mouse racks

Meat Man · 03-19-04, 04:14 PM

Between my friend and I, we want to breed some mice to have some pinkies and fuzzies for our snakes. We will need a rack though. Does anyone know how much a small rack with about 8 drawers or somthing is? Or can I just go to like Walmart and get somthign with plastic drawrers?

Auskan · 03-19-04, 04:29 PM

You won't need something with 8 drawers for a couple of snakes. Mice breed continuously and will have a litter of 5-15 every 3 weeks or so. If you have a 1.2 or 1.3 colony, you will probably have more than enough mice. For a small number of snakes, if you are doing it to save money on food, its probably not worth your while.

Having said that, the best set up I have seen was one of Boidkeeper's (see his photo in the gallery - Trevor, I hope you don't mind me referring him to your gallery?) where he used a set of 3 plastic drawers and had a colony in each of the drawers.

I keep both rats and mice, but they are pets as well as breeders. My 2 colonies of mice each have a CritterTrail cage. My rats have a custom built cage. Not the most "efficient" way to keep them if saving money is the only goal though.

Linds · 03-19-04, 05:12 PM

A small mouse rack can probably built for as little as $40 US.
Some people use those plastic drawers, and we gave them a try at work for a little bit, but the problem is that they will eventually get chewed through and there isn't enough ventilation with simply drilling holes in them. Too little ventilation creates A LOT of humidity from the urine and a very smelly, sticky mess.

Lisa · 03-21-04, 02:50 AM

We use 10G aquariums and hang a waterbottle inside.

How big are the snakes? might be easier to switch to rats.