Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well I finished converting two Sterilite large pull out drawers into mice cages. The sterilite containers measure in at 18" x 16" x 8". I have 1.4 in each of the two cages, what do you all think? Is that enough room for five mice? They don't look crowded at all but once the babies start popping out....? The pet store was generous enough to let me have 2 or 3 already pregnant mice to start with!!

Also, would 1.2 rats be okay in a cage of this size?

>>Well I finished converting two Sterilite large pull out drawers into mice cages. The sterilite containers measure in at 18" x 16" x 8". I have 1.4 in each of the two cages, what do you all think? Is that enough room for five mice? They don't look crowded at all but once the babies start popping out....? The pet store was generous enough to let me have 2 or 3 already pregnant mice to start with!!
>>
>> Also, would 1.2 rats be okay in a cage of this size?

By converting I hope you mean you sealed the top so that there won't be escapes when the drawer is shut. That seems to be a primary trouble with those units.

IMO....the 1.4 should be fine but I think you would be a bit tight for rats. That said, I raise my rats in BIG cages and not racks or tubs. Biggest thing is getting good ventilation.
-----
Sonya

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

The sterilite container I bought is a two part system. There is the drawer part and the plastic casing that you pull the drawer out of (like your dresser drawer). I cut a square hole in the top of casing that the drawer slides in and out of and hot glued 1/4 inch hardware cloth over the hole. After that, I melted a hole so I can add my water bottle, then I hung a wire cage with food from the hardware cloth. The cage of food sits above the pine shavings and the mice just seem to love the set up!! So far I have not had a problem. Now all I need is some babies

It sounds great for 1.6 mice and maybe 1.1 rats. I don't know if it would be big enough for 1.2? Just wean out the baby mice and rats once they start eating solid food, when the are hopper size and there should be no issues with overcrowding.
Justin j

Well...... After reading about breeding mice vs rats I went out and bought a big sterilite container, it measures 32 x 16 x 12. I am going to put 1.3 rats in it. Based on my needs I will only need to breed rats. I have two boas one eating med. rats and the other can down a large to jumbo. Also, I have a sand boa but she can take down a rat pinki pretty fairly easily. I will use the two other cages I have already built to house the weaned rats when that time comes. Until my rats start haveing babies I will continue to breed mice because I heard it could take a while for the rats to become comfortable and start breeding.

>>Well...... After reading about breeding mice vs rats I went out and bought a big sterilite container, it measures 32 x 16 x 12. I am going to put 1.3 rats in it. Based on my needs I will only need to breed rats. I have two boas one eating med. rats and the other can down a large to jumbo. Also, I have a sand boa but she can take down a rat pinki pretty fairly easily. I will use the two other cages I have already built to house the weaned rats when that time comes. Until my rats start haveing babies I will continue to breed mice because I heard it could take a while for the rats to become comfortable and start breeding.

May I suggest getting medium rats...don't think that if you get big adults you will have a jump start. Get younger and grow them a month and they will start faster for you than Adults.
-----
Sonya

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

Thanks, I just bought 1.3 med rats!! Wish me luck.