Any Tips On Breeding Mice Or Rats?

If anyone has tips on how to breed Mice or RAts, Please let me know, because Im in for a long Haul with my Boa. Thank You.




P.S.- Let me know what to put them in, and what they need in their "cage" that they need for breeding or whatever, Thank You I appreciate it.

i have been rasing mice for a few months i have them in a shelf like cage cover in hardware wire i have two both have two levels 12"wx12"h x3'long .i have about 40 mice in them i start out with 9 f and one m and have been keeping two snakes feed of them
i am about two add a new cage soon as far as the rats i just start with them im about to have my first babys in a few days


vincent

I set my breeders up 1.3 mice & 1.2 rats.I cheaped out and use 10 gal glass tanks w/screen tops.After the babies are weaned I move them into "40 long".
When I first started breeding my own I fed them a rodent lab chow exclusivley.Then I switched to Purina dog chow.I finally settled on a mix of both accompanied with a mix of seeds(wild bird food in the 50-90lb bags)& the occasional fresh veggie or piece of bread/cereal.
I tried carefresh,pine shavings,& aspen.I stuck with pine shavings for bedding.
As long as they have food 1-2 times a day & fresh water (an 8oz bottle works for me)available at all times you should be all set.
One other thing.Keep the cages away from windows & drafts.

I use aspen and feed ol roy and wild bird food also. I also use glass aquariums with lids. I am getting ready to add about 20 more rats and about 40 more mice. I am gwetting like 4 new snakes a month and the food bill is killing me.

A lot of information is available in your public library. Check the card catalog under "pets", "mice", and "rats". Their caging is too fancy for snake food, but a lot of other information is helpful.

I raised rats for years with a mixture of whole corn and hog starter pellets from the local grain elevator. You have to use the nonmedicated pellets because the medicated stuff can be bad news. IMHO, much of the smaller seeds in wild bird mix gets lost in the bedding.

A capful of dry milk powder every few days can be helpful for nursing mothers.

I also used pine shavings. The smell of cedar shavings makes me sick, and it apparantly isn't good for the rodents either.

Figure on a weekly cleaning for the rodents. Mice can stink pretty bad after a week. Rats are not as bad, but their cages can get pretty rank, too.

thanks

check out this website. I think it is one of the bet out there on the subject. www.snakebreeder.co.uk/html/mice.html

I use plastic shoe boxes, available at any store like Target. Cheap, six for ten bucks or so. I use 1/2 x 1/2 hardware cloth cut to form over the edges for lids. I make the lids from material purchased at feed stores, there is usually one even in city areas where you can buy cage clips and such supplies. I make a small feed bin out of the same wire mesh and attach it into the lid, inside the shoebox, so that it will hold food and water bottle.

or... you can go to A&RZerkle, they are members and have an ad open right now under "Pine, Bull, and Gopher Snakes", and Amy will be more than happy to sell you some showbox cages. These are really the easiest way to keep and feed mice and rats. I just bought ten from her and they are really great. Cheap too.

the rest is easy, just put males and females together. they'll figure it out. :-O

Val Campbell

Hello: After reading your help letter I thought I would give you my advice. I have
been raising rats for a year now with great success so I will give you what I have
learned.

First of all go to Home Depot and buy the small black cement tubs. We make a
2x4 frame with 1/2x1/2 wire attached to the 2x4 frame. Take a 1x4 split in half and
nail it to the full 1x4 in the middle which makes an upside down T for your sliders.
Attach to your 2x4 using a tub for your width for the lip to slide on. You can make
as many and as long as you want. Put about a gallon of pine bedding in which you
can get at your local farm elevator and you can also get your rat food at the elevator.
You run a 1x4 in the top of the 2x4 box you made about 6" wide to hold your rat food.
Then you go on the internet to Bean Farm and purchase 3/16 tubing, watering tips,
and tees. You put a plastic 26 or so gallon square heavy duty tub which you will
place above the rat racks. Run your tubing out of tub back and forth along the front
of each rat bin on the top of the 2x4 then cut each container and put a T in and run
tube with watering tip to rat container. They come with clips that will allow you to
clip to top of wire.

We put 1 male and 3 females in each tub. Babies are ready to leave mom and dad
when they are ready to run like little rats. If left too long they take all of moms milk.
They also will be ready to breed again. The moms will feed each others babies and
even fight over them. If a rat is killed no new replacement can go in until the tub
has no babies in it because they will kill it. Replace with the biggest male if female
put in a younger one so older females won't bother her then she will fit into the colony.
You might want to wear leather gloves when working with them because sometimes
they get nerous with their babies and may nip. Some of ours have ate a hole in the
front of the tub. They seem to like to see what is going on around them but the
adults never leave the tub but sometimes a baby will fall out. No problem just feed
him to your snake.

We have about 200 tubs of rats and are successful. If you have any questions just
E-Mail me. Raising rats is not a big deal. Don't let it get complicated. They just
need a temperature of about 75 degrees, the cube food, and water.

Good luck, Sharon /DBA/Boas with Balls (MICHIGAN)