gestation?

[Clownfishie]

How long is the gestation period for mice (and for that matter, is there any way to tell if they're preggers?)?
By my calculations, my trio should be old enough to be sexually mature, so theoretically they should start producing babies in the very near future... just wondering when I might be able to expect my first batch of babies


Thanks!
Jen

[Jungle Jen]

Mice are mature to reproduce at 6 weeks of age, with a gestation period of 19-21 days. Good luck!

[Linds]

Just because they are mature is nto to say they are ready to reproduce. One thing I can't stand about breeding mice, its not like rats where they breed easy no problems... sometimes mice can be finicky to start and easily upset once established. Perosnally its taken me sometimes several months to get a mouse colony going, rats aren't nearly as sensitive. I've spoken with many people that have similar mouse experiences as well. Mice drive me nuts... they bite, they are dirty, they smell bad, and they are too touchy

[Pixie]

I have to echo Linds' experiences. I first started breeding mice about 1 1/2 years ago getting fully grown adult mice to start with and the buggers took 6 months to get going. Even then it wasn't consistent, I often had small litters (4 or less) and had high instances of cannibalism. Aside from the better quality food item in the end, I found no other "pros" and many, many "cons"!

I gave up on my mice colonies a few months ago when I switched to breeding rats. I now have one nice rat colony going and I am much, much happier!!! The mice cost me a fortune to upkeep and tons of time and I still wound up with a stinky mess. The rats produce in impressive numbers and are much more fun! I haven't had a litter under 13 so far the regular being around 16. Much less stink too.

IMO unless you really have to, breeding mice is really not worth it.

Pixie

[marisa]

I don't disagree but my personal experience was much better with mice. I never had any cannabilisim, never had any "upset" mothers or anything like that, and my litters were always above ten. But I could have been lucky and started out with a good batch of mice to begin with.

I find that when I set up new colonies it would take anywhere from 1-3 months for the first litter to appear. But after that, you are on easy street.

Marisa

[Lisa]

I've had cannabilism but that was from mixxing 2 colonies.

as for when they are preggers they look like they've swallowed a golf ball or 2.