new to mice breeding

[repilelover45]

i just got 1 male and 2 females from a local petco (no other options) i got them settled in yesterday and put the male in with the females today. my question is when should i take him out should i leave him in their till i know for sure that one of the girls are pregnant or what. My problem is i dont even know how old they are or anything all i know is that they were called fancy mice i dont even know if i should be messing with those kind i wanted just regular white mice i might be able to get regular white "feeder" mice from a friend but other than that i dont know and if i should ditch these "fancy mice" and go for the white feeder please let me know and im starting from scratch with not a whole lot of options or knowledge i mean iv done research but when it comes down to brass tacks im kinda lost Im tring to breed them so i know what im giving my snakes and they just so happen to not eat f/t no matter what i do so i thought maybe this forum could help me out on my journey.....thank you in advance and any advice is always greatly appreciated

p.s. i have 3 cages 1 for females, 1 for male, and 1 for a grow up cage or a female nursing cage if i have to split females due to cannibalism from stress

[macandchz]

i've seen those fancy mice at petco and they just look like ordinary mice that they've raised the price on. if you are using the mice as snake food, any mouse will do-except wild caught.

[Minkness]

Talking from experience, mice are really just awful to breed. You most likely will need to have 2 separate nursery cages/tubs. Be prepared not to clean it while they are still nursing as well because that always seemed to signal mine to eat their babies. While mice can make babies when very young, it is best to wait until they arw about 12 weeks old. It's better on their bodies which means better babies.

Feed a bit of dry dog food to the moms. I don't know if it matters or not, but I always used a higher quality one and I would get 20+ babies a litter.

To be blunt though, you'd probably have been better off with rats if your snakes are big enough to take rat pinkies.

[akane]

I breed gerbils but their escape ability causes some problems. You can't plastic tote them. We built some wood cages but wood is at higher risk for holding illness and it will hold urine if not sealed but gerbils don't pee everywhere so it is less of a concern. Then I keep buying 10s and 20s at petco's $1/gallon tank sales. I actually might get some mice to breed because a full adult gerbil is too big for rosy boas and I don't always have hoppers ready. Barairo did work down a juvenile but it took awhile and she wasn't ready for more food for 2 weeks instead of her usual 5-6days. I was told they can be at risk of regurgitation and some are too sensitive to even eat 1 meal of a full grown mouse instead of multiple fuzzies. The prepackaged "mouse pancakes" don't seem as fulfilling and healthy though. It might sound weird to most people but my snake doesn't seem as happy after eating mouse pancakes as gerbils I raised myself even if they've been in the freezer a little while.

[pet_snake_78]

I use lab cages. I don't remove the male. I don't mess with the groups once they are established. For food I use lab feed. People have used other foods but there can be a lot of issues.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Talking from experience, mice are really just awful to breed. You most likely will need to have 2 separate nursery cages/tubs. Be prepared not to clean it while they are still nursing as well because that always seemed to signal mine to eat their babies. While mice can make babies when very young, it is best to wait until they arw about 12 weeks old. It's better on their bodies which means better babies.

Feed a bit of dry dog food to the moms. I don't know if it matters or not, but I always used a higher quality one and I would get 20+ babies a litter.

To be blunt though, you'd probably have been better off with rats if your snakes are big enough to take rat pinkies.

Man you had a terrible experience. From my research, that sort of thing really mostly depends on what lines you use and breeding. You breed mice predisposed to that sort of thing, and you'll get more like that.

I didn't like raising mice as much as rats, but that's mostly because I don't have a good set up for them right now and they require a lot more hands-on work than rats to keep them friendly to people. I need a breeder rack so a CERTAIN SOMEBODY doesn't kick the poor mouse tubs around - our other cat completely left them alone but I had to cull them because the new cat just would not leave them alone (plus I want to get a breeder rack to make care a little easier). I never had any problems with cannibalization, though, and even the skittish ones were quite amenable to me messing around in the nest, and changing bedding didn't trigger it either, although I generally waited until they left the nest anyways just to be safe. All the females had their litters together and I never needed to separate, but the original 3 did grow up together.

As far as OP's questions, yes, I'd just leave the male in there until you're sure they're all pregnant. As long as no extreme fighting breaks out, they'll be fine. Just separate either once one of them gives birth, or when all/most are obviously pregnant, as they can immediately get pregnant again after birth and that will affect their current litters and put strain on her.

As others have said, "fancy mouse" is just a useless label given to mice of various breeds/colors to charge whatever for them, or because they don't really know what they are. You won't really know of any problems in their breeding until you start getting babies, but being pet store mice I'd expect a lot of problems. If no problems - great! But I'd be prepared for it - stuff like cannibalization, deformity, small litters, high mortality, etc. Just because you simply don't know their history, but that doesn't mean all or any of that will happen.

[akane]

I found the same with gerbils when buying pet store versus from american gerbil society members. Pet store gerbils were horrible parents, buried some off spring, ignored some because a pretty new box got added, cannibalized some, destroyed anything and everything, and had a fair chance of biting. My first group in highschool were so perfect and even worked with me to clean the cage and move the litter to a new nest. My current ones have had some hiccups from external factors that led to inconsistent production but what they have produced they raised and they have not bit without a really good reason which was a total of 2 times, haven't injured each other even when I leave siblings together a bit too long, or been obsessively destructive. I have had very different gerbils every time I tried breeding them. Don't buy pet store gerbils that aren't a local shop buying from a good local breeder. They are usually neurotic and aggressive in comparison.

[Albert Clark]

Actually the "fancy" mice are bred to be pets and not feeders. They usually are various colors or shades of beige and can be spotted. Different than your average feeder mice who are either white or black solid colored. "Fancy" mice also have tufted ears and generally more fur than feeder mice. Therefore not a great choice for colubrids and smaller snakes and reptiles that have difficulty digesting fur or even tolerating it. For your breeding selection just leave the male in the enclosure bc he literally helps the female raising the litter. Its very natural for the male to be around throughout.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Actually the "fancy" mice are bred to be pets and not feeders. They usually are various colors or shades of beige and can be spotted. Different than your average feeder mice who are either white or black solid colored. "Fancy" mice also have tufted ears and generally more fur than feeder mice. Therefore not a great choice for colubrids and smaller snakes and reptiles that have difficulty digesting fur or even tolerating it. For your breeding selection just leave the male in the enclosure bc he literally helps the female raising the litter. Its very natural for the male to be around throughout.

I personally separate them because if the female gets pregnant while nursing, it will affect her milk production and she will wean her babies early. If you're able to have the mothers take care of their litters together, that's more than enough for them to care for their babies.