Kingsnake.com - Herpforum - RE: Am I doing this right?

Posted by: pyromaniac at Mon Jun 18 20:43:58 2012 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by pyromaniac ]

Those little critter keeper cages are very easy for the mice to gnaw their way out the top. The only thing I use them for is transporting mice to customers.

Mice take about a month to produce a weanling. Average ten per litter, more if you have prolific stock. At two months they are pretty much full grown. Breeders go strong for about 8 months, but one can tell they are slowing down when lactation begins to decrease and the young begin to look runty. Some go longer than 8 months, it depends on the genes. I have a venerable old chocolate brown long hair male that in mouse years is in his 90's but is still siring robust litters. Also when a female gets really old she oft times just gets real fat and looks pregnant but no young happen. My bull snakes love those!

A 106 quart grow-out tub for weanlings, or for big harems. I also use 58 quart and 20 quart tubs, all with the same cut out lid with hardware cloth cover. Every tub gets an exercise wheel. They don't really need the wheel but they enjoy it so much, and it keeps them fit and relieves stress.

The summer screen tent. They all go into an old RV in the winter, with the tubs setting on shelving. Not quite a rack system, as they still have the lids on. They produce so much body heat they don't need any extra heat in the winter. My mice breed prolifically all year round and I sell my surplus to cover feed and bedding costs. I freeze some and sell live as well. I breed for color and now have a strong line of what I call dear mice; grey on top and white bellies. This works for the raptor rescue as the birds need mice that look like wild mice. Also have long haired and other colors, and have good longevity and big litters. Mice are fun! I admit my method my be a tad tedious to some. FR's rack system is awesome! Racks are great for limited space. I may do a rack set up but with the taller tubs so they can have their wheels.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.