Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone breed their own mice? What, and where, do you keep them? Are their reproduction rates good? Any advice would be helpful.

towards the middle of the summer I'll purchase 3 female mice and 1 male. I only breed for the pinkies. Once I get enough pinkies stored to get any hatchlings I have have up to eating fuzzies I feed the adult mice to my corns. I have used Care Fresh bedding and pine shavings both with good results. I've had litters of up to 20 pinkies but as the mice get older they have smaller litters. I don't use the higher grade mouse food because I only plan on getting two litters from each female before they in turn are fed to my adult snakes. You can keep them pretty much anywhere that you don't mind the smell. Defintely get a water bottle, they make a huge mess with bowls..LOL

Can they be kept in rubbermades?

dont see why not. Just keep any air holes above where they can chew on them. If they start chewing the insides of the hole the holes will become large enough for them to escape. I just use a standard 20 gallon glass tank. It works well for just 4 mice. Breeders will use the ABS mortar mixing pans that you can buy cheap at home depot or lowes, you just have to devise a secure top with mesh wire.

I have some rubbermaid tubs with a section of the lid cut out and replaced with a wire mesh "drop down" cage which holds lab chow and a water bottle. Eventually mice do find a way to chew their way out of rubbermaids, but you can usually spot their gnawing and replace the tub as needed.

Here in C-town we typically have a "pinky shortage" in the summer months when there's boatloads of babies hatching out. So wisema(n)s method has a lot or merit. It takes more time to maintain a rodent colony than it does to maintain a snake colony, so when I breed my own rodents, I only do it a few months out of the year and then feed everything off before my snakes go into brumation.

One of the trickiest aspects of breeding rodents in the Summer is maintaining a good temperature - rodents breed best at moderate temperatures (60-70 degrees). They tend to not produce well (if at all) once it gets above the high 70s - so you make want to make sure you have some climate control in place before emabarking in your rodent breeding.

Tim

Third Eye

I have been breeding my own rats for the past year, and they are really sweet; it's hard to kill them off when you get attached. I keep them in 32 and 41 quart Sterilites, which I replace about every 4 months due to chewing. They reek, especially in the summer/warmth, and my room was getting into the 80's regularly. I keep the males in separate cages, and put females in with them when I need babies. The biggest litter I got was 17, but I normally get 11-15 from my good females. I plan on starting mice in the spring for pinkies. Oh yeah, I made my own lids for the Sterilites; they are frames of 1x2s with 1/2 inch chicken wire attached. (mice should have 1/4 inch) I use the little wire heat bulb guards as the food hoppers. (found at any chain pet store) Definitely make sure you have a lot of ventilation and clean the cages at least once a week. Good luck!
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Corn Snakes--Astro, Becky, Cheyenne, Diablo, Echo, Frosty, Genie, Harley, Iolani, Jasper, Kira, Lexie, Moxie, Nari, Oki, Phoebe, Quincy, Rhea
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