Starting up breeding

I double checked our mouse today and I'm pretty certain its a female. Judging by her size, I would estimate her at being anywhere between 6-8 weeks old. I really have no idea. I could get a weight on her Saturday and see what you all think.

Also another question....how often do you switch out males? I'm trying to put together a schedule for females and males as far as where they are when...So far this is what I have

Females have 3 litters then just before giving birth to their third, they are put in the vacation tub where they spend 6 weeks, 3 raising the 3rd litter, and 3 on vacation. After vacation they are re-introduced to the harem tub where she will then produce another 3 litters before being retired.

So I was wondering when I should add new blood to the group since the new females that are to be replacing thier mothers are related to the father?

I looked up mouse sizes on Rodent Pro and now estimate her to be about 5 weeks old. I have heard you shouldn't breed them till they are 12 weeks old right?

yes, 12 weeks old.. However, if you're unsure of the age it's hard to judge. I just put all mine together, and I'm going to be keeping the second generation for my breeders going forward...

And what about the males? When should they be switched out? Or should we just start with a whole new group and a store bought male?

The reason I ask is because I've heard introducing a male to an existing group of females will cause the females to reject the male and possibly kill him.

Oh and another question...Sorry but this I feel is kind of important. Since this little mouse is currently alone in her 10 gallon tank, should we get her a female buddy? I know that when the feeder mouse was in with her, they were grooming each other and sleeping next to each other and such. And if we should get her a buddy, does it matter the other mouses age? We ask because we are going to the store today (not the one we get feeders from) and the only mice they have are normally full grown adults. But always female.

she'd probably like to have a buddy, yes... they're social animals, so having someone there to talk to will be beneficial.

As far as males breeding age... correct me if I'm wrong here guys, but does it really matter? I was under the impression that males could breed successfully basically from 6 weeks to *...

BTW, if you are able, and you're wanting to be able to keep track of your females, get colored ones... having all albino's is killing me on keeping records.. lol

If I get her a buddy, should it be the same age, or can the new female be an adult?

doesn't really matter...

Also, what you mentioned about the females killing the male if he's introduced at a later time...

If you can, if you're introducing a new male, switch up the female colonies too... If you change the entire population a totally new social structure is built from scratch, and there's nobody ganging up on "the new guy"

Mmk. I figured that the whole colony needs to be changed once every 7-8 months or so.

I do have one problem in the schedule for the colonies. There is a period of time (3 weeks) where no one is in gestation or raising young. This is the time that females have thier vacation. What should I do for this period of time regarding feeders?

We got a male and female to try our hands at a trial breeding. One is a brown female, fully grown. The other is a silver male with red eyes, fully grown. We introduced them to the new tank at the same time so it was completely neutral territory for the both of them. As of yet, no aggression. The male is just trying to get his freak on every five seconds and the female is not happy about it. I'll get pictures up tomorrow of them as I've heard some colors carry problems or disorders so I want to make sure that these two are not going to carry any genetic problems.