Mouse talk.

[adamanteus]

I've bred them in the past, a few times, but they do smell. Unless you can set up something like Inge has done, you're always going to have that problem. These days I prefer to bulk buy 500 at a time. It's easier, less labour intensive and not much more expensive if you find the right supplier.

[Stefan-A]

Okay, so the tricks I've learned today, for reducing the odor, are the following: Keep a jar of vinegar water (1:2 - 1:1) in the room and mix peat in with the bedding.

I have no idea whether or not it really works, but that's what they are suggesting on a local mouse forum.

[Loren]

As far as odor- they just plain stink. There are tricks to reduce smell, but no matter what, they will stink. Best to raise them outside the home. Temps near room temp are best- anything too much higher or lower may effect reproductive success, and of coarse, extremes may kill them.
Another thing to keep in mind; if you let some females live together for awhile and then introduce a new male, they will likely kill him. Raise females and their male together from as young as possible.
I keep 3 females with 1 male, fulltime. I do not remove the pregnant females for birthing, and I have very little cannibalizing. If they do it once, let them live, if they do it twice- feed them to a snake.
High enough protein in the diet is very important to have good breeding and prevent cannibalization. At least 18% protein.
Although I am all for fresh blood in breeding anything else, the best success I have with feeder mice has come from inbreeding the heck out of them. Fresh blood always seems to end up in mommas eating babies or low fertility, although I'm sure you should add a little new blood eventually.
My 60 mouse colony started with 2 fm's and a male, inbred them from there. Trust me, they dont care if its their sister or aunt or whatever.
I prefer the regular white albino "lab type" mouse.
Just my experience.

[Stefan-A]

I finally got sick of paying 1.30 € for a damn newborn pinkie. I don't care how bad they smell, I'm going to start raising my own.

[Loren]

Lori- if you are still waiting for babies- the females look like they have a golf ball or two in their belly before they give birth- huge! It always seems to take a long time for the first litter, because you check everyday(probably 2 or 3 times a day, if I know you).
I have had breeding groups that didnt produce, too, but not real often.
Make darn sure you do have males and females,too. I am really good at sexing them now, but it takes practice to do it when they are young. I have gotten "males" that were females, and vise versa, from petstores before as they mis-sex them sometimes too.
I like small, basic cages, so they have nothing else to do but, well... you know .
Nexty time you try to feed that kingsnake, rub a live pinky all over a frozen thawed, or feed a live directly followed by a frozen/thawed. See if she'll take it. Or, using a needle nose or hemostat, very gently shake the frozen/thawed even after she strikes at it, let her think she's killing it slowly. Make sure your frozen/thawed are at 95-100 degrees or so, not just thawed. I use warm water.

[drache]

I love my rodent connection
I'd never dream of adding breeding smelly rodents to the list of stuff I already do (I'd really have to move them out of the house)
and even though I'm not terribly squeamish, I was grossed out the last time I got frozen rodents somewhere else and they came complete with fecal matter smeared on their butts and even bedding crud
when I went to look at rodents at the last expo I went to the also looked dirty to me
I must be totally spoiled
and Edna totally rocks (my supplier)
so I've got a couple of other people I order for and I just got myself a "like new" little chest freezer that's only previously been used to store breast milk (so appropriate)
Edna says that I can store them for longer in a chest freezer
so that all cuts down on shipping

after reading Stefan's post, I'm realizing just how fortunate I am
the last batch I got was less than $0.35 per rodent and that wasn't even a huge order - just 300 mice

[Stefan-A]

One of these pinkies were sold for 1.30€ at my local pet store, the other for 0.50€ by a breeder. Guess which is which. The smaller one was actually the average size in the bag, the bigger one is actually smaller than average but it was the last one I had left.

They are still frozen, that's why they look that way.

[drache]

in your situation I might put up with some odour and extra work
your financial incentive is clearly much greater than mine

I'm guessing the bigger one came from the breeder

[Lori P]

Lori- if you are still waiting for babies- the females look like they have a golf ball or two in their belly before they give birth- huge! It always seems to take a long time for the first litter, because you check everyday(probably 2 or 3 times a day, if I know you).
I have had breeding groups that didnt produce, too, but not real often.
Make darn sure you do have males and females,too. I am really good at sexing them now, but it takes practice to do it when they are young. I have gotten "males" that were females, and vise versa, from petstores before as they mis-sex them sometimes too.
I like small, basic cages, so they have nothing else to do but, well... you know .
Nexty time you try to feed that kingsnake, rub a live pinky all over a frozen thawed, or feed a live directly followed by a frozen/thawed. See if she'll take it. Or, using a needle nose or hemostat, very gently shake the frozen/thawed even after she strikes at it, let her think she's killing it slowly. Make sure your frozen/thawed are at 95-100 degrees or so, not just thawed. I use warm water.

Thanks Loren!! I have been working very hard on only checking the mice once a day. :-) Trying not to disturb them too much. And yeah, I thought about the fact that they have toys, tunnels, a wheel, lots of chewies, boxes to play in, burrows under the bedding, etc to keep them busy... maybe *ahem* wasn't too much on their mind at the beginning... LOL!!!!

Ok, the kingsnake... I have been doing just what you said!! I warm up a pinkie to feel as warm as the live ones. I let the live ones crawl all over it for at least 30 minutes before I pile them all up together in her tank. As soon as she strikes a live one, I jiggle the f/t with a long pair of tongs. She comes back to nab another live, and I'm jiggling... and usually, she notices it but still grabs a live. Last week, I got her to strike the f/t!!!!! And then she dropped it, with a look of utter disgust! LOL

I'm going to keep trying tho. If I could post the f/t to follow a live, it may work, but right now I can't get quite close enough to make that happen; she is still a little skittish (but getting better).

I think she'll come around. I just need to keep at it. Thank you SO much for all your ideas!!!!! Keep them coming. :-)

[Loren]

Sounds like you are doing about all you can Lori. One other thing you could try would be to leave her overnight in a small ventilated deli cup or similar container with nothing but a f/t pinky, put her and it in there right before bedtime, and just leave the container in the snake cage in case she gets out, and to keep the cats away. put it in a decently warm spot, but not "on the heat" since she wont be able to escape the heat. Leave her overnight and see what happens. Just an idea.
Sometimes they are just plain stubborn.