give birth in a few days. I just separated out feeders from Group B's tub. Even after supplying my sister with 12 mouse fuzzies for her snake and keeping back 6 females for the next breeding group and 1 male, I was still able to pull 13 weaned mice from Group B's tub. Hopefully with the addition of another 1.6 group, I can double that output per month.
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Post by horse656 on Apr 23, 2010 13:49:53 GMT -5
at about what age do you sex your mice?
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 23, 2010 14:32:30 GMT -5
I sex them around 2 weeks of age to get a general idea of what I have and then again when I separate the feeders out.
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