Mouse breeding questions...

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Well, my only concern with that is having too many live adults for my housing situation. Of course, since I DO have BP's that will take F/T without complaint, I suppose I could kill off most of them as they become adults, only leaving a few live at a time (other than my breeders) for my pickier eaters...

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I do the same I have BP eating live some F/T so I don't get overstock works great this way, I also do the same for rats once they have reach the maximum size I feed.

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Now, what's a good way to replenish my breeding stock as they age out to prevent excessive inbreeding?

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I started of with 1.2 held back 10 females, and one male, that’s how the colony was first established.
I retire females after 5/6 litters, and they are replaced by holdback from my own stock, and as for the male I buy them from the pet store to bring in new blood (of course that mean observing strict quarantine)

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

I personally prefer the harem breeding because once I get them set up, the mice do everything themselves and I don't have to worry about anyone cannibalizing someone else.

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Ok, so for harem breeding, do your females get a break between litters? or do you leave them together with the males all the time? I think I'd want to give the females at least SOME break to keep the litter sizes consistent, wouldn't I?

No, their litter sizes stay very consistent. Constant moving around and bothering will get them very stressed, which will lead to cannibalizing the babies.

I don't notice the females getting run down or producing smaller litters doing the harem breeding, but I do notice less baby-killing. I really like the dark tubs for the mice, seems to give them alot of security.

Ok, so 3 tubs, 2 females 1 male in each. Producing a litter every 3 weeks, essentially. If I start them 2 weeks apart, I should have 18-20 adult (5wk old) feeders every other week starting week 8.

Feeding off 8 of them per week (3 live for my adult girl, 2 live or frozen for each of my sub-adults, and 1 live or frozen for the juvenile) I should have plenty live and frozen on hand at all times.