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Mouse question...

LoKii Oct 27, 2007 12:50 PM

I just started breeding my own mice for my snakes. I find it interesting and enjoy it to a certain extent. I do have a few questions though. After the baby mice are weaned, how long does it take them to reach hopper size? adult size? Also what do you all feed your mice to fatten them up? Anything you all recommend, besides lab blocks?

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"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an egg-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

0.1 Black Pinesnake
0.1 Axanthic Brooks Kingsnake
1.0 Albino Argentina Horned Frog

Replies (4)

diggy415 Oct 27, 2007 04:39 PM

well i love these kinds of questions, there are plenty of sites to show you the growth charts, but i keep track of when they were born as some ppl in my town want them as pets. I feed mine OATS, for horses,swine,goats etc it has molasses or some without, i also include human food, fruts and vege's once a month, this doesn't get them fat, i have a wheel for all my mice and all my small enough rats.. i don't keep track of what i feed as i feed OATS every M,W,F with extra on fri for the weekends. i have had very healthy feeders and also put in vitamins in their water once a month as it turns bad quick. Every 2 weeks i spot or completely clean the cages as needed and bleach the water bottles. i give everyone pork,rib bones for their teeth, except mothers to be. i have a routine i believe in and vacuum pack the frozen ones with extended shelf life to boot.
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1.4 various boas(Flicka,Felony,Nova,Alias,Alibi)
0.1 BRB Abalone; ABBI
1.0 Rott X (OSO)
2.0 cats (Simba, Morris)
fish & feeders
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caz223 Oct 28, 2007 06:19 AM

Depends.
On a lot of things, like what strain of mice you have, what fat% and protein% you feed them, the number of babies in the litter, etc.
If you take a couple of day old babies to feed to hatchlings, the rest of the litter will grow faster, and if you have a momma that doesn't care for her litter and you add to another momma's workload, those babies will grow more slowly.

Also, you'll occasionally have a litter that grows slowly and never reaches adult size, 'dwarf' mice, I like to keep a few of these around for XXS babies for new hatchlings. If you don't selectively breed these out, or keep them isolated, you'll find you mice will grow very slowly and eventually all your mice will be runts.
I had a few mice around that were comical in appearance, the males had abnormally large genitals but they were otherwise stunted. They took about twice as long to reach small adult size, and never got any bigger, but they were otherwise healthy. They were always the dominant males in their domain, and would kill each other if allowed to mature together. They all had a certain 'look' that was obvious once their coat colors came in. They were all good breeders, but occasionally they popped out a litter of runts. Once a few of these pop out, you got some dwarf blood in there somewhere, and if you wanted them to mature more quickly, I'd assume you'd want to start over with a different strain. I dunno, might be from excessive inbreeding. I raise mostly rats now, just keep a few mice around for a source of live pinks for reluctant feeder hatchlings.

LoKii Oct 28, 2007 06:30 PM

What are some good foods for pregnant moms? Also when a baby has his eyes open and is running around, can I seperate him from his momma? will he/she eat reg food?
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"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an egg-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

0.1 Black Pinesnake
0.1 Axanthic Brooks Kingsnake
1.0 Albino Argentina Horned Frog

Sonya Oct 28, 2007 08:18 PM

>>I just started breeding my own mice for my snakes. I find it interesting and enjoy it to a certain extent. I do have a few questions though. After the baby mice are weaned, how long does it take them to reach hopper size? adult size? Also what do you all feed your mice to fatten them up? Anything you all recommend, besides lab blocks?

In my mind mice are hoppers when their eyes are open but they are not yet weaned. 2 weeks or so. Then they are hoppers, then weaned at 4 weeks.
To me the progression is
Pinkie
PF or peach fuzz
FP fuzzy pink....slightly bigger than a pf thin velvet coat
F fuzzy but eyes shut.
FH fuzzy with eyes open and just starting to wander
H Hoppers....eating solid food but not yet weaned. 2-3 wks
HW Hoppers that are weaned or 4 wks and ready to come out
Small mice Soon as I separate them and they have a few days growth

Medium Mice ready to breed and separate to new groups, usually 6 wks or so 5 with some strains.

Mice...my fine line between medium and large. Hard to be a large mouse and I only count retired breeder size as large mice other wise it is .....

Adults, anything over 10/ 12wks

But to get the monster big things it is retired breeders.
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Sonya

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

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