Mice setup. 3 ?'s

[TylerxToxic]

i'm getting 2 10 gallon tanks tomorrow and i'm going to put a male and female mouse in one and then when the female gets pregnant I was going to put her into the other 10 gallon tank. but, what i'm wondering is where do I set up the little water thing that goes on the tank? I forgot what it was called. and what is a good size container to keep the the baby mice in?
i'm going to separate them by sex. good forum for how to find out the sex????

Thank you. =]

I forgot to add this, if I had hardware clothe over the top of the tubs is one heat lamp good enough to keep all the mice warm. like if I put it in between them.

[llovelace]

You don't need to seperate the female.

[TylerxToxic]

ok.
what about when she has the babies? will the male try to kill the babies?

[kc261]

You can usually keep the male in with the female with no issues. Mice will sometimes eat their babies, especially first time parents. So even if you have a problem, it is not necessarily because you kept them together. I believe in my colonies I've had more problems due to bad females than due to leaving the males in the colony.

You should not need heat for the mice if they are in your house. Any temperature that is comfortable for you will be fine for them. In fact, they do better in slightly cooler temps than they do in warmer temps.

[TylerxToxic]

what should I put the mice in when they get a little older and dont need to be nursed by their mom like, while their waiting to be ate. lol

[chromeitout]

If you are going the 10 gal. route, then another 10 gal. will do fine for your weanlings. You may find that using glass aquariums you have to clean more often than you would if you used a shallower tub with a hardware cloth top. The tall glass aquarium will not be as good for ventilation as the shallower tubs, but will still work.

As for sexing, there are pics on the web of both, but the way I learned is to look for tits on the female (the male will not have them), and also there is a greater distance from the males genitals to his anus than on the females.

Most pet stores will sell water bottle hangers next to the water bottles. Just, hang it on the inside wall of the aquarium somewhere. Remember, have an escape proof top because they will climb the water bottle. Alternatively, if you use tubs you can just stick the spout of the water bottle through one of the holes in the hardware cloth.

[the_Ryno]

what should I put the mice in when they get a little older and dont need to be nursed by their mom like, while their waiting to be ate. lol

In my limited experience of breeding mice, the mother will eat the babies in in the first week of so.
Make sure there is plenty of water and food when the babies are born. Sometimes the mother might eat the babies if they have no food or water.

[TylerxToxic]

she has plenty of that. lol