New to breeding, a few questions....

[Kat_Dog]

I decided to start a mouse breeding project and currently have 5 females to 1 male, I had 4 females, but my sister fell in love with one of the mice I bought as a feeder so I put her in there too.

Anyhow, it's coming up on summer here in so cal, and it can get up to 120F outside. I have the mice in the garage, it usually doesn't get above 100F in there, but I know that over 80 they stop breeding and over 90 is a death sentence.
How would I go about keeping the mice cool? I thought about putting a slab of marble in there like you do for bunnies since it never gets hot, but I'm not sure how effective that would be for mice that are constantly running and climbing.


Also, if a female gets pregnant, can I leave her in there, or should I take her out? I read that they are more successful when housed with friends(including the male), but I also read that I should separate them from the male after 16 days together.

[Skilla6000]

A fan blowing on them constantly would work, also keep all the females together and remove the male, that's what I do.

[satomi325]

I decided to start a mouse breeding project and currently have 5 females to 1 male, I had 4 females, but my sister fell in love with one of the mice I bought as a feeder so I put her in there too.

Anyhow, it's coming up on summer here in so cal, and it can get up to 120F outside. I have the mice in the garage, it usually doesn't get above 100F in there, but I know that over 80 they stop breeding and over 90 is a death sentence.
How would I go about keeping the mice cool? I thought about putting a slab of marble in there like you do for bunnies since it never gets hot, but I'm not sure how effective that would be for mice that are constantly running and climbing.


Also, if a female gets pregnant, can I leave her in there, or should I take her out? I read that they are more successful when housed with friends(including the male), but I also read that I should separate them from the male after 16 days together.

Keep the air circulating.
Keeping the air moving is much cooler than hot stagnant air. Put frozen water bottles into their enclosures.

Provide plenty of water. Do not ever let your animals run out of water when it gets that hot.
Keep enclosures clean. Ammonia build up + the heat is awful.

If your garage is insulated, I suggest putting in a portable AC.

When a female gets pregnant, you can leave her in with the colony. Male mice can be good dads too.
It really is personal preference whether your separate females and the sire.
With mice, I leave everyone together. With rats, I remove the male. That's just how my system is.

[11anthony]

If you leave the males in with the female they WILL breed right after the female gives birth. So, be careful if you don't want to get over run with rodents.