Breeding mice

[Smilts]

What is the best ratio of male to females. I only have two snakes that eat full grown mice, but i have friends who need a decent supply. I would only need about 20 or 30 a month but more wouldnt hurt i could sale to the local pet store. I know that to many males around will get to smellinbut dont know the best way to get what i need. I have one male and one pregnant female she about ten days pregnant. Any advice or strategys would be helpfull. Steve

[Zoe]

You woulnd't want to go with any more females than 1.5, but 1.3 or 1.4 would probably be ideal. If you want to produce a lot of babies, you'd just go with two colonies.
Other than that, give them lots of food and water, don't bug them too much and they should produce for you.

Zoe

[tai_pan1]

I go with 1.5 colonies, although I was once up to 1.7 in a colony. Your biggest problem will be growing the babies to adulthood to feed to your snakes. I have 10 snakes that eat various sized mice, but if the mice reach 4 weeks in age, I try to pick out all of the males and kill them off. I've found that after this age, the young males will start to kill off pinkies if they have a chance and the "older" male isn't looking. They can devastate your production as well as create a stink. I only allow females to grow to adulthood, unless I have a male that is getting old. If that happens, I try to set aside a male for future breeding. I always keep young females in line in case something happens to an older female (thats how I ended up with a 1.7). If I have a female that consistently has small litters, she becomes snake food. If I have a female that eats her young more than once, she becomes snake food. If I have a female that isn't producing (you guessed it) she becomes snake food. I have several females that all have 24 or more babies per litter. Their mother once had 32 in a litter. I try to cull the litters down to 6 or 8 pinkies within a day or two. This helps the pinkies that are left to grow large quickly and it also takes a strain off of the mother.

Hope that helps, sorry for the long post. If you have any other questions, just ask.

Mike

[Smilts]

thanks for the replies, this is something im trying to learn about i think ill start 1.5. Would it be better after the babies are weened to move them to there own tank, i have like four tubs not being used that i keep for rescues