Breeding Instructions Pretty Please?

[daver676]

I picked up some mice for my bp (6 to be exact), and I think I have 3 males and 3 females. I've been doing some searching and the common opinion is 3 females per male. Well this is more of a curiousity thing for me then anything else, so I don't want 3 pregnant females. One litter for the learning experience would be great. I am currently keeping all the mice together in a large blue rubbermaid container with a piece of pegboard covering it. They are on pine and newspaper, with a few little hide boxes. I'm feeding them a mixed seed food, and some Nutriblock. Can anyone offer some advice on what the right mix is for breeding/housing in order to get a female or two to reproduce. What type of enclosure would you recommend for breeding...etc. Thank you very much.

[marisa]

Well you should start out right by placing all the females with one of the males IMHO.

Three females will not produce too many to handle, and you won't need any learning experience :) They will take care of everything on their own and you will simply have to give them food and remove the babies when they are the size you need. I would whack off the two other males.

Here is a page I wrote...
http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/mouse.html

Marisa

[daver676]

Wow Marisa. That is a great page of info *bookmark*. I'm thinking that I'm not going to breed after all. I was kind of like "well, I have these males and females. I wonder if I can get them to breed?" but in a month or so, I hope to have my snake eating f/t rats. Thanks for the info. I'll definatley keep it handy. :)

[daver676]

Ok I changed my mind.... I'm going to try breeding some mice. After a closer inspection tonight, I learned I actually have 5 males and 1 female. I took out one of the bigger males, and the female and put them in their own box.

How important is a day-night cycle to these two mice for breeding? I currently have them in a large cardboard box with the same setup as before. I was reading (thanks Marisa!) that a smaller enclosure is better, so I'm in the process of looking. Also, the room they are in gets pretty cool at night, but it won't drop below 60 or so. Is this OK?

[CHRISANDBOIDS14]

Sound perfectly fine. Just provide them with the shavings, water and food and they will do the rest. Good luck, well, for a large litter and sucessful copulation. Peace.

Chris

[marisa]

Well they will be out of the cardboard box in no time at all. lol :) So watch out! And yes I have personally have MUCH better sucess when giving the mice a slight bit of crowding....most people do. Not impossible to use larger...but for production I don't prefer it.

I can't be 100% on this but some people say without a dark period mice will not breed/not breed as readily. Much breeding goes on at night. I have talked to still other mice keepers who have their mice in a closet 24/7 dark almost and are doing fine. In any cage, in a room with a window...even the slightest amount of light will let them know what time it is. They just know. But I have mine on normal 12/12 hours :)

As for temp, mice actually prefer cooler temps and breed better at cooler temps. Even down to 55 is fine usually with healthy mice. At higher temps (I believe its like 80+F), the males become temporarily sterile and mating goes to almost zero. This is why I breed enough in the winter, and kill my colonies off in the summer. No point in keeping them as they will just suffer in the heat we get here anyways. But yeah room temp is just fine.

Marisa

[daver676]

I managed to find an old plastic tupperware to put them in, and it has VERY high sides, so I didn't cover the top all the way. They will now get a day-night cycle :) The female is a plain old albino, she is curious and active, an is usually belly up to the bowl, but the male is a feisty brown guy, and is a bit jumpy. What kind of temperment should I be looking for in good breeder mice?

I'm already wondering what the babies will look like! :D

[marisa]

Doesn't really matter. Well not that I have found. I never really bother to note personality in any of them unless something unusual is going on with the colony.

The babies will be cool because with mice you really never know what will pop out. Last year I consistantly had silk coated mice popping up, but no silk parents, and parents from very different sources. :D It's pretty neat.

<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/furry/Rodents/babies.jpg">

Marisa

[daver676]

I can't wait either Marisa! How old are those mice in that pic? (weeks).

[jjnnbns]

are these directions the same for rats?

[marisa]

Um hmm that was from last year....they were probably two weeks old give or take some days. Had a bit of growing too do still at that point.

Marisa

[marisa]

jjnbns- No. I have not bred rats and their needs are slightly different...equiptment would need to be sturdier and larger....etc

Marisa
Oh wanted to add for some GREAT information check this page out:

http://koti.mbnet.fi/haisulit/engp/bpractice.html

This is for pet mice, so some of the things should be considered as coming from a pet owner and show mouse breeder, not a snake feeder. Two very different things, but the page contains some great info either way.

[CHRISANDBOIDS14]

O cardboard box, didnt see that! But yah its good you chaged the sides. If the sides are above 1' 2" minimum you should be fine.

[daver676]

Originally posted by CHRISANDBOIDS14
O cardboard box, didnt see that! But yah its good you chaged the sides. If the sides are above 1' 2" minimum you should be fine.

Actually the last batch of feeders I bought lived in this same box for a month with no escapes, or even chewing on the box....

[sapphire_moon]

but all are different. I didn't have any rats that chewed until I introduced my new females. Now they chew on these little things that stick up from the bottom of the sterilite, we are going to do that hardware cloth basket mentioned in another thread.

[daver676]

After some more thought, I'm actually thinking about breeding rats instead. Since that is what I want my bp to eat anyway. I've found a deal on a 10 gallon aquarium. Is this big enough for 2 rats to breed, or should I look for something bigger? Any differences I should know about between breeding rats and mice? Also, chances are that the rats I can get won't be sexually mature, so should I wait to introduce them until they are mature, or can they live together from the start? Thank you.