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Is 50-65 too cold to breed mice?
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uhh... I think that is it.

>>Is 50-65 too cold to breed mice?
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I don't know that that wouldn't breed, but some things I would think about are...You will be feeding a lot more to get them calories to keep warm. You might very well see a drop in production due to cold, dying pinks that get cold and in that line you might need extra bedding for nesting just to counter the cold. I personally wouldn't do it unless there was a lot more of the upper temps of 65 than of the 50s. My cellar is a steady 50 and the only things in it are the amphibians and turtles for the winter. I wouldn't think that rodents would like it....but I haven't tried.
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Sonya

Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with the software.

FRom my experiences mice are the worst about tempature changes. That's why I switched to rats, as they seem to breed more in cold weather.
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Greg Holland
G&M HERPS
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gmherps@sbcglobal.net

I think 50/55 is the best temps.My breeders mice rats stay at 50 and they are breeding like mad.I don't think they like to be to hot.
Chris S.

>>I think 50/55 is the best temps.

For mice, I find that they'll still breed even at temps in the high 40's, provided they have sufficient nesting material. Excessive heat is far more detrimental to breeding than is a bit of cold. I keep my mice in a heated outdoors shed. When it's forty-below outside, the shed's ambient temp gets as low as mid-30's. When that happens, the mice become lethargic, or even go into hibernation if their bedding is inadequate. They recover very quickly once they're warmed up a bit.

>>My breeders mice rats stay at 50 and they are breeding like mad.I don't think they like to be to hot.

My rats also don't like it too hot, but they absolutely cannot withstand low temps under 50. I have to keep my rats indoors, except during the summer months. BTW, I live in the Northwest Territories, just a couple of degrees south of the Arctic Circle. Their inability to withstand cold, is the reason that rats don't live wild in the North. Mice do, and survive phenomenally well. Even in the high Arctic, one can find some species of mice actively living in tunnels beneath the snow cover in mid-winter. These mice are the basic diet for Arctic foxes.
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tricia

Wow and I thought I was the only Canadian living north of Toronto