Mice probs...

[Zoe]

I'm having problem with my mice. The problem is they keep bloody dying on me.
This has happened twice, with two different colonies (granted, they were from the same store.) In both cases, the mice arrived, apparently healthy. Not long after (a week or two) the male got very sick and was 'put down'. Rigor mortis set in minutes later. WIth the first colony, I thought that the females were killing the male so I killed them all and got a new colony. Now, the male died (a couple weeks after I got him) and just recently a female died. Now the other 4 females look bit... squinty, just sitting in a corner not really reacting (they do run away when I put my hand in), their noses to the ground.

Not sure what's going on... any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks!
Zoe

[Slannesh]

Did you keep both groups in the same enclosure?

If so did you sterilize it between the two groups?

You mentioned both came from the same pet store, Do you know if they sterilize their cages between groups of animals? Probably not...

[tai_pan1]

Could be that they were old. Mice only live for a year or so. When you figure that the breeder raised them for a couple of months, then they needed to get shipped to the stores distribution center, and finally make it's way to the pet store. After that, it could spend months at the store waiting for you to buy it.
The first male I got for my first colony had the same type of problem. For two months none of my females got pregnant, then he died. I went out and got another male and bingo, I had babies a couple of weeks later. I have found that the fancy mice tend to live longer and have larger litters than the white mice. This is just my observation and certainly not scientific in any way.

Good luck.

Mike

[Pixie]

This is yet another reason I stopped breeding mice!

I had many problems with the adults both male and female dying off. They were purchased from different shops but due to God know what reason, a good 20% wouldn't last past one month.

Then I had problems with adult cannibalism. On two occasions I had a male eat a pregnant female which was beyond gross. Different males of course as they were immediately fed off after the incidences. Then, on at least two other occasions it was the other way around, the females ganged up and ate the male!

They were all being very well fed too so I was getting really fed up with them! Of course, they ate a bunch of their babies too... Argh!

I gave all that up after a year of wasting my time and money on them stinking mice! I got a few small litters but nothing near enough to be worth all the trouble.

I now breed rats and am very happy with just one colony and don't have any problems like I did with mice.

Good luck! I say, give it up! Unless you need a large amount of mice and can't substitute with rats it's not worth it.

Pixie

[Lisa]

I need mouse pinks for some of my corns, so I gotta breed mice... I do find them easier to clean cause the cages are smaller.

[reptilesalonica]

I breed mice since last year. I had some deaths but not so many.
I breed only albino whistar (lab) mice. Which are the best.
They produce from 10-18 babies in every litter and from the 30 colonies of 1.4 to 1.6, maybe 6-8 of the females eat their youngs.
2 months ago i obtained albino whistar (lab) rats too. They are great! :)
~Greg~

[geckomom]

I used to breed mice and rats, and found I had to be very careful where I bought my breeder stock from. Some stores I went to kept their mice in the "back room" - I insisted on seeing them, and was appalled at the conditions some were kept in.

Mice can be very susceptible to respiratory illnesses, they become lethargic, "fluff" up their fur, squinty/watery eyes, sneezes/wheezing, especially if they come from overcrowded, unclean conditions - the respiratory stuff can spread like wildfire. Obviously, if they're sick, they're not going to breed.

Don't know if this is what you're experiencing, just my 2 cents.

Oh, and if you're going to start w/a new colony, be sure to thoroughly sterilize the cage before introducing new mice.

Good luck!

[marisa]

I think I am the only person who likes breeding mice :(

lol. Yes get good starting stock. What I do each year is purchase two groups of mice. One from a local store, and the other from a store about an hour a way. These two groups I watch. If both are healthy I breed from them both, but if one is not healthy they are culled and I purchase another group from whatever store sold me the healthy ones.

ALSO and this is a big thing, try GSE!!! Grapfruit Seed Extract is a natural anti-fungal, anti-biotic and anti-parasitic extract. It is 100% safe to use on mice, snakes even PEOPLE. If you buy a batch of half assed looking mice, start dosing their water with GSE you will almost always see a 100% differance if the mice are suffering from a common pet shop problem. Parasites, etc. (btw a common dose is 10 drops per gallon) Its easy to clean up bad mice with this stuff and get them healthy and ready to breed. I almost promise you will see a differance very shortly with almost ANY mice you use this on.

Anyways with my two families I breed and use first litters as new breeders and so on. Last year off like 20 mice I bred like 500. Small cages, GSE, lots of variety in diet and fresh water.

Good luck
Marisa

[reptilesalonica]

I think I am the only person who likes breeding mice
No, i guess you're not alone on that Marisa lol...
I didn't expect from myself that i would ever like to bree mice :D
Mention that 10 years earlier i was horrified by mice.
Now i like to pick them up (i don't use forceps) by the tails and put them on my arm/shoulders when i must remove them.
I like the whole idea of having all those mice cages and that i have to care for them.
Somehow i feel responsible for them as i see those little babies growing on to fuzzies, hoppers...they are families and even the fact that i use them to feed my snakes, doesn't need to be cruel with them, i don't kill them to feed my snakes, nature kills them, because one upper life (snake), must feed on them.
p.s. I saw that you mention (small cages)...
I second on that...they are feeling more secure right?
~Greg~

[marisa]

Yes I think they definitly feel more secure in the smaller cages. They seem to like some amount of crowding!

Marisa

[reptilesalonica]

I observe that too, since i run the 20% of my breeder mice to smaller cages and i see that they never ate their babies, while those that they breed in larger cages, some of them they tend to eat the youngs.
Prob with smaller cages is that they need to be cleaned more frequently.
~Greg~

[marisa]

Yeah big time. Once per week is like not enough for small cages. It needs like 2-3 cleanings but in the end the amount of babies you end up with makes up for it! hahaha

marisa

[reptilesalonica]

I think there is a problem somewhere...with 1st day babies when we have to change the substrate.
The mother might stressed and eat up the babies...
Have you invent any tip for that?
~Greg~

[marisa]

I haven't had problems. I change the cage whenever. If the babies are newborns we actually move the entire nest into the new cage. works so far.

marisa

[reptilesalonica]

Hmmm...this makes it easier for you, see i don't use nests...
so, i guess it is harder in my situation :(
~Greg~

[marisa]

No, I don't either. But normally the mothers push the cleanest pieces of pine/aspen into a small area. I grab all this. When the pinkies are all in a pile I just scoop up the pile, and all the litter the pile is resting on :D

Marisa

[reptilesalonica]

Yes, this is good but what if your smell remains in the nest (imagine if you didn't have bath for 2 weeks) and the mothers eat the youngs because of the smell?
(just kidding for the smell ok?) :D:D
~Greg~