is Raising feeder mice for you?

[Loren]

Lori, rodent pro lists all the sizes and ages of mice and rats on their site too, if you want to compare aproximate sizes at all different ages.

Stefan, that sounds like a pretty healthy sized garter.

[Topaz]

I personally cannot breed my own feeders, as much as I have thought about it. I get too attached too quickly, and couldn't decide who stayed and who died. So instead when I do rarely breed a rat (for the female's health, it reduces the chance of tumors,) we adopt the ones we don't keep to pet only homes, which usually go to people we already know. We haven't bred mice yet, but I do occasionally breed soft fur rats as pets for myself. I can't hold and interact with them as much as the domestic rats and mice, but they're fun to watch. I only keep very few of the ones I breed, and the rest go to a wildlife and reptile rescue as donation (who uses CO2 before feeding them off.) So I can have the babies, not become overwhelmed with large numbers, and still have a clear conscious.

Instead, I buy frozen feeders from Petco who gets them from a company called Gourmet Rodent. We spend about 6 dollars a week to feed 6 snakes, so that's not bad, IMO. They're by far our cheapest pets.

Quick question for folks here that feed f/t - How long does a rodent keep in the freezer before going bad? I've thought about stocking up and ordering from rodent pro many times, but I don't want to get more than the snakes will eat before the food goes bad.

[Stefan-A]

Stefan, that sounds like a pretty healthy sized garter.

The mice were oversized, but I didn't have anything else that could eat them. I'm not about to make a habit out of it.

YouTube - Mighty Mouse 2

[Zephyr]

I've decided I'm gonna raise a pair of mice for feeder-breeders.
I won't have the adult garters around all winter, so their young will be for my corn snakes.
I'll be using CO2 from dry ice to euthanize them; I probably won't get attached to the young because I'll know they'll be for my snakes...

[Garter_Gertie]

Kenabec, my normal Hoggy (can I say that here?) wasn't eating. Hadn't eaten in in 2.5 weeks though Niizh (my green, pride and joy Hoggy) had.

So, the breeder said he'd take Kenabec back to 'recondition' from live to f/t pinkies...

Well, I figured *I* could do that. So last week I went to TCR (Twin Cities Reptiles) for a live pinkie.

AND FREAKED OUT WHEN I SAW THEM!!!

No WAY can I kill a living creature even when I know blah, blah, blah, blah. Can't do it. Just can't. THEY WERE SO CUTE AND ALIVE!!!!!!!!!

So, today, Kenabec went back to the breeder for HIM to recondition.

I'm a wuss. I'm pathetic. I've no back bone and am spineless.

I like me!

[CrazyHedgehog]

Keep a record!!
I set a white board up in the shed, and every time I take pinkies or mice out of a tub, I tally up the total on the board for that tub. Its surprising, some tubs have produced over 150 mice, where others have done nothing. By dating when the tubs are set out too, I can see if it is a productive tank or not.
lack of production can be from several things, a failed male, a male too small against bully females, one female eating the babies, mis-sexed male(ie all female)etc....If unproductive for several months, then the adults from that box are entered into the food chain! (along with any weak looking, or ones with tumours, or trouble makers etc...)

mixing adult mice
If however you are creating a new box from existing adults, put a male in first and leave him for a day, then add the females. This way, its his box and the females will accept that they are his!!!
If you just mix or add the females first and often the females will put up a rather brutal fight!

Unless you have gigantic cages and can keep colonies, keep to one male per tank.
Males will fight to the death.

Baby mice neglected
Sometimes a mom will see bigger baby mice in the tank, think hers are
not good enough against them, so will neglect hers and pinch the bigger older ones. If you can't separate them then I usually freeze the new pinkies before they are left.

A mom will not usually have another litter for at least 4 weeks, by then the larger pinkies can fend for themselves, however, once a mom becomes a mom a few times, they tend to just muck in with all babies, and thats when things get out of sinc... and when babies of a few weeks are neglected, basically, another aunt took over, so the real mom didn't bother, but then the aunt had her own... now the first ones are orphaned. These will usually survive because they will fight to get to the mouse with milk. but often they are smaller weaker mice. I usually only choose the fittest to make breeders, these weaker ones are gassed as small hoppers.

I have it quite well under control now, but I still make the odd mistake, and sometimes I will have a totally unexplained death????

Smell
With this many, yes it stinks, however, clear out old substrate regularly and it helps,
The less males you have, the less smell.
When you clean a tank, try dry wiping it, (not washing it) as the male mouse will still smell his scent and will not feel the need to spray everything again. I only disinfect and scrub when either setting up a new tank, or if it gets really bad like the water bottle has leaked etc....

Help?
I am not an expert, however have a fairly good track record, if you have a question, please feel free to ask me.

[Loren]

Very well said, Inge- everything you said is true as far as my personal experience goes. ... except I have never been able to stay up on keeping records. I'll do it for a while, then slack off.
I have no trouble keeping good records on my snakes, but the mice are just too much to keep track of for me.

Definitelty the best is to have a good record system of some sorts though.

[jitami]

Aaaahhhh... just went to pick up mice from a new supplier... met her in a parking lot none the less... was expecting 25 frozen pinkies & 25 frozen fuzzies... she hands me this deli cup with squirming piles of babies in it... deep breath...more deep breaths... My fault I would have sworn she said frozen in her craigslist ad, but I didn't specify either way.. Sly & Ella enjoyed their live fuzzies, babies wouldn't get near squirming live pinkies... found a new use for ice cube trays... yeah... I'm still a little shaky, but a woman's gotta do whatever it takes to feed the kiddos, right? (Sigh...)

[Lori P]

You did fine Tami... those babies go very, very quickly in the ice cube trays. It's not pleasant, ever, but it does get easier with time. A bit...

[jitami]

Thanks Lori... and you're right, they did go very quickly. By the time I was putting the second ice tray in the first little ones were already gone... I just keep telling myself that it's no different than buying pre-frozen mice.