Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone know what sort of mice are the best producers? like what colors or breeds? and is so where would you be able to buy them from? my colony's females are only producing 7-9 pinks a litter with the occasioanal litter of 10-12.
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CHONG188

I will give you the honest to goodness truth about mouse breeding.

First of all stick with basic lab mice. They have less problems and are less prone to illness. I guess because they are lab mice. I do not follow this rule 100% because I run 6 tubs which are way more than what I need so I can breed pretty colors. Hey If I'm going to breed them I may as well have fun with it and see what new and amazing colors I come up with. This is just MY preference and does not produce alot of mice. Go with the white lab mice and you'll score.

Secondly, mice do best when inbred. INBRED. That is the honest to goodness truth that almost noone knows or noone has the patience for. If you can grow males and females from the same litter and trio or quatro them up in groups and wait until they are breeding sized it is worth your wait. They are more comfortable with each other.

Hey this may sound sick but it is true. Try it and let me know in a couple months.
Worth the wait.

Rudy
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1.1 Kenyan Sand Boas (new)
0.1 Rubber Boa
1.0 Eastern Hognose 2003 super red
0.2 Eastern Hognose Snakes
4.4 Western Hognose Snakes
1.1 Womas
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata

1 Pleco
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.

I believe rudy is wrong. No offense rudy. It is actually just the opposite. Outbred and hybrid mouse are generally more productive. inbreeding reduces the size of your animals, vigor,and most importantly litter size. A simple google search of the following would make for good reading. mice "hybrid vigor". the most prolific common inbred strain is FVB. with average litter sizes of 9.5 ands hort time inbetween pregnancies. with outbreds . their is cd-1 from charles rivers.These average 12 per litter, but good luck getting them charles rivers only sell to licensed research facilities. another outbred is swiss websters. harlan and taconic carry these but also do not sell to the public. their is also some confusion on how prolific these are. many people on this forum say their swiss websters have 15 -20 per litter. one guy posting as daniel in the old archives said his produced litters as high as 29. harlan labs toldme that thia strain averages between 12- 15 but are known to have litters as large as 18. I myself imported Quackenbush mice from australia for $1400. this strain is huge. It is swiss lineage,and has 15-16 per litter after the first couple. It is also very heat tolerant.They thrive at 82 degrees. which would put a slowdown on most other strains reproductive performance. most strains neet temps of 68 -78. also temp. changes of 10 degrees or more can hamper reproduction and in some strains even kill off a few mice.Also, once your breeders or 8 months old they should be retired/fed-off.after 8 monthsage reproduction takes a dive. keep your colony young.I do agree with rudy that you should stick with lab mice.Virtually all fancy, and pet store mice have mycoplasm. If you are able to personally pick out your mice I would count the number of nipples the females have. different strains have different numbers. the range from 8 -12. I would get a breed with the maximum number of nipples.Oh. if you want to maintain an outbred colony, do need breed brother to sister. breed to aunts, uncles or cousins. I seprate my colonies into families to form somewhat seperate lines of the same strain.Hope this info helps. Gordon

You do seem like a very knowledgeable person and I do not take offense.
I do not doubt your accuracy or credibility but I do not believe I am wrong. Though I have never tried your suggestions I think maybe your term for me could be more like "less right" as opposed to "wrong" assuming your suggestion is better (again I do not doubt this could be true).
What I do know is that I have tried this technique by accident and it worked better than anything I've known. This was also done by a friend of mine who was too cheap to buy his mice colony so he started the whole thing from 1.3 and he always has more mice than me (because now I do color "morphs" or "mutts" or whatever). Also I spoke with a mouse breeder here in Southern California who also suggested this to me.
That is all the experience I have, but it is nice to learn new things.

Thanks
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1.1 Kenyan Sand Boas (new)
0.1 Rubber Boa
1.0 Eastern Hognose 2003 super red
0.2 Eastern Hognose Snakes
4.4 Western Hognose Snakes
1.1 Womas
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata

1 Pleco
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.