Help with mice and rat breeding!

hey everyone,

i am truly puzzled (and embarrassed) as to what my problem is here lately.

several years ago, i purchased three levels of rodent racks from freedom breeder. they worked awesome! so well, i had kept back a year or so worth of food. i cleaned them out and put them in storage. now (5 years later) i pull them out to breed a few animals, mainly for the live pinks and pups. the water hose was dry rotted, so i fixed that. i got it all cleaned up, hoses fixed, food in the troughs, litter in the trays, now...mice and rats.

the only place i have to buy live around here is petco

so i spend an arm and a leg on 2.4 mice and 2.2 rats, get them home and set them up in groups. the next morning i go to my room and 2 mice and 1 rat are dead

that night i check back and 2 more mice and 1 rat are dead

i can't for the life of me figure it out. the only thing i can think is i threw them in together and they hadn't established there grounds yet. so, i wait a week and the 2 mice and 1 rat that are left, are ok.

i go back to petco and purchase two male mice (because only two females are left) and one female rat (because only one male was left.)

leave them over night, check in on them and everyone is ok! GREAT!

check on them this morning and the female rat is dead and one of the male mice that was ok from the first go-around is dead

i don't get it. the first time i did this (5 years ago or so), i had trouble with having too many rodents...not loosing them before they ever mature enough to breed.

FYI...they are in a room roughly 75 degrees. they have an automatic watering system that works (i checked and check everyday), and i feed them a laboratory rodent chow. nothing seems off to me.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Aaron Sullivan
Nashville, tn

Are they eating each other or just dying. If eating each other, try to get all of your rodents from one cage at the pet store and don't add any later either. If they are just dying, I'd wait a while to buy from that store again.

I don't know, but I wish I could get mine to breed more.

The first place I would look at is the water line. What did you fix the hose with? Glue? Replacement hose? Was it hose line labeled for potable water or just any type of hose? Some hose line will leach toxic chemicals into the water....especially when the water just sits in the line and doesn't really flow. It could also be some sort of bacterial/chemical deposits inside the hose line that built up after 5 years of non-use. I'd call Freedom Breeder and get some replacement hose that is known to be safe.

Other than that, the temps sound fine.

Scott Nellis

Are you purchasing more or exchanging them? Petco has a 15 day guarantee on all there LIVE animals no matter what kind. I had got some mice from them and all but 1 died. I also herd that you can not breed mice and rats in the same room due to the rats give off something that will kill the mice off. All the breeders I know have seperate rooms for mice and rats. Good luck. Shanell.

Hm could hamsters and mice have a similar relationship?

Originally Posted by Scott Nellis

The first place I would look at is the water line. What did you fix the hose with? Glue? Replacement hose? Was it hose line labeled for potable water or just any type of hose? Some hose line will leach toxic chemicals into the water....especially when the water just sits in the line and doesn't really flow. It could also be some sort of bacterial/chemical deposits inside the hose line that built up after 5 years of non-use. I'd call Freedom Breeder and get some replacement hose that is known to be safe.

Other than that, the temps sound fine.

Scott Nellis

i fixed it with water line, like for running water to a freezer for an ice maker.

Originally Posted by The Reptile House

Are you purchasing more or exchanging them? Petco has a 15 day guarantee on all there LIVE animals no matter what kind. I had got some mice from them and all but 1 died. I also herd that you can not breed mice and rats in the same room due to the rats give off something that will kill the mice off. All the breeders I know have seperate rooms for mice and rats. Good luck. Shanell.

i didn't know about the 15 day guarantee until this last time. i am taking these new ones back. i bred mice and rats together before with zero problems. and besides, the rats are dying too!

I breed rats and mice in the same rack and have NO problems. I keep my room between 65 and 68 degrees since rodents produce a lot of heat on their own. Have you cleaned the water container that feeds the water lines? Also clean or replace the valves if you haven't already. Ron Radloff

I've kept mice and rats in the same areas before with no problems whatsoever as well, and know others that do as well. I don't think that has anything to do with it.....though i have no real guesses as to what the problem is, other than what has already been offered here.

Did the Petco use water bottles for their rodents? I know when I switched some of my mice to an automatic waterer, I lost some. I think it was from them not learning how to use the valve. I didn't have any problems before and I haven't since.

By the way, I keep rats and mice in the same room and don't have any problems with it.