Don't know what to do

Well guys and girls as some of you may know I am trying to breed my own mice to support my soon to be 3 snakes.... I have had 1 fancy male with 2 feeder females for about a month now and I have had absolutely no luck at all I'm not sure what to do all they do is sleep..... They do come out a little at night but I don't think for very long due to it gets a little cold in the house (no lower than 60 degrees tho) it's mainly the male that comes out the two females kinda stay in the hide and sleep it seems as tho he wants nothing to do with them at all except when they stuff there selves in the little hide to sleep... Im wandering if I should separate him from the two females for a couple days or if I should get new females or something or if I should just keep waiting..... Any advice is always welcome.... Thank you

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How old are they? Sometimes it takes a few weeks for them to start reproducing. For three snakes you're going to need more mice. Pictures always help too.

Just wait. Rats and mice almost always seem to take a bit until they start producing but once they start, it's an easy thing.

Of course, it does depend on how old they are too.

Well that's the thing I got the females from a local pet store he gets them from a breeder then I got the male from my local petco I didn want to get all of them from the same place...so their is really no telling how old they are I was just wanting to get started from these three then hold back some females and maybe go buy a male so I'm not inbreeding them.... I do know they are full grown but age.... No clue... Thank you

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Age could be the issue, your window for optimum breeding is very short that why I always recommend people to get weaned animals that are 4 weeks old.

If that makes you feel better I have to start from scratch twice with mice, however one you have a good colony going (breeding, no cannibalism etc) it's really not that complicated

Yea I can't wait till I can get it going i guess I will try to start over. At local pet stores he just had a surprise litter he said she is taking good care of them... He said he would give me her after her babies are weaned to get started.. Should I? At least to just get started but other than that I guess I'll just have to start over and hope for the best.... Thank you

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Yes you should when they are weaned get a trio or 2 trio and start from there.

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Ok I will go down their Tuesday(he is closed on mondays) and see how long I have till they are weaned.... Hopefully I can have my rack build before then because all I have right now is those annoying/space consuming wire cages.... Thank you

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And don't worry as much about inbreeding. Once the colony is going, you'll just cull the ones who have small litters or who are biters or who eat their babies and keep the best. Some of the best commercial colonies, especially in labs, haven't added new blood in decades.

Oh ok I was actually wandering about that... Thank you

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Sometimes males from one source won't or can't breed well with females from another source. As was said, don't worry much about inbreeding.

Make sure to keep the enviornment clean and disinfected. Mice are prone to RI especially in overcrowded small spaces. Your substrate is important too. I am still tweaking my colonies but I love having live hopper mice available for the hatchling ball pythons.

Thank you everybody for the help and advice I am going to go down tomorrow morning and see when those babies are going to be weaned so I can pick me up a new trio of breeders and start from scratch... One question how old do the mice need to be before I introduce the male to the females Since I am going to be getting freshly weaned I was just wandering thank you

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Originally Posted by erebus45

Thank you everybody for the help and advice I am going to go down tomorrow morning and see when those babies are going to be weaned so I can pick me up a new trio of breeders and start from scratch... One question how old do the mice need to be before I introduce the male to the females Since I am going to be getting freshly weaned I was just wandering thank you

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I have read that they can start breeding at like 4-1/2 weeks, but is not so good for them. That it is best to wait til 7-8 weeks old.

I also have one male mouse that, with other males, he us very aggressive, but with any females, they chirp once and he almost runs across the cage. Totsl wuss! I have had him since mid-Oct. But he has yet to impregnate any female and I have had 4 females in with him. The latest was from Dec 16th until today..... LOL, he has ONE job to do .... he better start doing it or he will be introduced to my female ferret.
Only reason I am breeding is for her, my male ferret, I can put him in the cage with the mice ( I gave did this a couple times) and he does nothing.... but the female. . . She is a killa. They do not last 3 seconds around her.