Going to Try again

We do ok with rat breeding. We are currently trying to expand the colony and get some kind of organizing done so that we have a constant supply of feeders.

Of course, I hope to try my hand at corn snake breeding this year, and that means I'll need a lot of mouse pinkies and fuzzies and so on. (thats if I succeed at breeding my corns.) We are trying to become self sufficiant with our feeders as the cost of driving to the store (20-30min drive both ways) and the cost of the actual feeders is driving us nuts.

So, I want to try my hand at breeding mice again. I want a single breeding group for now, perhaps one male to three or four females. What size enclosure should I provide them? I also want to provide them with stimulation like a wheel and things to chew and climb on. What would you recommend? I saw a post about mouse racks and since I only want one breeding group for now, a rack is too much. I saw a picture of some tubs that had screen attached to them to provide ventilation and things like that. Could anyone explain what size tub I would need for a 1.4 group and how to go about converting it into a mouse enclosure?

Oh, when using such an enclosure, are there any problems with escape? I will provide them with plenty to chew on, but I can't afford to have escaped mice.

Just use a ten gallon. It is escape proof( as long as the screen top is secured on) It will hold alot of mice and if you run out of room they are very cheap and you can get another one. I did not provide anything to chew on, but they use the wheel like it is their job!

I would like to stay away from tanks as they are very heavy and a nightmare to clean (corners are my enemy!). Tubs are lightweight and easy to clean. Not to mention, my cats can't get into them. We had a 1.1 living in a tub for a time, but I eventually fed them off before they bred.

This is what I use for my 1.3 group:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...Tanks/Tub1.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ks/Tubedge.jpg

I believe it's a Rubbermaid 'large' tub, about 26x16x10. It's been a while since I bought any, so I can't exactly remember what they are. :)

I'm getting into rat breeding, but since I, too, wish to breed corns (and still have three young females) I still need the mice. They do great in there, and as you can see they have a nice wheel and igloo house as well as chew toys. With all that in there, I haven't yet had any tub chewing even by the rowdy little hoppers:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...cesaPlenty.jpg

How do you attach the wire? We have some left over hardwire cloth from when we made the rat rack. Will this work?

Oh and can the mice eat the same lab block as the rats? I use Mazuri Lab block for the rats.

Yep, my mice and rats all eat the same food: Becky's mix with Mazuri block and Science Diet senior dog food. They do really well on it.

And the hardware cloth wire is attached by weaving 22 gauge wire through holes in the tub. You can barely see that in the pics. :) Works great, no too hard to do, and when you tug the wire with pliers it's a good tight hold. Just remember to use 1/4" hardware cloth for mice.

Will do. Thanks so much! :D I have an extra 10g I can use for now and then I can make a mouse tub this weekend. I'm hoping to pick up the mice today. :)

Just from my experience, the mice seem to waste ALOT less if they are fed grower hog feed(non-medicated). I mix the hog feed with puffed rice and wheat, crispy rice, total flakes, a bit of Wellness Senior dog food or Drs. Foster & Smith Senior dog food, and some old fashioned oatmeal. They dig into this and it's not wasted at all, compared to the peed on lab blocks.

Hog feed is about $10 per 50lbs. I wouldn't recommend feeding the rats this. Too high in protein. The mice need the protein to not cannibalize their young, the little snots.

Thats one of the reasons I stopped breeding mice. They kept eating their babies. I got tired of it. I will check for the hogfeed next time I go in for bedding. :)

Heh... yeah it really sucks that they do that. :) But cool info on the hog feed thing... I'm not sure where I could get some around here, but I'll look into it for the mice. Thanks Becky.

I have a group right now which has one neurotic brindle female who decided to eat someone else's babies. I took the remaining 3 living pinks out(one of which has some missing toes from the carnage) and put them with another mom who had some same-age babies. She took them right in and the other mice in that group didn't have a problem. Neither did the male. Might just have to feed a few of those neurotic meece off. I don't stand for it here.

I give my rats a few changes with their babies. If their first litter goes badly, thats ok, its their first litter. Second goes bad, I'm getting a little peeved. Third goes bad, they are out. Any rat in my colony (other than those that have pet status) that keep having issues with their litters are given to the petstore for use as a feeder. (my little columbian is only downing mouse hoppers right now.)

I'm heading out soon to the store. Hopefully I'll find some cute mice to start my mouse breeding. :) How will a 1.3 or a 1.4 work in a 10 gallon? Too many mice for a ten gallon?

Shouldn't be. Tho I love keeping snakes in tanks, I hate keeping rodents in them :) But 5 mice in a 10g shouldn't be too many, especially if you remember to look for YOUNG, just weaned mice so they can grow to breeding size and give you their best performance.