# breeding mice



## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

Hiya, 

I am thinking about breeding my own mice, i have 2 corns and 1 royal, do you think its worth breeding mice for such a small number of snakes? I just think most pet shops mice look like they have been frozen too long, and id like my snakes to have the best possible food.

So if i was to start a breeding project, how would i go about it? 2 females 1 male? should i keep male separate from females? incase of too many babies? And do i need to keep all babies separate? 

Am gona keep them in the shed too, too stinky for the house.


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## wohic (Jun 19, 2006)

To be honest, no. unless you want them as pets. they smell and are hard work lol. I spend longer with my mice every day than i do all my reptiles.


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## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

nah dont want em as pets, i had some when i was 15, had to clean em out 2 times a day, they wreek!!! thats why i was gona keep em in the shed. how can they take up so much time? just food every day n water, isn't it?


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## saxon (Feb 26, 2007)

You still have to keep them clean even if they are in the shed.

I have 12 snakes now, and the bullfrog and toad, who eat mice but i've only just decided to try breeding my own. That is more to get this little royal eating than anything else.
I used to breed mice, in the house, when I had reps years ago and it was disasterous. My kids were young and regulary let oout hopper mice. I once spent allnight trying to catch 16 hopper mice running round my living room.

I was tempted to get rid of the kids but eventually did the right thing and got rid of the mice


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## wohic (Jun 19, 2006)

well i have 6 colonys, and food water, health checks, cleaning out etc all takes time, then you wait ages for babys and they eat them or they are to cute .
have you thought about how you will euthanase them ?
Not trying to put you off, but they are a commitment and mine get cleaned out at least once a week even though they are in the shed.


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## saxon (Feb 26, 2007)

I've put a post in the 'pinkies' thread that might be of interest to some people.


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## saxon (Feb 26, 2007)

How big are your colonies wohic?
I was only looking at 1 male to 3 females in each cage.
How many colonies of that size do you think I'd require to feed my few?
I have 1 on rat which Id buy in.
2 on crawlers, 3 on small, 2 on medium and 3 on large mice.


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## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

I dont mind killin the mice, sorry if that sounds harsh but its food for my reps. thats all i see them as. How many babies would i get from just 1 male and female? coz like i said id not need lots and lots, only have 3 snakes. so 1 male and 1 female, is not alot of time taken up really.


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## Nerys (Apr 18, 2005)

for three snakes i would say you would need a 1.3 at least..

it works out as an average of a mouse per mouse a week..

ie. 1 female = 52 mice a year (ish)

you will also need to have 2-3 growing on tanks. as you need to grow the mouse to adult size before culling, if feeding adult corns. you cannot grow the males and females on together, or they breed to young and grow less fast, making a poorer meal. so you need one for males, one for females, and then also a spare one for "just in case" moments

N


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## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

ahhhh OK, i have 2 yearling corns, 1 small mice a week, 2 times a week, and im trying to move the other up, but she has 3 fuzzies a week. i think i may give this a miss, as i dont even know how to tell the sex of a young mouse, n dont wana get over run lol


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## wohic (Jun 19, 2006)

saxon said:


> How big are your colonies wohic?
> I was only looking at 1 male to 3 females in each cage.
> How many colonies of that size do you think I'd require to feed my few?
> I have 1 on rat which Id buy in.
> 2 on crawlers, 3 on small, 2 on medium and 3 on large mice.


several sizes....... avarage 1.6
its more of a back up for me, i stll buy in frozen as I sell a lot of the mice as pets :lol2: the males go for food, and sometimes pinks and fuzzys.

thing is no matter how many i seem to have there is always dry spells of no babys, or you get a biach of a mouse who decides to eat her and everone elses litters. when its going well its great, but it can be frustrating.


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## Nerys (Apr 18, 2005)

sexing babies is easy tbh

female have nipples

male don't !

easy!

N


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## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

ahhh cool, dont they bite you alot tho?
i dunno, gona need some thinking about.

But if iw as to breed them, i owuld need 1 male and 3 females? can u keep all females together? with babies?


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## Nerys (Apr 18, 2005)

biting? no, none of mine really do, they are all pretty tame.. tbh i do cull if i get a nasty one too so i avoid biters in the main

i would say 1.3 at least yes, and yes, i keep mine in a group permenantly, i do not take the females out to have the litters.

N


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## saxon (Feb 26, 2007)

I found that if you seperate to give birth then it was nigh on impossible to reintegrate them into the colony.

And yes wohic, 

I used to get the odd one who was a right moo and would obliterate two or three litters in minutes. Of course those females don't last too long once they turn do they. I didn't do it big time I only had about 6 snakes at the time but it was very difficult and expensive then to get frozen or even fresh kill unless you knew a lab somewhere. Any extras went to a couple of friends at the time.


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## mEOw (Dec 28, 2006)

We've just started breeding, we have 2 colonies set up, 1.3 and 1.2 and just had our first litter! Getting new tank tomorrow so we can grow-on a couple of babies for future colonies etc. Figured it was worth it as we have so many snakes and now have 5 CF royals which may need fresh/live to get started eating (IF they are fussy, not saying they will be fed live unless they need it)


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## saxon (Feb 26, 2007)

Yes that's why I'm doing it.
I've done it before and now I've a few more snakes and the amphibs that will eat mice then it seems worth it.


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## yellow_rat_gal (Mar 24, 2007)

Meh our babies are now binned, mother went and started eating them... Oh well...


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

yellow_rat_gal said:


> Meh our babies are now binned, mother went and started eating them... Oh well...


That's pretty typical for first litters.

I lost six females' worth of first litters when I first started breeding mice - each and every one of them ate their first litter. 

Second litter, they'd worked out what to do, how to feed the babies, how to groom them without overgrooming, and after that we only had one incidence of obvious cannibalism (and that female was promptly culled out of the group.)

If you want to avoid litter eating when creating new colonies, fostering an experienced mum in with your new girls is a good way to do it - the experienced one knows how to take care of the babies that are born and the others will learn by observation.


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## yellow_rat_gal (Mar 24, 2007)

Would it be best if we removed the pinks before they get eaten then? or just hope they learn??


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

If you remove the pinks, they won't learn how to care for them and you won't have fixed the problem. 

To be honest, I'd just let them learn on the first litter - if you have second litters that are getting eaten, THEN you have a problem. 

The other thing to try and do - if you think they're getting ready to give birth, clean the cage before they do, give them plenty of food (and protein food is good) and then leave them alone as much as you possibly can.


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## mEOw (Dec 28, 2006)

I used to breed mice as pets, Just a bit of new territory for emily, Looks like we have more babies thogh, from one of the hairless females so fingers crossed!  
Owen


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## yellow_rat_gal (Mar 24, 2007)

Just got some rats to breed now, yay!


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