Couple questions about my first colony.

Hey everyone, I bought 3 female feeder mice and 1 male from Petco yesterday. I'm curious if I'm witnessing normal mating behavior or not. Several times now I've seen the male chase a female around the cage and she just squeaks and tries to avoid him, only allowing him to mount her for like a second. Just now I did see the male chase a smaller female around and they ended up in the hide box, rustling and squeaking in there for a good moment so maybe they mated? Should my females be more receptive to the male or maybe they're not in heat/still need to get used to him? Also I don't see any blood or wounds on them so I don't think any serious fighting has taken place.

Here's some pictures of a couple of my mice and their home (I made a side window too). First picture is of my male. Do they look healthy and of breeding age to you guys? Thanks for reading, I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

http://oi43.tinypic.com/334lq9y.jpg

http://oi41.tinypic.com/1pdqfa.jpg

http://oi44.tinypic.com/dztabq.jpg

They look big enough to be breeding, and that is normal mating behaviour you're witnessing. The male will only mount for a second, but they'll do that dozens of times when the female is receptive. Since you've actually seen it, expect babies in about 3 weeks! Do still keep an eye out for wounds though.

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Originally Posted by Sita

They look big enough to be breeding, and that is normal mating behaviour you're witnessing. The male will only mount for a second, but they'll do that dozens of times when the female is receptive. Since you've actually seen it, expect babies in about 3 weeks! Do still keep an eye out for wounds though.

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Awesome, thank you! I'm very excited, this is turning out to be a fun little project. If/when I have a successful litter or two, I plan on getting another colony started.

Unfortunately I have to move the mice outside to my garage as the smell is irritating to my family, even though the cage is clean and there's good ventilation.

I am curious if the mice will survive and breed out there come summer time.

I live in inland Southern California at a moderate elevation and the highs average about 95 degrees F during the summer. It's not a humid heat though and it cools off at night to the 50's and low 60's with a nice westerly (ocean) breeze in the evening.

If I keep them in the garage out of direct sunlight and keep the main garage door open along with the side door, in addition to keeping a fan on them and adding ice to their water bottles, will they survive and breed through the summer?

It's really iffy. Mice and rats do best at temps around where we are comfy, so 65-70 is ideal. I don't have personal experience with this, but I've heard it several times that above 75 breeding is comprised (smaller, less frequent litters), at 80 breeding stops, and anything much higher is risking death.

Is there anywhere else possible to house them where the family won't be near often, basement or closet perhaps?

Also, I didn't noticed this at first in the pictures, but it looks as through you used 1/2 inch hardware cloth. If that's the size you used, you'll need to change it to 1/4 inch. Young mice can easily fit through 1/2 inch. You might to also add several more places where it attaches to the tub, as they can be stronger than they look and might squeeze through a spot that isn't attached well, even on the top. They can jump quite high!

I live in New England and had my colony in a shed outside exposed to temps anywhere from 30-100 F and never had an issue. Only had them from spring to fall though.

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Originally Posted by Sita

It's really iffy. Mice and rats do best at temps around where we are comfy, so 65-70 is ideal. I don't have personal experience with this, but I've heard it several times that above 75 breeding is comprised (smaller, less frequent litters), at 80 breeding stops, and anything much higher is risking death.

Is there anywhere else possible to house them where the family won't be near often, basement or closet perhaps?

Also, I didn't noticed this at first in the pictures, but it looks as through you used 1/2 inch hardware cloth. If that's the size you used, you'll need to change it to 1/4 inch. Young mice can easily fit through 1/2 inch. You might to also add several more places where it attaches to the tub, as they can be stronger than they look and might squeeze through a spot that isn't attached well, even on the top. They can jump quite high!

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It looks like I will definitely have to keep them inside then. I'll keep them in the closet in the spare bedroom. Should contain the smell decently I hope.

Also do you have any experience with using vanilla extract in the water to keep the odor down? If so, is it effective and is the small amount of alcohol and sugars safe for the mice?

And yes I am using 1/2 inch hardware cloth, I did think it was a little big when putting the cages together but it was all I had around the house lol. I will get it replaced with 1/4 inch asap.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

@Malaika, thanks for the input. I think maybe I will experiment with a small colony and see how they fare and only bring them in on the hottest days (when it can be slightly over 100)

Mice stink, and I've heard little will help. That's why I got rid of mine and are sticking to ASFs.

I would think they'd be fine outside if you have a fan on them and ice in their bottles.

Definitely get 1/4th " hardware cloth. They can squeeze through and get stuck in 1/2".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sita

It's really iffy. Mice and rats do best at temps around where we are comfy, so 65-70 is ideal. I don't have personal experience with this, but I've heard it several times that above 75 breeding is comprised (smaller, less frequent litters), at 80 breeding stops, and anything much higher is risking death.

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I have to disagree with this on rats. I keep mine in my reptile room which is 80-83 at all times and they breed like crazy with at least 12+ in each litter.....have never had an issue with temps that high. They are all healthy and happy as can be as well, but this COULD be true for mice not sure on that!

Ball Pythons
0.2 Normals (Coilette and Mary Jane)
1.0 Spider Morph (Zeus)
1.0 Pastel (De Sol)

Boas
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Stella)
0.1 Hog Island BCI (Kiyoko)
0.1 Dumerils Boa (Gloria)
0.1 Yellow Anaconda (Serenity)

Ever heard someone call a guy a 'minute man'? Rodents are 'second men'.

I kept a colony of mice in a place that had zero air conditioning and I can attest to the fact that they breed just fine in 90+ weather. The only thing you need to watch for is to provide them with enough water. They'll drink a lot more in the heat.

As for keeping the smell down, I never had much success. I have seen it suggested online to keep a layer of puppy training pads beneath the bedding. Here's the link to the post where I found this suggestion.

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/food-...g-fresh-2.html

I googled this; 'breeding mice for reptiles keep smell down' You can try whatever variation you want. I found a little good advice, but mostly its just something you have to live with if you want to breed your own feeders.

You might want to try an air purifier like an ionic breeze. It should be something that runs fairly quiet so it doesn't disturb the mice, and remember that they can hear into higher ranges than humans. In fact most of mice communication is done in the ultrasonic range.

And yeah, that's perfectly normal mating behavior. All the squeaking is basically the female deciding if she likes the male or not. I had one male mouse that was much younger than my females, and they actually chased him into a corner and wouldn't let him breed until he got bigger. I would strongly suggest buying a book on care for mice as pets, as they usually describe typical mouse behavior. There are some warning signs to look for. The only one I can remember off the top of my head is that if any one of the mice is huddling on its hind legs with its front paws up and shaking, its being severely harassed by the other mice. This is an 'I surrender, please don't hurt me' pose.

I would also suggest removing the male after two weeks, so the females aren't constantly pregnant. This can cause a lot of stress for them.

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Originally Posted by PhoenixGate

I kept a colony of mice in a place that had zero air conditioning and I can attest to the fact that they breed just fine in 90+ weather. The only thing you need to watch for is to provide them with enough water. They'll drink a lot more in the heat.

As for keeping the smell down, I never had much success. I have seen it suggested online to keep a layer of puppy training pads beneath the bedding. Here's the link to the post where I found this suggestion.

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/food-...g-fresh-2.html

I googled this; 'breeding mice for reptiles keep smell down' You can try whatever variation you want. I found a little good advice, but mostly its just something you have to live with if you want to breed your own feeders.

You might want to try an air purifier like an ionic breeze. It should be something that runs fairly quiet so it doesn't disturb the mice, and remember that they can hear into higher ranges than humans. In fact most of mice communication is done in the ultrasonic range.

And yeah, that's perfectly normal mating behavior. All the squeaking is basically the female deciding if she likes the male or not. I had one male mouse that was much younger than my females, and they actually chased him into a corner and wouldn't let him breed until he got bigger. I would strongly suggest buying a book on care for mice as pets, as they usually describe typical mouse behavior. There are some warning signs to look for. The only one I can remember off the top of my head is that if any one of the mice is huddling on its hind legs with its front paws up and shaking, its being severely harassed by the other mice. This is an 'I surrender, please don't hurt me' pose.

I would also suggest removing the male after two weeks, so the females aren't constantly pregnant. This can cause a lot of stress for them.

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Thanks for the additional help and input.

Thought I'd update everyone on the mice. I had to remove 2 mice a week ago because they just weren't healthy looking. They were kinda lethargic and skinny from when I got them from the pet store so next time I need to be more picky with the mice I choose.

Now I just have 1 female and 1 male that are doing good. The female is definitely pregnant and getting bigger everyday.

Can I bring in 3 new females after this litter is born? They shouldn't fight the female that's already there right? I'm gonna be using the pinkies right after they're born so I'm not worried about anything getting cannibalized.

There's always a risk of fighting when introducing new mice, but if the cage smells like the first female, the other 3 probably won't gang up on her. If at all possible, the ideal situation would be to raise up any female babies to use as breeders. That way you know they won't fight and you'll have young mothers to continue breeding with, rather than pet store ones that you have no idea how old they are.

If you decide to take only the male babies, make sure you leave at least 3 pinkies. I've noticed my females tend to abandon/eat litters when there's only 1 or 2 pinkies.

Wanted to update you guys... She had 8 pinkies last night!

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Originally Posted by andrew68

Wanted to update you guys... She had 8 pinkies last night!

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Don't be too worried if you go check tomorrow and there aren't as many. It's her first litter, yes? Sometimes they don't understand what's going on and eat all the babies. Try her a second time and if she does it again, feed her off.

But congratulations! Baby mice are adorable!!