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How many breeder mice would I need to easily get over 10 mice a week? Thanks, Lucas

alot at first. cuase mice dont breed that fast unless you have alot of females but the babies wont be big enough to feed off for what i think your asking about.

n/p

>>How many breeder mice would I need to easily get over 10 mice a week? Thanks, Lucas

Hi Lucas

Not knowing your specific situation, it's hard to give an answer that meets your needs.

The basics about mice (or rats) are that one mature, healthy female in good husbandry conditions could ideally provide you with, say, between 7 and 21 pups every 21 - 23 days. Probably you'd get about 10 pups per litter on average but everyone has different averages with this.

But what are your specific requirements? Do you feed live only or can you euthanize/freeze off surplus? Do you need one specific size only or do you need a variety of sizes each week?

If you are feeding live and/or need one specific size each week, then the math is fairly simple but getting set up would be more complicated. To get 10 or more live mice each week you'd need four groups of 1.1 (one male to one female). You'd have to place one (sexually mature and healthy) pair together each week for four consecutive weeks. Ideally, this would provide you with one litter per week (average 10 pups) starting three weeks or so from the first pairing.

BUT.... if you can feed frozen, if you require different sizes within those 10 pups per week, set-up would be much easier. You would set up groups of 1.3 all at once. (You could even have more females per male, if you have cages/pans that are large enough.) You might only need two such groups, but setting up three would provide you with extra insurance. If you need mice larger than weaned size, you'd also provide additional cages for weaned mice to "grow up." Euthanize and freeze off any surplus you don't feed during each week, and you're basically set.

Be sure to provide an adequate diet. Very often the culprit in a colony that is not producing well is insufficient protein or "good" fat. If you're using rodent blocks or cheap dog food, check the labels. No red food dyes, and take care with protein content. It should not be lower than 20% and could go higher. If you need more protein, supplement the rodent or dog chow with dry kitten or cat chow (I prefer kitten chow because of the added calcium), "table scraps" or even gutloaded mealworms/crickets (if you have them.) Remember that TOO much protein can cause skin problems, especially in rats. A sack of "black oil" type sunflower seeds - easy to find a grocery store or feed store - is also helpful for breeding colonies if fed sparingly.

Hope this answered your question to some extent. This forum has a wealth of knowledgeable breeders.... if you post your specific requirements, I believe you'll get responses that are very helpful!
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Rebecca
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