Breed Feeders?

[sierrabravo]

I was thinking about breeding some of my own feeder mice for food for my Python Regis. Anyone have tips for this, like leaving the mice together for too long while breeding etc etc? They're just plain old white feeder mice, and I hate having to drive clear across town for 30 minutes just to buy one or two little mice...! Thanks for any hints/tips you guys may provide!

[totheend]

I would go with breeding rats not mice. I have one female BP (pretty sure she was a ch) that would not touch rats. So she was eating 3 or 4 mice at a time...and still wasn't enough for her. She is finally after 2 1/2 years eating rats and is gaining some good weight now. My point is mice are just not enough for a BP. It may be easier to switch now than it would be later.

Anyway I usually just leave the male with the females and then when the female is ready to have her babies I move her to a different cage and let her have the babies. When I take the babies from the mom I give her a rest period before she goes back in with the male to breed again. Rats are very easy to breed.

[mykee]

I agree. I have over 120 ball pythons and I breed my own rats as well as two colonies of mice for hatchlings. My rats are in colonies of 1.4 and they live together all the time, no one gets removed. As for the mice, I breed colonies of 2.12 and again, they all stay together all the time. None of this removing stuff for me, it's quite honestly a waste of time when you have as many as I do. I find that if you get an established colony, very few babies if any are killed or eaten. Good luck.

[totheend]

I never used to separate the females, but I have noticed if I do that the babies grow better and the female does a little better if separated. Some I do leave (because I am lazy), but I try to separate them.

[mykee]

I find that if I separate, the other females in the colony can't help out the nursing mother, which is very common. As well, the production goes way down when I separate birthing/nursing mothers.
You want to build a colony, not just a bunch of rats. They need to bond, and by leaving mothers who are nursing in there, all the adults, males included will help out in the raising of the young and bond, which results in less injury, cannibalism, etc.

[PDXErik]

Just beware of rats. Vicious little jerks.

My rats are pretty friendly, we get along. They get puppy chow as well as some grains and fruits.

And they eat babies like nobody's business.

[mykee]

They eat babies because you're feeding them crap.
They need the nutrition that you're not providing with DOG FOOD so they eat their babies.
Rats eat rat food...
..at least healthy ones do...

[PDXErik]

They eat rat food, too. The first litter, they were getting that Nutriphase with some granola, dried fruits and other nuts mixed in for variety.

I was told by a few different people that this could be because they are needing more protein in their diet. So, I add a high-protein Dog Food to it.

Otherwise, they are fit and as happy as caged rats can be.

Ah, I didn't mention any of that in the above post, I'll put off being offended for a bit.

I'm expecting another litter today or tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. After the last litter, I fed everybody and all were hungry but one. I removed her, so maybe it'll go a bit better.

[ffollett]

I have bred mice, rats, rabbits, and gerbils over the years for feeder animals. I can say from personal experience rats are the best to work with. Females will work together to nurse and take care of the babies. They are also smart animals and actually make better pets then hamsters and gerbils do. If you take care of them properly they will get to know you and not have any problems with you touching them or their babies.
We had one female that no matter what cage I put her in the little thing would get loose in the rodent room. When ever I would go in the room I would call her like you would a dog and she would come out and climb up and sit on my shoulder while I cleaned cages. She would go back into her cage eat and drink and at some point that night she would sneak out again. The only time she stayed in was when she had a littler of babies.
Rats are also more nutritious than mice so they are better for your snake.