sudden death

[MonkeyShuttle]

so i had 3 mice 1 male 2 females in a pimped out inclosure these guys had the wheel, the nice house, the works. there great for 3 weeks and the i get two hoppers to feed to stubborn ball but wife catches me and plays hero. so now 5. that was about 2 weeks ago and i check there tub today and ones missing. i found her buried under aspen shavings in there hut. WTF? she had no bruising or blood so ruled out attack. the other 2 originals arent dead so dont think its from the new guys. any ideas. do they just fall out like that. i would say she was about 3 months old.

[Rhasputin]

They were probably just unhealthy. A lot of live feeders from pet stores don't have good lifespans, and have a lot of health problems. Average pet store mice live about 1-1 1/2 years, where-as good quality mice like mine have made it up to 4. ( I even have a 5 year old asf)

[MonkeyShuttle]

Will i be able to breed out healthier rodents with better husbandry and diet?


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[Rhasputin]

You should be able to easily create healthier rodents by selecting out any that have health problems. On the other hand, you can try contacting better breeders, and seeing if you can get healthier mice. Ann Marlowe is in your area, and is a very good person, with great mice.

I'm actually going to MD this Sunday for some mouse related stuff. I have a few (max 2 or 3 that I was going to use as feeders) females and a male I can throw your way if you can be in the Silver springs area? They would be a really great way to start a colony, they have very varied genetics from all over the world, and are very healthy mice, I just don't need them for my projects lol.

[Reptile Frenzy]

Rodents will die for no apparent reason sometimes. We have had some die out of the blue that seemed healthy. The enclosure setup seems fine but what are you feeding them? We feed mazuri 6F and have had awesome results.