general rodent keeping and breeding

[guitrage]

Just have some general questions about keeping rodents.

1. Can you house several mice/rats together all the time, or do they need to be separated when not breeding? Do they do best in pairs, or in large groups (per cage)?

2. What size cage is needed for 2 or 3 rats? How about 2 or 3 mice?

3. I read that rodents form social bonds and they become each other's companions. So wouldn't it be kind of mean to keep moving a male to different females if he has lived with one individual for a while?


Thanks in advance for the info!

[Brandon.O]

1. Can you house several mice/rats together all the time, or do they need to be separated when not breeding? Do they do best in pairs, or in large groups (per cage)?

If you house several mice/rats together of differnt sexes they will breed all the time. I dont think they will ever stop.

Maybe you can house all the females together in a separate cage and all the males in a seperate cage.And then put a male with some females for breeding.

I dont know to much about this so hopefully somebody who breeds rodents will answer your question better

[Jase]

We house our mice in ratios of 1.7(1 male to 7 females) - We let them live together pretty much all the time, once a female is very pregnant, and near ready to birth, we move her to a private enclosure for her and her babies. I've heard that the other rodents wont bother the mother or her babies, but that way, babies never get mixed up, and the male wont instantly re-impregnante the female. The dimensions we use are about 21x16x5(LxWxH) for their housing. The rats are in larger enclosures 24x18x8 and we keep them at ratios of 1.3, and follow the same procedure of femlae isolation before birth.

And as for the forming friendships/colonies thing, i believe this to be true, we leave our males with their females. And if the colony crashes, i'd reccomend feeding off all the mice, and starting by forming a new ratio.

[Marla]

Just have some general questions about keeping rodents.

1. Can you house several mice/rats together all the time, or do they need to be separated when not breeding? Do they do best in pairs, or in large groups (per cage)?

2. What size cage is needed for 2 or 3 rats? How about 2 or 3 mice?

You can house them together, but I wouldn't house "large groups" together unless you have an especially large cage. They tend to stress over crowded conditions and are more likely to fight. You can house them in cramped conditions, but I like at least one square foot or so per adult rat, personally, and would cut that significantly for mice. Housing is inexpensive if you are creative -- more on that if you want.

3. I read that rodents form social bonds and they become each other's companions. So wouldn't it be kind of mean to keep moving a male to different females if he has lived with one individual for a while?

Thanks in advance for the info!

Our breeding colony currently consists of 2 males and 3 females living in one 12 sq ft or so cage (the other female is a pet, not a breeder). We have 3 smaller cages not currently in use so that when a female is pregnant, she can be moved to one cage to be by herself with her babies, then when they are weaned, she can be reintroduced to the main cage and the weanlings can be split by gender into the other two smaller cages. This is safe for the babies because they won't be eaten by the male who isn't the father and safe for the mama by allowing her to finish her "maternity leave" before she gets pregnant again.

There are several good approaches to take, but this is mine, FWIW.

[Kara]

Pics of my mouse setup & general info in the following thread:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/index.ph...sc&start=0

[sk8er4life]

Maybe you can house all the females together in a separate cage and all the males in a seperate cage

I heard from one of my earlier posts if u put alot of males(rats) together they will fight IDK if this is true but if it is then that wouldnt be such a good idea

[Kara]

Maybe you can house all the females together in a separate cage and all the males in a seperate cage

I heard from one of my earlier posts if you put a lot of males(rats) together they will fight IDK if this is true but if it is then that wouldnt be such a good idea

You can keep multiple males together, but I'd only recommend doing it if you're raising males together from the time they're weaned. You don't want to take a bunch of big breeder males & throw them in together after they've been in with females - you'll have some serious fighting going on if you do.

K

[guitrage]

Because of the scent, I can't keep the rats in the same room as the snake, right?

Thanks for all the replies so far.

[sk8er4life]

everytime i have a mouse i keep it in the same room as my bp but then again its only 1 mouse, but what it lax in size it makes up for in smell!

[Ginevive]

1. Can you house several mice/rats together all the time, or do they need to be separated when not breeding? Do they do best in pairs, or in large groups (per cage)?

I keep each female mouse and rat in its own cage. The males get rotated into each female's cage, depending on who needs to be bred. I keep everyone who has bebies, alone; I know that some people keep different mothers and litters together, but my females are always pregnant at different times and would be stressed by another group of babies while they are on their rest between litters, I think.

2. What size cage is needed for 2 or 3 rats? How about 2 or 3 mice?

Personally I use 20-g aquariums. I have screen lids and have no troubles with ventilation or odor. Mice get 10g tanks. The smaller the cage, the more often it needs cleaning! Also, remember that if you use a barred cage, you need to be sure the animals cannot squeeze out; my friend had that happen!




3. I read that rodents form social bonds and they become each other's companions. So wouldn't it be kind of mean to keep moving a male to different females if he has lived with one individual for a while?

I never see a problem with it. I have actually tried to re-introduce some females that had been housed apart for a few days, and they fought like cats. I think they forgot each other, or maybe were trying to establish a pecking order, but in my situation they're house alone.