Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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CHONG188

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>>CHONG188
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Wade's Weptiles & Wodents

You have to get them old enough to breed. Many of the ones you are referring to are feeders. They are taken from their mothers a little too early and raised terribly. I now prefer to buy fancy mice that were bred to be pets. They seem to be a little healthier and while they don't produce the same number of pinkies as lab strains, they do produce well.

I raise mice and sell them to the pet stores in my area. I also go through a large quantity each week with my snakes. I raise Swiss Webster mice because the are the healthiest, best producing mice. I sell only healthy mice to the pet stores because if I don't they won't buy them from me in the future. I deliver to all the stores in my area on a weekly basis. They order what they can sell each week.

If I am selling healthy well cared for mice to the pet store, where are they getting the sick poor quality mice that they are selling to you?
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Wade's Weptiles & Wodents

I am probably getting mice that weren't produced by you. Maybe I am throwing an unfair blanket over some of the feeder mice breeders and stores out there. I have had some luck with breeding mice from the feeder cage. I have just had better luck with the fancy mice. Since I do see average litters of 8, I will just stick with what I have and not push my luck.

I just reread my responce and I am sorry, I sounded a little snappy. Everyone has different experiences and make their judgements accordingly.

Most mice in pet stores are produced by breeders. Most breeders have highly productive mice because it is not profitable to raise mice that don't produce. It follows that most pet stores should be selling mice that should produce. Now if the pet store doesn't care for their animals then that is something else.

My mice average 15 or better in a litter or they're snake poop. I don't have time or the inclination to feed and clean mice that are not producing.
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Wade's Weptiles & Wodents

np

Some petstores breed their own rodents. The local one by me breeds their own mice as well as buying stock elsewhere. I bought two feeder mice from them and they were in horrid condition. Though not noticeable sick, they stank very strongly of urine, were very stressed and completely unsocialized and in the end, I wound up killing them as they were vicious high strung little terrors that practically killed the male i tried to introduce to mate with them. (I only introduced the male after letting the feeder mice settle in for about a week, then cleaned their cage completely, before putting in the male). Decided then never to buy any sort of feeder animal from this petstore. I instead buy my mice and rats from another petstore which sells them cheaper and keep them in much better condition.

>> ... practically killed the male i tried to introduce to mate with them. (I only introduced the male after letting the feeder mice settle in for about a week ...

It has been my experience that it is a really BAD idea to try putting a male into a cage of females. They'll almost always attack him, and can kill. For me, it just seems to work much better if I set up the male for a few days, then introduce the females to his (hopefully smelly by now) cage. That gives him time to scent-mark his territory, so that the females know they're not on their home turf. Consequently, they don't have favourite spots picked out that they feel the need of defending. By the time they've fully explored their new quarters, they've also become very familiar with his scent, and will usually then not attack him.
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tricia

I always clean the cages completely before introducing mice to new cage mates. I find this works alot better than introducing females into a male's cage or a female into another group of females. I find the new clean cage then put all the cage mates together at about the same time ensures nobody is from that 'territory' so they get used to the new turf and each other at the same time. It's those two females that caused me the problem, never had any problems with this method with regular petstore mice before or since.

Certainly will keep your suggestion in mind though, if I have any more problems introducing new males in with females using my methods. Afterall, not everything works with every animal.