Reptile & Amphibian Forums

2 questions;

My first question is (and I know I've read about this before but I cant find it now) if several females give birth in the same cage will they be ok togeather? Will they eat the others pups?

Second question:

I've seen several pictures of breeders that look like the tank is over stalked. I know that if mice are over crowded they are inclined to canibilize. I have a 30 gallon tub, that I am using as a breeder and/or grow out tank. How many roughly can this hold? Like 20?

multiple litters of mice are fine, they'll probably have a communal litter pile.

In a 30 gal, yea you can have a lot, tho just one male to a colony. Or use it for a grow out tank.

Sometimes they will cannabalize....generally it is directly related to husbandry and stress. If you separate the moms you will delay rebreeding and all the social issues with mice will create more trouble than a saved litter or two. Generally I only have cannabalizm with firt litters or underfed colonys. (someone forgot to feed them or the protein level is not up to par)

Stocking....I have 1.4 to 1.6 in a ten gallon tank. A 30 is a waste for a breeding group as you will have one male (they kill each other) and he can only deal with so many girls. If you use it as a grow out you can throw in dozens. I have grown out 60 plus in a 20long tank.
I don't use tanks usually but am referencing them so you can get an idea. Generally I put 1.6-1.8 in a tub a bit bigger than 10 gal.
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Sonya

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

Ok, I understand the bit about 30 gallon being a waste for breeding tank. I am only using it as a breeder tank as I don't have any pups to grow atm

I am a bit confused with "If you separate the moms you will delay rebreeding and all the social issues with mice will create more trouble than a saved litter or two." I think it might be a gramatical issue that I am getting cought on lol.

Are you saying that I should seperate them or that I should not seperate them? Thanks.

With mice, do NOT separate them. 1 male, however many females, leave them together permanently and remove the offspring when needed, or when weaned. Don't add new breeders to an existing colony or they are likely to be killed.

I disagree.
There are times where it's smart to move them around.
For instance, to get them 'timed' correctly.
Ok, you got 1.4 in a 10 gallon.
1 spits out babies on the 1st of the month.
Another, the 3rd of the month.
Another has 2 weeks to go.
But the 4th one will have babies in a week.
Then you'll have 2 litters a week old, and one litter just being born.
This third litter will not survive, and the fat momma mousie should be moved in with another cage that has more appropriate timing. Or with another fat mousie or no daddie mouse, so she can get back on schedule. Or by herself.
I suppose another way of doing it is feeding off the 2 litters as soon as the third litter appears, but I see this as a last resort.
So, I guess it depends on what size you weant to raise them to...
My mice don't seem to mind being shuffled about, as long as you don't do it for no reason.

Ok, thanks for both your advice. I figure I am breeding feeders, and while I am at it I would also selectively breed mice for genetics (health/temperment/color). I'm not sure exactly what my plans are yet, for caging and colonys but thanks for the info!

I may wait until I have bred a few generations of different mice before setting up 'a colony'. I may even have a dwarf mouse - not sure though (it maybe just a runt?)- too bad dwarfs won't really help as much as large feeders.

A "colony" is just another name for a cage with a male mouse and one or more females that are breeding. It's not like with rats where you can just put them together for an hour or so and they will breed right away. You usually need to leave them together for a good period of time, sometimes months, before they will be comfortable enough with each other to successfully breed.

I have been cycle breeding mice and rats for years with little problems AND have very much been able to control the output of the colony to within a liter or two per week. I have several breeding cages with a permanent resident male. Into those tubs, on the weekly cleaning day - Wednesday, I will add as many females as I want litters from. Twice a week, Wednesday and weekend, I will pull the obviously prego ready to drop moms and put several together to have their babies and raise them up to the sizes I want. Once moms have raised their babies (or I take them all away) they go back into the ready to breed female tubs.

Yes, I do probably have more mice then necessary to get that certain qty of babies BUT, I can increase or decrease production each week as necessary. I'm currently building up the qty of breedable females in anticipation of several litters of BRB's that should drop in a month or two. Within a month I will also increase the "starts" to cover feeding those about to be born babies.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thank you, I will keep this all in mind