Mouse Breeding Questions

Our mice get the same blocks as our rats. We also keep them together full time. A while back we tried to replace some males to get some new blood in the colony, and out of five i'm thinking one got killed and 3 more had to be removed because they fought to no end. We ended up starting new tubs for the males by holding back some girls and starting them in a new tub with the guys. Most people talk about removing the males when breeding rats, but rats are much more accepting from what we've seen. They will readily "adopt" babies from other tubs if a mother has to many, and have no problem being switched around. The mice on the other hand seem to be much more teritorial and dont accept others babies or new additions very well.

I've always kept each breeding group together for the duration and retire the entire group together. Often when I've removed the male and reintroduced him later, or switched to a different male I've found that the females will kill him. (not always, but it does often happen) Interestingly I've also found this to happen when I put together breeding groups that consist of older animals. I think this is the reason that many people have difficulty with mice as the breeders that people often pick up at a pet store are usually older. My best breeding groups are usually ones that I've put together when the animals are about 5-6 weeks old. I usually wean my young mice when they are 4 weeks old or so. I seperate them by sex to grow up a couple of more weeks. Then I put my breeding groups together from the best looking of these animals and then feed off the rest.

For feed, I use a cheap dog food in the overhead feed hoppers thats around 18% protein, but I supplement this with a handful of oil sunflower seeds and a couple of peanut butter dog biscuits every week when I clean out the tub. I have noticed larger litters since supplementing with the seeds and biscuits.

Mark

Sounds like about what we found last time we tried to introduce the new males. Adding to a group of older girls didnt work, but when they were added to young ones, it worked out fine. I guess there may actually be something to that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

are there pics that i'm missing???

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Pics of Licorice (black and white male) and Taffy (caramel and white female) are in this thread, Aleesha.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=40240