Breeding Mice

[stevesemerko]

I have been seriously considering breeding my own mice. I have read a lot of books and tried to research on the internet but haven't really found any thing I have read to be too informative a lot it is really generalized and not really meant for reptile feeding. I would like opinions and advice from people who have kept them. I was thinking of using the rack system that Boid Keeper uses because I already have that type of rubbermaid rack. Can anybody who has bred mice post the basics of keeping and breeding them and their experiences. I have 6 snakes that are feeding on mice (pinkies and fuzzies) and one on rats. I don't want to breed rats right now since I don't need a whole bunch. I would also like to know the sort of timeline I am looking at to be producing a good number of pinkies and fuzzies and a recommended colony size for my needs.

Thanks

Steve

[Frithrah82]

It doesn't take much to meet the needs of six snakes taking pinkies and fuzzies, currently I only have 2 males and 8 females and I'm overflowing with food for my three snakes, my boyfriend's snake, and am still providing food to a friend of mine as well. Personally I have never used a rack system as I enjoy my little mammals as well as my reptiles and I only breed fancy mice as i like to be able to relate to each one as an individual, and my setup is actually not quite what I hope to eventually have, i figured I would still share my experiences...
right now i keep 4 females to 1 male in ten gallon tanks, if one female gets really pregnant and no one else is showing at all I separate her into a 5 gallon tank to give her more attention. If a few or all of the girls are pregnant in a given tank and are really showing I remove the male until after the pups are weaned to give the girls a break (as a girl myself I know I don't like to constantly be harrassed for sex either...) When a bunch of females give birth about the same time I will separate out a few from each litter to freeze right away (one of my corns and my boyfriend's corn are both very young still) leaving a few from each mother for them all to share and fuss over. I gradually pick more and more off to fit my needs as they get older, and depending on my breeding needs i occasionally let an entire litter get weaned just to see which ones i might want to keep for breeding later (but thats just me). Generally the two tanks are on an even schedule so that at least one mom is giving birth from week to week. Ideally I would have 4 ten gallon tanks with only 2 girls each that I can switch the males between to get on a more regular schedule, but for space and money right now I just can't.
Some basic mice breeding stuff: (since I dont know exactly what you found)
gestation is usually about 21 days
litters are usually 6-8 pups (throughout life, younger, healthier mice produce more pups, often 10-15+, as your mice age their productivity will lessen, and consider that mice only live a year or year and a half so old age is like 8 or 9 months, you'll see a decline long before then)
weaning usually happens around 3-4 weeks
mice are full grown around 3 months old
feeding mice is a lot easier than finding the right lab block etc, for optimal maternal health go with just a teaspoon full of basic birdseed (no peanuts or sunflowerseeds) per mouse, per day, up it to 3 tsp for every 2 mice per day when they start to show. during the pregnancy you can offer wheat bread soaked in milk to promote more/bigger pups, plus they'll be healthier with less chance that she will decide to eat them (not that this happens often when situations are ideal, just dont play with the babies for the first week or so)
until you need bigger mice rack breeding is probably going to be a bit more productive than you need, i think the best rule of thumb will really be to just make sure you have two sets of breeders so that they're birthing at alternate times.
goodluck with whatever you choose to do!
~fuzzy

[Linds]

Mice stink something awful. I currently have in and around 200 rats and only have a 1.5 colony of mice. I try to get everything on to rats asap. Rats have larger litters than most mice (excluding inbred strains of lab mice such as Swiss Websters or ICR), about 12-18 I find. They are also much friendlier and do not stress out very easily. Mice are very sensitive to external influences and it doesn't take much for them to stop breeding or devour a litter. You sort of have to find a happy medium with the stink factor, if you clean too much then the males start marking excessively, and if you don't clean often enough it stinks even worse. It's a myth that handling pinks will cause the parents to eat them, I handle mine as early as one day of age, same with cleaning the cage. It may take a few months for your mice to get in the swing of things as well. Leave the colony in tact, if you start adding/seperating breeders you will end up being counterproductive. The mice may halt breeding activity as well as you want the female to be in with the male so he can reimpregnate her soon after she gives birth. Also, you cannot add any new members if there are any babies in the colony.

Here's a pic of part of my meat farm...

<img src="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/22themeatfarm.jpg">

[Mystic__69]

Last year for christmas my mom and sister got me mice, I started breeding right away and with in a few months I ended up with close to 70 mice. Now I also went through around 50+ mice a month and not all were adults. If you are going to breed watch the females because they will eat their own young even if nothing is wrong. I kept all my females in a large 4x1 1/2 glass tank and the pregnant ones in sperate tank, same with the males. Also be sure that you lids fit really good because I had on more then one day go in to feed them and their are one or two in the food bag. Also if you are going to breed mice beware of the smell. If you keep up with the cleaning everyday or so its not that bad but if you forget about it one day and a next, well then it gets bad. I would try to clean everyday and also to check the babys everyday. Also what some ppl say about picking up pinkies I found that they did better if I held them once in awhile, but maybe I had weird mice. Good luck with breeding mice

[Mystic__69]

oh and to your time line answer if you breed right away in about three or four weekes you should be looking at pinkies. aonther month for a fair size.

[marisa]

Sometimes with mice, cleaning too often can cause a WORSE smell. The smell comes from males marking. If you clean a cage, they will remark all over the place. So a fine line between too much stank, and not enough. LOL.

I use small showbox size rubbermaids. 1.3-1.4 mice in each. Leave alone all the time, fresh food and variety, fresh water. Clean every 4-7 days.

Marisa

[Bighead]

Wow, clean the cage every day? I didn't realize that's what I was supposed to be doing. Do you just spot clean or replace all the bedding? What bedding do you use?

[marisa]

No man. You definitly do NOT need to change the cage each day.

The mice stink. Thats the bottom line. Changing cages may save you from smell somewhat but it will never end and costs money to change each day, not only that but it stresses them out.

Have the least amount of males possible for one. Example...instead of two colonies of 1.3 try on colony of 1.6 that automatically reduces male pee by 50% hahaha got what I am saying?

Vanilla. Vanilla in water tubes works for some people to cut down the smell. I can't remember the dillution ratio but I will post when i find it.

Baking Soda. I have an open box behind each two mouse cages. This helps BIG TIME.

Marisa