# Breeding your own mice a good idea?



## Ellis (Jul 27, 2008)

is it a good idea?

if so how do you do and wwhat kind of enclosures?

cheers all


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## Jedi_mia (Jul 13, 2008)

A friend of mine did this, but she started treating them too much like pets, bless her. When she started naming them, her boyfriend said 'this isn't going to work is it'.

For 80p, it's not worth the guilt!


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## Liam17 (Jul 20, 2008)

To breed them you can put them in anything, have some stuff for them to climb and a nesting box inside or attached to it ( filled with shredded paper or tissue). Its only realy a good idea if your feeding alot of reptiles as they are a pain to manage some times. But try it and see how it goes. 2 white mice quickly become 20 breeding pairs lol.

Worth a shot


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## Scaley (Sep 25, 2007)

its only worth breedin mice if ur breedin snakes, coz ur ave loadza baby mice (pinks/fluffs) for ur hatchlings, but if u want them 4 adult snakes, u ave 2 wait 4 that mouse 2 get 2 an adult size, by then u would b over run wiv mice!!! imo its only good if u ave a load of snakes that r either small or breeding!


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

I would only recommend breeding mice if you need the pinkies for live really. Otherwise I find it fairly uneconomical to raise anything to small+ size and then dispatch based on the time/space/food costs compared to just buying frozen in bulk. Mice also smell quite strongly especially if you have a number of them in a small space, and I would recommend using a shed or outbuilding if going to breed in any quantity.

I have a breeding colony of approx 100 adult mice, maybe 70 females. They give a litter of between 5 and 10 on average every 8 weeks I find which is between 350 and 700 pinkies every 8 weeks, or between 40 and 90 pinkies a week. They cost about £5 a week to feed but take approximately 1 hour a day in maintenance which if you count as working hours, I could be earning money at work... if you count time as money, I could be earning approx. £50 a week in the time we work with the mice, 100 pinkies costs me £11 so not the most economical!

If you have plenty of free time, a shed or outbuilding, and a way of dispatching the young, then it is worth it, but you have to be aware of the negative side of it, which is mostly time & smell.


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## Diablo (May 25, 2007)

Athravan said:


> I would only recommend breeding mice if you need the pinkies for live really. Otherwise I find it fairly uneconomical to raise anything to small+ size and then dispatch based on the time/space/food costs compared to just buying frozen in bulk. Mice also smell quite strongly especially if you have a number of them in a small space, and I would recommend using a shed or outbuilding if going to breed in any quantity.
> 
> I have a breeding colony of approx 100 adult mice, maybe 70 females. They give a litter of between 5 and 10 on average every 8 weeks I find which is between 350 and 700 pinkies every 8 weeks, or between 40 and 90 pinkies a week. They cost about £5 a week to feed but take approximately 1 hour a day in maintenance which if you count as working hours, I could be earning money at work... if you count time as money, I could be earning approx. £50 a week in the time we work with the mice, 100 pinkies costs me £11 so not the most economical!
> 
> If you have plenty of free time, a shed or outbuilding, and a way of dispatching the young, then it is worth it, but you have to be aware of the negative side of it, which is mostly time & smell.


I agree with Athravan here its not worth growing on adult mice just to feed. I'm thinking about breeding mice myself just for the Pinkies  

Worth it for the pinks but not worth it for adults.


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## Issa (Oct 13, 2006)

Have you considered rats perhaps? unlike mice they grow a lot faster and bigger (I don't think they smell as bad as mice either). 21day gestation period and reasonable litter sizes (I've had as low as 7 and high as 19 before normally 10 - 12). Most of my babys get popped off between 4 - 6 weeks as royal and small boa food and the ex breeders go to my larger boas. All in all I find it works quite well and costs are similar to buying from f/t from reptile stores (better quality imo, but then again I bred them so I would say that!). You can also recover some of your costs selling excess on to mates. Gets addictive though, I started with a trio, between what I've bred, bought, traded or homed I'm up to round 30 or so 'residents' along with probably that again in 'maybes' or 'definate reptile chow' happily living in various cages in the spare bedroom.


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## solidtechchris (Nov 30, 2007)

Just be aware that the male mice STINK!!!!!!!!


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## Ellis (Jul 27, 2008)

Thanks all!! ive just come back from holiday and ive got all these responses.

very useful thanks alot. hope this has helped other people aswell!

cheers all.


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