Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, the charcoal lined hunting suit was doing a great job, but I found what might be a better solution. My local pet store had a whole bunch of Russian Dwarf hamsters and wanted to get rid of them. He sold me four females and two male REAL cheap. They dont smell NEAR as bad. We shall see.

Joe

They don't smell as bad and they have really small pinkies. Down side, the litters are not as big either. I have tried them years ago with some gentilis but they wouldn't eat them unless they were scented with lizard.

I used to have some deer mice,(can't remember the scientific name) but they worked well and didn't nearly stink as bad as the lab mice. A lot of my gentilis and L.t.t would take them right away. Even without scenting. Haven't been able to find any to start a colony with.
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Thanks for the input Jimmy! I knew someone had tried them! LOL. Man, I had caught a GRAVID deer mouse two weeks ago in the back of my pickup truck. (had corn in there for the deer and mouse was eating it). I had it in my hand and my daughter was running to get a container. The darn thing squeezed out and ran under my porch. ARGGGGGGGGGG. Had a colony in my hand and lost it!

Joe

I would be interested to know more about the dwarf hamsters. Can you keep them in colonies like mice? Do they tame down ok?

I have a few deer mice to keep my male rubber boa fed. He won't eat domestic mice, so far, and I have had him almost 2 years. I live in Washington State and got my colony start from a friend in Oregon. I may have to get some more from him as mine have stopped producing.
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Kent

1.1 Hypo (het lavender, striped) corn snakes, 2010
1.1 Gray-banded king snakes, blairs phase, 2008
6.10 Gray-banded king snakes, 2011
1.1 Oregon rubber boas, w/c 20??

Not stink! LOL! Only problems are one then must raise crickets and those stink if not kept clean and well ventilated. Other problem, not as prolifoc as mice. But nicer than hamsters, which are mean ass little buggers.

A litter of deer mice I rescued out of a friend's open refrigerator while his cabin was unoccupied. The mama mouse had died and the three babies were almost dead, too, but I brought them home and warmed them up, and they recovered. I kept them until they grew up, in a big wire cage, then released them. I suppose I could set some live capture traps and catch some more. But they are very hard to tell the sex and are extremely agile and hopping about madly. Also only have small litters.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

LOL I like the lizards Bob!! I did that for a while, but the crickets making noise throughout the night squashed that one. I will say this about the hamsters----no stink. Two days now and I have nothing on top of the cage---no smell and I have six total. I have seen them breeding so I will know more soon hopefully!!

Joe

Bob, those deer mice would be cool to have for some NA milk keepers. Some of those babies are half the size of the pyro's you hatched last year. I wonder if you line bred them for litter size if you could almost double the litter size in a few years. That would be awesome Deer mice with the reproduction capabilities of lab mice. I would for sure keep a lot more NA milks.
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Jimmy, I am going to set up some live traps and try to catch some myself. I have found mice while flipping boards that had babies attatched. I was able to grab a few of the wild babies and you are right----no scenting needed. I know LTT babies ate them right away, even after I froze them. (to kill any mites)

Joe

Should I catch some more deer mice I am going to house them in a big glass tank instead of the wire cage I had the last group in. They have to be in glass or wire as they will eat through plastic tubs whereas domestic mice are fine in plastic tubs, and with wire they are all over the place and nearly impossible to catch without injuring them. They can leap quite high so also need a tall tank, and a very sturdy screen top made out of hardware cloth, not the usual window screen. Like all mice, they like exercise wheels and hides.

Toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes make great handling devices; simply pick up the tube with the mouse in it when you need to move them, like during cage cleaning. Give them a tube with a lot of paper still on it so they can build nests.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes kick butt. I use them in hatchling tubs(usually flatten down a bit) and with all my mice. They seem to be upset when I run out. Good tips Bob.
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Joe, I used to catch the little shrews( at least that's what I thought they were) that I found most of the L.t.t laying with on Long Island. I could never keep them alive though. Hopefully deer mice will stay alive for you. Just remember when you catch them and set them up use a bowl of water instead of a bottle. They won't be used to drinking from the bottle. Learned the hard way. You can keep a bottle hanging too as they may become accustomed to drinking from it.
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If you hang the water bottle directly over the water bowl, so the mice get drops of water on their heads from the dripper when they go to the bowl, they will learn that water comes out of the bottle.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.