inbreeding

[Brandon Osborne]

I think inbreeding rodents for more than 2 generations can have some adverse effects. I am not sure how well your mice grow and breed but obtaining good stock is important.

Actually, it makes no difference. Obtaining good stock is where it counts. Inbreeding doesn't matter. I have seen and done inbreeding for hundreds of generations. And it doesn't matter whether its father to daughter, mother to son, or brother to sister. You can inbreed and inbreed mice however many generations you want.

Your best bet is to get breeders from a large rodent breeding facility because they tend to have good genetic diversity. On the other hand, if your mice breed and grow well I wouldn't worry about inbreeding for a couple of generations.

Again, in this case, a rodent breeder would be the worst place to get genetic diversity. Most hold back animals to replace stock as they become "worn out".

This is why you should get a very large rodent colony with a diverse gene pool. Look at this as a great opportunity to expand your rodent colony and with it your snake collection.

If you start with good genes, there is no need to diversify. There are several strains of lab mice that are bred for maximum production. By diluting the genes of these strains, you are altering the productivity.

You are probably going to ask me how I know this. Well, I used to work for the largest rodent supplier in the U.S. You know who it is, but I'm not going to say. I worked there before he went "pro" and I took care of the snakes. A good friend of mine obtained a group of 5.20 mice from Harlan Labs around 10 years ago. These mice were all approximately 28 days old when he recieved them, and they began producing within 3 weeks. Since then, he has produced 100s of thousands, if not MILLIONS, of mice from the original 25 mice he purchased. His adults retire at about 8 months old and 50-60grams each. That's rather large for a mouse. He currently supplies several raptor sanctuaries, a zoo, and lots of individuals. So, in some cases, genetic diversity is not the best idea.

BTW, this post was not meant to be offensive to the original poster. I mearly wanted to post it as informative. I hope this helps.