Too many pinkies!

[Dom]

I thought it was cute lol .. I have been breeding tons of babies for all my little coastal babies to come soon ..

Here's a nice lil' pic of some of the babies!



There even cuter inside a snakes stomac!

[unknownclown]

Dang! I am so envious! My mice seem to be at a standstill at breeding. 4 tanks of breeders and it doesnt apear that anyone is breeding

[Emily-Fisher]

I purchased three mice to start my breeder group (2 females, 1 male). It's been a week now and no one looks any rounder (Except for Karl, my male, who would rather spend his life eating food than mating) and it's driving me nuts! Does anyone know how to tell if a female might be pregnant only a couple days after the male mates with her?

[reptilesalonica]

WOW! from how many females? I started since Sep with 1.6 mice. 15 days ago i have more females and right now i have 3.14 for breeding and hardly manage to have enough food for my 30 herps. Since last month my females laid small litters. Now the breeding females (6) lay about 6-7 pinkies.
~Greg~

[Emily-Fisher]

Sounds like your breeders are getting old! Mice start having smaller and smaller litters once their reach 4-5 months old and it's been 8 months that you've been using those breeders...i suggest that you buy some new ones and start off fresh! You will have bigger litters

[Dom]

one male 6 females.. 4 of tehm had babies on the same night.. then the next two in a week.. there giving me cary amounts really often.. I have gotton 98 babies in 2 weeks from my 6 females..

[marisa]

Mice breeders can EASILY last longer than 4-5 months!!! I have no idea why you think that. Most of my breeders don't even start breeding and having decent litters until 5 months.

All my breeders last and produce until they are about 1 year old. This is females mind you. I reuse males until they are two. They live a year with their first group of females, and another year (if the male is in good health and has a good track record) with another group of females.

Another thing is that the groups take longer than a week to start up. Sometimes when I place a new colony together it takes them 2-3 months to REALLY get going and get themselves on a schedual.

While most anything is o.k. to fed them, I believe in variety BIG TIME! I have almost NO mortality and I have absolutly NO cannabilisim. I feed my mice cheap dog food, a mouse seed mix, squrriel mix (more a treat) and when I have time they get mondo leftovers! lol rice, eggs (and egg shells), bread, croutons, dry and cooked pastas, dog bones from the dog, dry cat food from the cats, carrots and leftover iguana veggie salad etc. I put all leftovers in a large bowl in my fridge and after a couple days I spoon it out into all the cages. All this is not a must, but I find it ensures everyone is getting what they need. And frankly, the mice care is almost MORE important than the snakes care as you can't have good qaulity herps if you don't have high qaulity feeders.

I keep them in colonies of 1 male and anywhere from 3-6 females in rubbermaid shoeboxes. Fresh water is a MUST. One day without water, or one day with a water bottle spillage, can spell disaster for breeders.

Anyways, thats a nice size group of pinkies Dom!!!!

Marisa

[Linds]

Nice pic!

[Lisa]

Yumm! heh actually i don't think i could stomach eating a pinky.

our mouse production is slowly building up weee

[jwsporty]

Hey Dom,

I had a pile like that last week...did I say "Had"... And 4 more looking like they are going to pop VERY soon.

Marisa: I fully agree with you, the quality of the snake is directly proportional to the quality of the feed. I give mine a well balanced mix of pellet,seed, fresh fruit and veggies. But I hold off on the fruit until the day before I clean the pens. I also found that moving them into a cooler environment helped boost production. I have one colony 1.8 and a new second colony of 1.6, along with an active rat colony of 1.2 and a second on the way of 1.3. My food production/consumption ratios are just about right for my needs. My wife has no problem with me taking down the mice, it's the rats she has a problem with, they are so cute. I WARNED her!

[reptilesalonica]

Is there a chance if mice fed uppon meat that can easier cannibilize their babies? Just a thought.
~Greg~

[marisa]

No not that I have read. I don't really fed them "fresh meat" lol but there are meat by products in dry cat and dog food.

I have noticed the most likely culprits are in the newly set up colonies during the first litters. Either the mother is nervous, or her female cagemates are and they eat a couple or all of them. I have never ever had a father hurt his babies.

But when I was getting some baby eating last year I started kinda trying to keep track of the new colonies and when they gave birth I'd give them something to keep their mind of eating them. A high protien treat. Like a spoon of eggs. And I maybe drap a cloth over part of the tank. Also its important to keep the feeders away from busy areas of the house. Mine are in a room that only I go in once or twice per day. This year I have no baby eaters.

The strain is important too. Well not strain but certain mothers from certain colonies are prone to baby eating. I kill them right away. Any sick, ragged, or smaller females are culled as soon I see them. Any females who are just in the cage, but never seem to have their own litter, I feed off. If you do this consistantly your feeders make good breeders for the next generation. Stronger lines.

Also sometimes baby eating has nothing to do with any of the above. I have had some babie stillborn/deformed. The mother ate these and left the rest of the litter. But if I had killed her right away without noticing this then I would have missed out on a good mother.

Marisa

[jadegrasse]

I find my mice stay productive for about 12-16 months and then I cycle them. I feed my rats a higher protein diet and get about 800 mice born a month and about 300 rats born a month. The bigest problem I have is rearing them to 'market' size. I would rather sell my surplus to the pet stores then to other herpers because they are no way near as picky on size and they purchase more.

[Lisa]

The one instance of baby eating we've had is when we were away for 2 days and they ate more food then we expected...

[boa]

congrats dom glad to see your not spending top dollar right now like other people are i breed mice, rats, and there is never to many of them just keep freezing them and feeding them off.