Do you separate pregnant mice?

So, to start the forum off, i think id like to start a frequently asked question. Do you separate pregnant mice from the rest of the other mice?

Why do you do so or not?

I do not, and have had great results. I keep 6+ mice per tub and rotate my super stud male between my two tubs without any problems. They all have their babies withen a week or so and I have had hundreds of mice this way. ( no worries about me having one snake, I sell most of what Lesser does not eat off for a buck each.) I also touch my baby's after day three, and do not have any problems.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7p6ZAd2glp8

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

So, to start the forum off, i think id like to start a frequently asked question. Do you separate pregnant mice from the rest of the other mice?

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Yes, but mainly because of our breeding style, and space limitations. We tend to let the girls get knocked up in a number of tubs that have about a 50/50 m/f ratio, and then move the visibly pregnant ones to a single tub once a week. This way they all drop their litters around the same time and cross-nurse, and that way we can have 10-15 litters all wean and get sexed at the same time.

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

I do not, and have had great results. I keep 6+ mice per tub and rotate my super stud male between my two tubs without any problems.

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After reading that again I thought it might be a little confusing, I mean I do not separate;)

Ctrl, So you have a bin full of mice and once you see pregnant mice you put them in a different tub with other pregos? Good idea if im not intercepting that wrong:gj: I think I might do that actually, my rack gets annoying and Ive wanted to put all my mice together.

I keep mine in 1.5 groups and remove each prego to her own tub. For each male I have 10 females, 5 at time. Wean babies at 21 days and leave moms to rest until all 5 are togheter. When the 2nd group of 5 females with the male are in their own prego tub I add the first 5 females.

I use trios of 1.2 and keep everyone together at all times with great results. I have had a few acts of cannibalism, but that was done by my older breeders who had worn out.

I will be switching to mostly rat breeding soon, tho, as I now have larger BPs and it's just easier to feed them one small rat rather than 3 large mice per feeding. :) I will be keeping one trio of mice, tho, for future hatchlings and picky eaters.

I keep my breeding groups together always. I start new groups together and when they get a little worn out I retire the whole group together. When I've tried to move new mice into an already established group I've had problems with them killing the newcomers. Not always, and frankly not even most of the time, but more often then I like to see. I just think it's disruptive to an established group.

I do like the idea though of having tubs of females with lots of males to produce pinkies. My main goal in breeding mice is to produce mainly weanling to adult sized mice for my colubrids and baby ball pythons, so when I wean the young mice I set them up separated by sex to grow for a few more weeks. It might be a good idea to throw a few males in a couple of the female grow out tubs and pull all the preggers when feeding day comes around.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

So, to start the forum off, i think id like to start a frequently asked question. Do you separate pregnant mice from the rest of the other mice?

Why do you do so or not?

I do not, and have had great results. I keep 6+ mice per tub and rotate my super stud male between my two tubs without any problems. They all have their babies withen a week or so and I have had hundreds of mice this way. ( no worries about me having one snake, I sell most of what Lesser does not eat off for a buck each.) I also touch my baby's after day three, and do not have any problems.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7p6ZAd2glp8

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I'm jealous. My female breeder is super bitey (she didn't used to be until she had babies) and the babies, when they grow to be.. hoppers they do just that. THEY DON'T STOP JUMPING.
When I try to take one out I HAVE to hold its tail too, or it will fly away. D:

I try to keep only the main male, and two females (with their babies) in one cage, and the younger non-breeding feeders that were the babies of the originals in another cage.

I keep 2 females per tubs and rotate the male (he spends 2 weeks at the time in each of the 3 tubs he is assigned)

I can check on the babies soon as they are born without any issue.

I have been very successful this way, I have tried harem before but have failed each time.

Bottom line it all about finding what works and with mice it can take time and be tricky.

My mouse colony stays together all the time. Eliminates the risk of them fighting on reintroduction atleast.

I separate pregger moms when they are ready to drop. When I first started out, I had a 1.2 in 10 gallon and everybody/somebody nommed down all the babies when one of the moms dropped.

Last fall, I left .2 in a 20L stay together as they were gonna drop within days of each other. As one mom took over both litters, it took FOREVER for the babies to mature because they weren't getting the same quantity of food as they would have if there less babies per mom.

So, I always separate and have great results. I keep my buck in a shoebox size kritter keeper and when I'm ready for a girlie to be pregnant, I pop her in with him. When she looks preggers, I pull her out and into her own shoebox kritter keeper. When those babies are ready to wean, I divide and put the boys in my male grow out enclosure and the girls and moms in the girl enclosure. Rinse repeat.

Granted I don't have many snakes to feed on mice (a cornsnake and when she wants a mouse, a bp), but I've got a crapton of mice in the freezer ready to eat. =)