>>I just acquired a mouse colony from a pet store that was going out of business, and I don't know jack about raising mice. I have a 1.5 adult colony in a 10 gallon aquarium, there are also about 7 or 8 small mice and 7 pinkies in that cage too. I also have another 10 gallon aquarium with, I think, a 1.2 colony and about 7-10 small mice.
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>>Are the adult females supposed to breed and raise the young in the aquarium, or am I supposed to separate the females that are pregnant into their own individual cage to birth their young? I do have plenty of other cages, and I think currently 4 of the females are pregnant.
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>>Also, do I need to separate the handful of small mice into a separate enclosure to raise them to adults? If so, do I need to separate them by sex? How old or large should mice be to separate them from the mother? At what point do I put the mother back into the breeding rotation?
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>>I'd appreciate any help you can offer and thank you in advance.
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>>Anthony-

DO NOT move the breeders around. Rats...fine. Mice...don't deal well with it. Set up the 1.5 and LEAVE IT ALONE. If the boy dies let them raise a baby to use or totally wreak havoc and tear up the group and reset it. Adding mice to an established group usually ends in bloodshed. Plus you just mess with production. Take out babies sometime around 3.5 to 4.5 weeks old to raise separately or when you want to feed them off. Unless you are raising them to beyond a couple months old you don't need to separate the sexes. In fact if you do have only males in a tank you will eventually have mayhem. ONLY ONE male per tank and the 1.4 or 1.5 works well with a ten gallon. Also, once you set up a group be patient. Some of my best producers take a month or two to start.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

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