Need help keeping feeder rodents alive

[thingsthatmakenoise]

My little rescued bp is doing really well, she's put on about 10g since we've had her getting her up to a whopping 59g. Her husbandry is perfect, she's been eating like a champ; the problem now is I can't seem to keep her damn food alive.

We picked up 4 hopper mice, assuming (mistakenly I guess) that they'd be easy to care for so we wouldn't have to drive up to Tucson (1.5hrs away) to acquire live feeders for her until we can switch her over to f/t. She got in one meal, then two died (we think as a result of an accident involving some duct tape), and I just found the other one dead in the water dish we set up for them. I'm assuming it drowned.

Clearly, we needed to do more research before trying to keep these guys. Can anyone give us some input? The quick and dirty research we did before hand, it seemed like the set up we had was fine. We had them in a small plastic enclosure we picked up at Walmart, I used some of the aspen bedding we have around, gave them a water dish, and we put strawberry and zucchini pieces for them to eat.

We bought a water bottle to hang in there instead of the dish, but it turned out to be too big. We tried duct taping it to the lid but I think maybe the heat loosened the tape and it fell on them. I found all three stuck to the tape, so I removed them, checked to make sure they were ok (and they seemed to be...), replaced the bottle with a dish, then day after day I've been finding them dead.

Any help, any input, would be appreciated!

[Oxylepy]

In the future, set up a breeding program for your feeders. The standard cage/tub setup with a water bottle, food, and some hides should work.

http://www.kingsnake.com/thewyvernsl...ypayne_01.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Breed-Mice

[Willowy]

Hoppers are barely weaned. Maybe those particular little guys weren't quite weaned yet. And maybe too young and clumsy to get out of the water dish.

Anyway, that setup ought to keep an old-enough mouse alive for a few weeks. Just fruit won't do for food, though---mice of course will eat anything but live mostly on grains. Cheap dog food (more grain than meat) is OK, Total cereal is fine, hamster food from the store is good too, and a little bit of fruit and veggies. If you want to breed them or keep them long-term you'd have to do more than that, but for keeping just feeders, that ought to be sufficient.

Did they have runny stools before they died?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

To the op in most cases you can't keep a hopper alive they are not weaned from their mother which means they will die. Some older and bigger might take a little food if soft such as cheerios, or crushed dog food but it not likely.

Hoppers are 2 weeks old not weaned - weaned are 3 to 4 weeks old and obviously weaned.

There are plenty of threads here on this forum about how to setup breeding colonies are to rotate etc because if 1.5 hour trip is an issue the best thing for you is to start a colony which honestly for one animal is not worth it or switch to F/T ASAP and buy bulk.

http://www.kingsnake.com/thewyvernsl...ypayne_01.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Breed-Mice

Place the cages in an area that remains a constant 71 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit (22 to 30 degrees Celsius).

86 degrees well good luck with that high heat = low production if any. Optimum is in the 70's

The tank is way too small for that number of mice as well.

Yep Wikihow best place if you want to keep or breed something

[thingsthatmakenoise]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I don't think it's realistic right now for us to try to raise a rodent colony because my husband is in the Army and we will probably moving. Fortunately, he gets out in a few years so we probably will start one up when we move back home.

All of your responses have been super helpful though, and I really appreciate it! I think we are going to try to convince her to take f/t a little earlier than we planned. If I need to make the trek up to Tucson to get live for her because she won't take and starts losing weight, then that's what I'll do!

[anthroterra]

I'm there with ya- it's about an hour and a half for me to get live too. She's worth it though! I'm also hoping to switch mine to f/t asap, and breeding them is out of the question with a toddler running around too. Luckily, my other three have no prob with f/t. Best of luck to you!