Introducing a new male to the colony

I want to feed off the male in my 1.3 colony right now and replace it with a fancy mouse male so that I can start producing fancy young. How should I go about introducing the new male to the colony after removing the old male? 1 of the females are pregnant and another dropped her litter already.

I would recommend that you hold back a trio of females from your current colony and use them, along with the fancy male, to start a new colony. When the new colony is producing, feed off the old colony.

I have read that it is possible to introduce a new male into a colony, but I have yet to have any luck doing so. From my experiences, the females will neuter the new male within a few days.

Here is how it was explained to me to introduce a new male...

Clean the enclosure very thoroughly, including all cage accessories.
One person even suggested giving all of the mice a bath, I never tried this.
Replace the bedding.
Cross your fingers and hope they get along.

Hope this helps.

John

yea, I was thinking of just starting a 2nd colony of fancy mice alongside these if I can't just switch out males. All the mice are plain ol' albinos.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Marker

I would recommend that you hold back a trio of females from your current colony and use them, along with the fancy male, to start a new colony. When the new colony is producing, feed off the old colony.

I have read that it is possible to introduce a new male into a colony, but I have yet to have any luck doing so. From my experiences, the females will neuter the new male within a few days.

Here is how it was explained to me to introduce a new male...

Clean the enclosure very thoroughly, including all cage accessories.
One person even suggested giving all of the mice a bath, I never tried this.
Replace the bedding.
Cross your fingers and hope they get along.

Hope this helps.

John

---

Instead of giving them baths, apply a drop of vanilla to their rump area. It will make them all smell the same :)

Make sure they have lots of toys, etc to keep them busy.

Depending on how you have them set-up:

Keep the male separate from the females at first. Take bedding from the boys cage, and place in the females tank, and do the same to the girls.

Do not bathe mice. It can actually kill them.