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Finished building my mouse rack.

Kingetula said:
This morning I checked on the mice. They look much better now. So far I only found 1 that seems to look weak so I swapped her into another cage. The bucket lost 1/4 of a gallon of water so far since the major swap happened yesterday (and I didn’t find any dead yet) so that is a good sign. I'm going to take a closer look at all the cages in a bit.

EDITED: I did find 1 that died so I made a few more swaps.
Click to expand...

Yesterday I lost 2 mice (the one I found early morning and one died later in the day)

They are looking better but I did some research, "Mice can live from 9 upto 16 days without water". I guess in about 13 days I will know for sure.
 
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Kingetula said:
They are looking better but I did some research, "Mice can live from 9 upto 16 days without water". I guess in about 13 days I will know for sure.
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They might live alone for without water for 13 days, but in my experience when kept in a group it's about 30 minutes after the water runs out before they start killing each other.
That's an exaggeration, but it sure seems that way. My rats will go a good while without water and not offer to harm another for moisture, but I always find a half eaten mouse or two even after half a day of the bucket going empty.
 
Babies are a good source of moisture, when there is no water available :(
 
I moved up to RATS now. Here is their rack (It's about 3 weeks old). I started with plastic bottles for water because I have heard rats will lodge bedding in the water valves and the leak will flood the rats. However, as before, I got sick of filling up 20 bottles every 2 days plus they were plastic so if any part touches the screen they will chew on it and ruin the bottles. I picked up 20 used for a buck each so it wasn't as bad if I had purchased 20 @ $4.00 each. I guess glass bottles would have been better but again, it's a hobby not a job! Back to my point... I installed the auto/water system and it's a blessing. They drink a lot and I fill up a 5 gallon bucket probably 5 X more than the mice but still, I would rather fill the bucket with a hose every 5 days than 20 bottles every 2 days! I'll take the chance on a leak and the way they drink it won't be much water plus I have a habit of checking on them many times through out the day.

Any way, here are 4 pictures.
 
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Good looking rack.

For what it's worth, I've never had a rat lodge bedding in a valve. I have had a couple over the years that would actually use their foot to work the valve and flood the tub for no apparent reason whatsoever. I caught one doing it.
She would hold her front foot to the valve stem and then sling water into the cage. She would do this repeatedly until the cage was soaked.
I started watching her after changing the bedding in the tub two days in a row and confirming the valve wasn't leaking at all.

Needless to say when I saw her doing it she was off to the boas lol.

All in all though, even though there is the occasional problem with the auto water system, I wouldn't raise rodents without it.
 
Thanks clay

I'm also glad to hear your lack of flooding as well, I feel better I went that route again!
 
There will be floods. Valves will leak for whatever reason on occasion. I've just never had an issue of rats lodging bedding in a valve intentionally.
Regardless, it's the best system.
 
Where are you still finding the large cat pans at? The only place I could find those around here was wally world, but I just went to get some the other night and noticed that they changed the design on them.They are "stepped" on the top edge, that being, they are taller at one end than the other.The small ones are still the same. I checked at target and petco they have some but not quite the same size and are almost $3 bux more a piece.
 
Hybridbird said:
Where are you still finding the large cat pans at? The only place I could find those around here was wally world, but I just went to get some the other night and noticed that they changed the design on them.They are "stepped" on the top edge, that being, they are taller at one end than the other.The small ones are still the same. I checked at target and petco they have some but not quite the same size and are almost $3 bux more a piece.
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Those are a year old. The are not the largest ones however. I got them from Wally World, not sure if they still carry them, I hope they do! (Not that I have had to eplace any but just incase, may try to find some for back ups, just incase
 
Ah, that's good for you then, the small ones are still the same.Nice looking rack either way.I gotta do this myself soon, $90 a week for feeders is getting old FAST.
 
Hybridbird said:
Ah, that's good for you then, the small ones are still the same.Nice looking rack either way.I gotta do this myself soon, $90 a week for feeders is getting old FAST.
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I got tired of that bill too! $1.50 for a mouse at the pet shops? Really? And when I sell my extra mice to them they only want to pay .30 to .35 cents a mouse. I understand the need for a profit but in the long run people like you and me start rasing our own and it only hurts the pet shop and breeders who supply the pet shop. (1.25 is the cheapest I have found. If i had a few snakes that would be ok but...)
 
Here is the fan I use for my rodents. It's 30 inches! I live in HOT and HUMID Florida so when the temps reach 90F in the garage the fan comes on until the garage cools down to 89 or below. On cooler nights I may run it to cool down the garage faster for about an hour but not directly on them as I do when the temps are above 90F. The mice do better than the rats in the heat but a fan is needed for them both. I had a smaller fan but it really couldn't cover the area. I could have bought a bunch of smaller fans (Like those box fans) or a large one with a powerful motor, I went with 1 fan (Saving electric I hope and room). I set it on the other side of the garage other wise it's like a Tornado for them! lol! (Not that bad but pretty strong)
 
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HAHAHA is it just me or does every garage in Florida look the same? Except for the rat racks and the car being diff I would swear thats my garage, even the door opener is the same model.Where are you at in FL?
 
Just something that I did a bit different with my rack.

I use the gravity fed method as well (almost Identical to what is shown here)... and I also use the 1/4" hardware cloth. IF you will slide the valve in from bottom up... the connection end will snap up in the 1/4" hole in the hardware cloth and you can attach your hose to the connection end. This also serves to stiffen up any wiggle you may have. Basically you dont have to buy those clips and can save some $$$. I have had my rack up and running like this for over a year now.. .and no issues with doing it this way.
 
Southern Wolf said:
Just something that I did a bit different with my rack.

I use the gravity fed method as well (almost Identical to what is shown here)... and I also use the 1/4" hardware cloth. IF you will slide the valve in from bottom up... the connection end will snap up in the 1/4" hole in the hardware cloth and you can attach your hose to the connection end. This also serves to stiffen up any wiggle you may have. Basically you dont have to buy those clips and can save some $$$. I have had my rack up and running like this for over a year now.. .and no issues with doing it this way.
Click to expand...

For my mice that's what I did (1/4 cloth and valve trick) however with the RATS I used 1/2 inch cloth so they can get ahold of the Hog block better and that needed the clips. (If I understood you correctly)
 
yep... you did.

on my rats I used the 1/4" as well... but im not feeding blocks... so that makes a difference.

I use a mix of sweet feed (for horses) and cat food.

I cant find the blocks around me... and this has been working and is most likely cheapers... so why change at this point.
 
Southern Wolf said:
yep... you did.

on my rats I used the 1/4" as well... but im not feeding blocks... so that makes a difference.

I use a mix of sweet feed (for horses) and cat food.

I cant find the blocks around me... and this has been working and is most likely cheapers... so why change at this point.
Click to expand...

Yup, if it works don't change it. I did this with my mice when I got the rats, I switched the mice to the Hog block and forgot they need more protein in their diet! Opps! I caught this pretty quick however. (only lost 2 litters) Now I mix Hog Block with the Dog food I use as seen in the picture above.
 
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