Marking Mice

Would it be okay for me to put a drop of pink food coloring on my females backs and blue on the males to help me to keep them straight.

Just wanted to be sure that the food coloring wouldn't hurt them.

I still can't tell just be looking what is male or female - I just can't see the difference - its very frustrating.

The food coloring shouldn't hurt them but they'll just groom it right off. I went there with rats. Never did find any method of marking them other than ear notching. I know they make tags, but you'd have to remove those if you fed the animal off later on.

I use nail polish on the base of the tail, or on the ear. Colored
For different groups. Doesn't hurt them.


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I used to tattoo on the tail to keep track of lines.

No worries, you'll get the hang of it eventually.

Nail polish - yes that does sound like a good idea - something they cant lick off. But would that be dangerous for my snakes if they were to get fed off??

I currently have a litter of 4 week old babies and I can't for the life of me determine who are males or females - so they are being housed together right now but that will mean more breeding right?? I just can't see any difference when I look at their butts. lol

In the event that I have an overrun - can a pregnant female be fed off - or would that just be wrong.

I dint put it on my feeders. But sexing them is pretty easy. Females have the holes closer together. Males a bit further down and you can see balls pretty easily. You might just want to get a different bin and put whomever in there who's feeders. It's not bad to feed off a preggo female. If anything it's more nutrition.


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How many times can one female be bred??

To determine if a little rat is a boy or girl, hold them between you thumb and fingers (thumb on the belly) with their rear facing you and give a gentle squeeze. If it's a boy, you'll see them bulge out. After a while, it becomes pretty easy to tell just by looking.

When you pick up a mouse... assuming its head is at top. You can with two fingers push slightly on the stomach. If its a male the testicles should show/drop. If its a female there wont be nothing to show. Thats when you put them in seperate tubes.

Can't you also check for nipples?

The only time I used nail polish it didn't stay on, but I used doggie nail polish.