Mice Breeding Issues??!?!

Hey guys I am a begginer for breeding mice. I am keeping 1:3 ratio of mice in a Large Herphaven. I have a water bottle in there and 2 plastic foam bowl hides. I have not seen the male working. The mice are in a seperate room and soo yeah I am pretty confused.. What do you think I am doing wrong?:weirdface

How long have you had the group together? It can take up to two months for mice to 'get to know' one another well enough to really get breeding.

Just be patient, make sure they're in a quiet place with little disturbances, and give them stuff to nest with and chew on and things should get going soon. :)

If you are sure that you do have a male and some females.

Give them 2 months if after 2 months nothing happens get another male.

Also as far as action goes it usually happen at night ;)

Just make sure they feel secure, have proper nutrition and water.

Also it happens in a blink of an eye most of the time. Like the others said, after 2 months and no babies, get a new male.

I would say after a month and no babies, get a new male. You will probably notice fighting for the first day and after that they are good to go depending on the age and size of the mice. They should be at least 28 days old and around 25-30 grams. In my experience, it does not take 2 months.

Good luck.

Yeah, one month should be more than enough time as long as your mice are old enough.

Most of the time you'll see the male chase the female but the breeding itself takes seconds or less so it's hard to catch unless you just sit there and stare.

What are your temps?

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Originally Posted by Brandon Osborne

They should be at least 28 days old and around 25-30 grams.

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Am I reading this correctly that you pair up your mice when they are only 28 days (4 weeks)? Some people don't even wean until then.

If you do put the females with males so young, do you have any issues with them getting pregnant so young? People report all sorts of problems ranging from small litters and young mothers being more likely to cannibalize their young all the way to losing both mom & babies because it was more than her young body could handle.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that good strains of mice with a good diet, etc, can handle being bred at a younger age than in less ideal situations, but 4 weeks still sounds young to me so I'm curious what results you have seen with it.

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Originally Posted by kc261

Am I reading this correctly that you pair up your mice when they are only 28 days (4 weeks)? Some people don't even wean until then.

If you do put the females with males so young, do you have any issues with them getting pregnant so young? People report all sorts of problems ranging from small litters and young mothers being more likely to cannibalize their young all the way to losing both mom & babies because it was more than her young body could handle.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that good strains of mice with a good diet, etc, can handle being bred at a younger age than in less ideal situations, but 4 weeks still sounds young to me so I'm curious what results you have seen with it.

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4 week is too young. most of the time their bodies aren't fully developed yet so if they get prego at 4 weeks it makes them sick and stunts future growth. In my experience they get to looking anorexic after giving birth and never gain the weight back.

Safest bet is 12 weeks for optimum health, but you can put them together younger if they have reached a mature size and weight.

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Originally Posted by truthsdeceit

4 week is too young. most of the time their bodies aren't fully developed yet so if they get prego at 4 weeks it makes them sick and stunts future growth. In my experience they get to looking anorexic after giving birth and never gain the weight back.

Safest bet is 12 weeks for optimum health, but you can put them together younger if they have reached a mature size and weight.

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Says who? I've been breeding mice for 18 years. It does not stunt their growth. Maybe you are working with an inferior strain of mice. Maybe you are outcrossing your mice with weak strains. I will have 2 litters by the time you get your first. The only time I've seen sick mice is when temps are too cool and when they get old......8-10 months.

The mice I worked with are 50-60 grams at retirement. Would you call that anorexic? Optimal health? We are talking about animals that we feed to snakes. I have never had any trouble with cannibalism or losing mothers and babies. My average first litters have always been 8-10 babies. Average litters after that have been 14-16 and topping out at around 20.....and I inbred for MANY generations for YEARS with zero negative results.

Yes, start breeding them at 4 weeks. They are weaned at 21 days and another week is when they are usually breeding anyway. Keeping weanlings in too long is what wears out the females. I can start with a group of 5.25 mice breeding and in just a few months be producing thousands of mice a week. I guess my goals of maximum production are different than everyone elses'. Wait if you wish.

Good luck.