help/advice on water source and cage for feeder mice

[jessierose2006]

Ok here goes...

I have to keep live mice and i buy at least 10 at a time i have i think they are 10 qt plastic bins (1.00 at walmart) to house the mice until its their turn to be dinner (dont worry they get really good care until then ) but i am using old tuna and cat food cans as water and food dishes and they either throw all kinds of shavings in their water dish or deficate in it i tried buying the small 4oz water bottles to put on the side but my tubs are too short for the fountain nozzle that comes off the bottle. I am at this point changing their cage bedding at least every 3 days. I dont have room for anything bigger than what i have now but didnt know what other people do to keep the cage less messy from water bowls ( or maybe i just have pigs for mice) Would love to either get some advice or see what others have done to kinda get some ideas. And also i have seen some different setups for food. (is some better than others?) I of course have bowls and they kick a lot of it out (they get a seed and pellet mix) is there any way to keep it from being wasted so much?

Also has anyone tried housing mice in the 3-4 drawer bins from walmart? i wasnt sure if they could get out of them.

[anatess]

Ok here goes...

I have to keep live mice and i buy at least 10 at a time i have i think they are 10 qt plastic bins (1.00 at walmart) to house the mice until its their turn to be dinner (dont worry they get really good care until then ) but i am using old tuna and cat food cans as water and food dishes and they either throw all kinds of shavings in their water dish or deficate in it i tried buying the small 4oz water bottles to put on the side but my tubs are too short for the fountain nozzle that comes off the bottle. I am at this point changing their cage bedding at least every 3 days. I dont have room for anything bigger than what i have now but didnt know what other people do to keep the cage less messy from water bowls ( or maybe i just have pigs for mice) Would love to either get some advice or see what others have done to kinda get some ideas. And also i have seen some different setups for food. (is some better than others?) I of course have bowls and they kick a lot of it out (they get a seed and pellet mix) is there any way to keep it from being wasted so much?

Also has anyone tried housing mice in the 3-4 drawer bins from walmart? i wasnt sure if they could get out of them.

They can chew through those drawer bins. I suggest looking through the sticky portion of the DIY forum to find the instructions for a "Sterilite tub mouse/rat bin". All you need is one appropriate-sized sterilite bin, some 1/4" wire mesh (called hardware cloth), some staples, and your water bottle.

Or, you can always just get the mouse/hamster condos they sell at the petstore.

[BAMReptiles]

for that few mice for several days, just get a 10gallon glass tank, problem solved

[tomfromtheshade]

If you're buying ten at a time you might want to breed your own anyway.

I always tell people, if you're going to keep rodents, there is no better way to do it than in a rack!

There is a good thread about building one in the DIY forum here.

Petmate small litter pans are great for groups of 1.2 mice.

If you are using ten per week I would recommend that you set up two colonies of 1.2 and then use the remaining tubs for growing mice out.

[jimcro55]

They can chew through those drawer bins. I suggest looking through the sticky portion of the DIY forum to find the instructions for a "Sterilite tub mouse/rat bin". All you need is one appropriate-sized sterilite bin, some 1/4" wire mesh (called hardware cloth), some staples, and your water bottle.


Good point there.

I know a good place to get the hardware cloth is here.....

http://www.bwire.com/

They have the best shipping services and prices. Take a look and take up this guy, better idea for now....

[Tzeentch]

I use a 10 gallon tank.

You'll need a water bottle. If you put a bowl of water in there with them, all they do is fill it with bedding.

I don't use food bowls, they just climb it in and crap on their own food. I just pile the food in the same spot.

[suzuki4life]

food hoppers are super nice...and easy to make.

[suzuki4life]

skip the wheel.

[Shenzi Sixaxis]

They don't chew out of the drawers. There's enough room for them to squeeze out of.

Skip the wheel and food bowl. Just put the food on the substrate in the same place every time and they'll learn not to use that as a bathroom. A water bottle is a MUST. The small ones at Walmart will work most of the time as long as it isn't too low; make it high enough so the mice have to stand up to get to it, and in your weaner/grow out tub you can make it a bit lower. I personally like to put my water bottles inside tubs, as it's easier to deal with and with rats, I've had very little chewing.

I know with my rats I can feed them practically anything, but not sure about mice. I say find a place that sells Mazuri or something and get that. You could also try the Kaytee stuff from PETCO as you can buy the 10lb bag for 5 bucks online (only online; in-store more expensive) if you have no luck, or you can buy some Tekland blocks here, even if it is for rats.

This is what I feed my rats, similar to when I had mice, but I didn't get any pups. -.- ::
2 parts Nature's Recipe Toy dog food (this might be puppy)
2 parts The Good Life indoor cat food
1 part Just Bunches
1 part old fashioned oats
2-5 lab blocks per rat in container
They also get some cheerios, honey nut cheerios, bagged instant oatmeal with flavoring and dried fruit bits, steamed broccoli, okay table scraps, some Timothy hay (got a free bag of it; this is usually what I put the food on), and whatever else might be too old for us, not liked by us OR our dogs (like pork bones), forgotten food, ect. What's listed above is what they ALWAYS get. I am also going to put males and grow outs on a pure table scraps and lab block diet once I get my crap together.

Also, you can use a food hopper, but unless you have problems keeping track of what they eat, I say skip it. I'm pretty sure mice don't move bedding a whole lot (like ALL that's in the tub) to put on their babies like rats.

As mice don't live as long as rats, and you won't be breeding them long nor do they have an as fragile respiratory system, you can use CHEAP pine bedding. I got this at Petco for like 9 bucks, a HUUUUUGE bag. It's softwood beddding (pine, fir, and spruce) that's PetCo's brand. Small flakes and goes a long way. I use Petco's brand of aspen shavings, it's a few bucks more (12 bucks for the same size bag as the pine), and the shavings are a lot bigger, so it doesn't seem to go as far.

I highly recommend mixing some cheap clay cat litter and baking soda in with the bedding, and putting the mice somewhere you won't be too much. They STINK! Make sure you have decent ventilation too; my rats stunk until I got some better ventilation, and it takes about 10 days for them to start stinking now.

[BAMReptiles]

never buy bulk supplies at a pet store, its ALWAYS cheaper at a farm supply store.

i get bales of pine that last my ~700-800 rodents a full month ( 1 change a week ) for wait for it.......a whopping $4.75 after tax and any type of bulk food will be far far far cheaper there too