Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

First off, my husband and daughter own snakes, so we got a "starter" of feeder mice from a friend of my husband's who breeds both snakes and mice.

I do love the snakes, and was deternined not to get attached to the mice, but this little girl was determined to show us that she is not snake food. She's so friendly and inquisitive.And you can't feed a pet to another pet. That's just sick...

So of course, when she had babies, my daughters and I started naming and taming them. At least, the colored ones which we plan to keep and breed. We have some PEW males to put with the colored girls and thought we would put the 2 grayish colored males with some PEW adult females we have. One of the grayish males has a white tip on his tail. I read somewhere this is a bad trait?

Don't know much about mouse breeding, but I know in other animals it's considered a bad thing to inbreed. Is it the same way with mice?

Also, can anyone give me an idea of what color, markings the mama has? She's the center one in the bucket with the babies. The other pics of her are a bit darker than she really is cause I wasn't using flash. She's almost white underneath. Black baby is really an "off" black.

Babies are almost 4 weeks old. Thanks heavens more cages are coming today or tomorrow from the snake/mouse breeder friend of my husbands...

I don't know much about mice breeding either. but inbreeding is never good if you plan on having them as a pets. would you consider selling them. if so where do you live?

Definitely brindle, seeing that second picture.

Inbreeding isn't good to do unless you know an absolute ton about the lines of both parents, and even then, there are risks. If you're going to breed mice for health/temperament, go to breeders. The Midwest Mouse Club has breeder listings. You'll find lots of different colors, some that will absolutely freak you out!!! I went to an MMC show and a breeder friend of mine had a yellow merle- a yellow mouse with merle spots, which is white and yellow mixed together. There was also a sex-linked brindle, which is a whole different thing than your girl (she'd be an American brindle). Mice from pet stores are generally bred by large-scale breeders, which breed them only to make more mice. Good breeders are definitely your best bet for good temperament and health, though most won't adopt out mice if any of the offspring will become feeders. Just a warning... but they could certainly help with figuring out what colors you can get by crossing certain mice.
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Kadee Sedtal

home of old lady Lucy (boxer/lab/garbage disposal), pretty girl Fancy (beagle), Crusher (yorkie), the rats-Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Pachebel, Fillmore, and Franz, the mice- Vivaldi, Schubert, Bartok, Johann, Giordi LaForge, Dorothy, Glenda, Em, and Rosa, and the wonderful winter white dwarf hamster- Feather
"I wish I had a dollar for every time I spent a dollar, because then, yahoo! I'd have all my money back." -Jack Handey

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.
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My daughter and husband own snakes
and I love them but...
I love the mice too.

if her entire belly and undersides of legs and throat are white or off white, she could also be a fawn or fox (depending if its white or cream/off white) but I can't remember which is fawn and which is fox..though I think off white/ream is the fawn.

she's a pretty looking mouse. I used to breed them for fun and for food...when I had a townhouse and could keep them all in a separate room so the males didn't stink up the entire house. Now I have a one bedroom so don't breed mice at all anymore.
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PHLdyPayne

She is what's called "dominant A." This has various common names from country to country (USA, England, Australia, etc) including "bridle". This coloration can lead to obesity and other health problems. It's dominant, which means no matter what kind of male you mate her to, you will have appx 50% babies colored like her.

Cute mouse.

Hope this helps.
Jack