Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anybody have any of those lab mice that have like 20 babies in each litter, and reproduce about every week and a half?
Do you need some kind of permit to get them?
thanks
eric

Eric,
I can't decide if your question is an honest question or a joke. On the chance that you honestly would like to know, the mice you seek are found only in snake breeders dreams.

My mice are all Swiss Websters which are know for being healthy and good breeders. Most of my litters are between 15 and 20. They take 21 days between litters however.

I keep very careful records of my mice and select new breeders only from colonies that are produceing well. Over the years I have doubled my production by imporving the quality of the mothers.
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Wade's Weptiles & Wodents

I guess I was half serious and half exaggerating. I just had remembered reading about similar mice to yours, that produce large litters in short amounts of time. I think they were selectivly bred by scientists to make the perfect lab mouse. Thats if what I read was at all true. I was just trying to see if they exsist.
eric

The gestation period for all mice, on average, is 21 days. Selective breeding mothers that systematically produce large litters certainly is a way to ensure large litters in the future. Ensuring your mice eat a healthy well balanced diet, isn't over bred or bred too young, can also help ensure larger healthier litters. The first two mice I bought originally as pets then bred later for food for my snake, had litters between 10-13 babies. Two other females I bought from the petstore, produced litters of only 9 and 10. As this was their first litter, hoping it will increase.

Having better quality of food for your reptiles is still better than quantity. Feeding cows ground up bodies of dead cows caused Mad Cow disease...if they were fed what cows are supposed to eat, then they would have remained healthy and good for us.

In all honesty the "Super Mice" you refer to are the "Harland" breed. Females produce up to 25 pinkies per litter until the fifth generation, at which time the colony must be cycled out with young breeders or removing males at beginning for controled breeding. This is due to females reduction in offspring from overbreeding. Keys to high production are feeding Vita Hamster seed mix with Harland Breeder Lab Blocks and Cold Water every day. The males of the "Harland" breed can stay in the groups and will not eat their young. This breed was produced for high production in confined areas with low aggression in the groups.

And where might one find these harland mice? As you can see I am trying to find the perfect mouse to start up a breeding colony.
thanks
eric

"Harland" mice are sold from the Labs & Commercial Breeders (unexperimented on) to Rodent breeding companies, some Reptile shops, and a few individual reptile breeders. Outbreeding is done by intorducing a different strain. Which most often the males are killed immediately after mating/female pregnancy. Different strains are incompatable as far as aggression and living arrangements in colonies. The average is 20 to 25 pinkies for the first three to four litters, then litter reduction. This is one of the best kept species that no one in the Reptile business will normally inform the public of. Most retailers or breeders will not offer them for sale due to steady economic income of feeder sales. Rarely when offered for sale you will pay $6 to $8 each for subadults to adults to establish your colony. Business is make money and with the Economy the way it is those with "Harland"s already have established customers. Ask your Reptile shops & Breeders in your area what species of mice they have to offer. I due not intend for this to offend anyone, I merely wish to inform and gather more information from the discussion.

from what i remember on them..

the "average" litter is 12 on this strain of mice.. they are also known to go BLIND due to inbreeding and genetic abnormalities..

"average" iis usually around HALF of what they 'can' produce.. ive had pure swiss throw me 27 and 28 pinks in litters before.. but by far the AVERAGE is around 12-16

not to mention.. ICR mice are expensive from what i can remember.. around $3 a mouse if ordered from a lab

The "lab" mice that are being referred to are actually several strains. Two outbred breeder strains that are available arte the ICR and the Swiss Webster. These are outbred albino mice. If colored mice are preferred there is also a Black Swiss mouse available. In order to maintain large litter size it is important to:
1- make sure animals remain outbred.
2- rotate breeder stock frequently.

If you are interested in more information - please email me (sas@sasupply.com) as we have mice avaialable.