Questions on breeding mice ...

[Charis]

I don't want to devote a lot of space to mice, so I'm trying to decide how many cages and breeding pairs would be the minimum for our needs. Mainly the only reason I'm considering breeding my own is that this year was my first year producing baby snakes and it's both quite expensive, a little annoying and unreliable dealing with my outside supplier for live pinks. I've had bad luck with three of my babies getting them started. One has still not eaten and the other two took a live each 3 feedings ago but have not taken F/T since then. We had a heat spike for awhile and the supplier said their females stopped breeding during it, so I have not been able to offer live to those since. Attempting to set up my own breeders now is probably not an option. Don't have the space, the permission of the landlords and the supplier should have more pinks available way before I could breed any. But in 2014 we are planning on breeding several pairs and might have 25 to 50 hatchlings. I'm aware that even breeding my own might not guarantee having enough when I need them but I would like a little more control over it. Next year we will be moving into our own home and could set up a few cages. I guess my question is, how many breeding groups do you all think is the minimum we should have to fit those needs? And I have several other questions but am having a hard time formulating them so will let it go at that for now. Sorry for the novel and thank you in advance for any replies!

[Kingsnakechris]

Its pretty simple IMO, 1 male and 2 females to start out so you don't end up having to many right off the bat. They do kinda smell tho. They will breed quite a bit once they get into the swing of it, you need a high protein diet and constant supply to water....

[Snakefood]

an average female has 6-10 pinks per litter, work your numbers out based on that and I found 1:5 colonies work well

[Kingsnakechris]

Yeah, average is 6-10 and they can get preggerz within the same day of giving birth so make sure you give her a break lol

[Charis]

Can anybody recommend a good cage for mice? I'm thinking about just a 1.1 or 1.2 group and I'm more interested in a fairly nice looking cage. Preferably at least half wire.

[Snakefood]

any cage made for small rodents will do or an aquarium. There is dozens of styles and sizes available at your local pet store.

[KORBIN5895]

If you run a 1.1 ratio you will need 10 pairs. The cages will need to be at least 5 gallons. That is a lot of wasted time, space and resources.

You should probably run 3 colonies of 1.5 or two colonies of 2.10.