Is breeding your own rodents cost effective?

[Clay Davenport]

You are SO right about them having virtually no odor.

I hated to admit it because it sort of makes me look like someone who doesn't care for his animals properly, but I've only cleaned my gerbil's tank once in the 9 months I've had them. They live in the house too. It took over six months before I could detect any odor from the tank at all, and that was only when I was directly over it feeding them.
Maybe the carefresh helps in that area, but these guys just don't smell. There's no way I'd keep my rodent colonies in the house, it's just not physically possible to clean them enough to keep them from stinking up the house. The rats and mice have their own building here, but we don't even notice the gerbils at all.
It's mainly due to the fact that they're desert animals and they apparently just don't produce much urine at all. They evidentally don't mark their territory as mice do either.

Mine are real spastic though, especially the juviniles. I've made no real effort to tame them however. But with their tendency to dart around and jump I don't think I'd like to deal with them in a tub set up. Besides They're fun to watch in their tank. Put a paper towel roll in the cage with them and watch them play with it before destroying it.

As for the breeding problems, I didn't realize cannibalism was that much of an issue. That may well be part of why I've had such low reproduction. As you mentioned, you can't just glance at them and see if they're pregnant. The two litters I've had I didn't know they were coming until I heard their squeaking from the nest.
I'm not really wanting to raise them right now, but I'll keep that info in mind should I want to in the future.
They are neat little critters though. I'd love it if I could produce them like the rats. As it is though, I won't even offer one to any of my balls for fear of them liking them too much. I feed the extras to carpet pythons or something.

 

[hhmoore]

it can happen with them, too. One of my favorite JC/Ds was hooked on gerbils - it took my 6 years to get her off them. I could get her to take rats once she was in feeding mode, but she wouldn't start without a gerbil.

 

[PaulSage]

I hated to admit it because it sort of makes me look like someone who doesn't care for his animals properly, but I've only cleaned my gerbil's tank once in the 9 months I've had them.

I usually let mine go until about 3 or 4 months when I finally change the bedding out of guilt. lol They are definitely desert animals, too. When I kept them in aquariums, an 8 oz. water bottle would last 4 gerbils at least two weeks. I think 4 of my mice would go through 8 oz. in a day.

it can happen with them, too. One of my favorite JC/Ds was hooked on gerbils - it took my 6 years to get her off them. I could get her to take rats once she was in feeding mode, but she wouldn't start without a gerbil.

Harold, did you try scenting a mouse or rat with gerbil bedding? I have an imported bp that would only take gerbils at first. Then I started giving mice a bath and putting them in a box of dirty gerbil bedding for a few hours to dry off. That worked on the first try, and she eventually switched over to unscented mice in about a month or two. Just a thought, I've never had a carpet python.

 

[The BoidSmith]

Paul,

Did you mean bathing a live mouse? How do you do that? Do you use just plain water or with any soap? I also have a couple of BP that are gerbil feeders although they started on mice and rats, and would like to switch them back. When they refused food for several weeks I decided to switch them to gerbils, which they took immediately. Since then they completely "erased" mice from their menus.

Regards

 

[The BoidSmith]

Did you mean bathing a live mouse?

What I meant was a hopper to adult mouse, I've "bathed" pinkies to feed to hognoses before but never have tried with adult mice.

Thanks

 

[PaulSage]

What I meant was a hopper to adult mouse, I've "bathed" pinkies to feed to hognoses before but never have tried with adult mice.

Thanks

Yup, I was bathing adult mice. When I said it though, I didn't even think of how bizzare that might sound to most people.

Here's how I did it: I held the mouse by the tail over the laundry sink and sprayed it down with some spray-on puppy shampoo. I had warmed up the shampoo by letting the bottle sit in a tub of warm water for a while. Then I rinsed them by spraying them with a spray bottle of warm tap water. I made certain to rinse them very well, and on most occasions let the mouse swim around in a sink of warm water for a little while after spray-rinsing them. After that I just put them in a shoebox or something similar that had an inch or of dirty gerbil bedding (aspen) for a few hours. When they were dry I put them in the bp's cage (one at a time). Like I said, it worked on the first try which was a huge relief, especially considering how much time I spent giving a mouse a bath! lol It was definitely worth it though. Hope that helps.

 

[The BoidSmith]

And the patience award goes to…Paul Sage Reptiles!

 

[PaulSage]

And the patience award goes to…Paul Sage Reptiles!

lol... If I'm going to "save time" by buying a w/c adult, I can at least take the time getting her to eat commonly available prey!

 

[GuinnyOne]

I love this thread!

I bought a 40 pound box of rodents from rodentpro awhile back and it has worked out wonderfully. Only thing is, at the time, I didn't have any baby snakes, so the smallest size I ordered was fuzzy mice. Now I have all these baby corns/milks/kings and the local pet store charges me $1.50 PER PINKIE!

I also raise rats. I have pets, breeders, and breeders that are pets LOL. I have hairless rats, rexes, all different colors. I only raise a litter here and there. I feed off most of the pinks and fuzzies before they get big enough to open their eyes (once they do, I JUST CAN'T kill them....ooooh, I'm a sap).

So I just bought a few breeder mice to put into action. Male mice just stink!

As far as feed goes, I feed mostly a seed based diet to my mice and they have done exceptionally well on it. For my rats, I buy the Kaytee lab block ($40 for a 50lb bag). But they don't go through a ton of it and they are healthier than when I fed them dog food. They coats aren't all greasy and nappy. They have soft fur now, bright eyes, and their litter sizes have increased drastically. The babies grow more quickly, are more plump and healthy looking. I just see a huge difference in feeding the lab block. I was feeding the Mazuri Rodent diet for awhile, and they like that better than the Kaytee, but it costs twice as much here. Anyway, that is my experience with feeding.

As far as the post about deaths after switching rack systems, I might be able to shed a little light. I raised guinea pigs for a short stint, and they are big bar chewers. One of the biggest issues put forth by other breeders was that, when purchasing cages, one needs to acquire galvanized *after* weld wire, vs galvanized *before* welded wire. The welding does allow the galvination to carry a toxic coating...not that it doesn't seem to dissipate over time, but fresh wire can be lethal to small animals that chew on it. If you ever have a chance to look at larger wire supply catalogs for rabbits ( KWCages.com , I believe) has an inventory of both. Problem is that the galvanized after weld wire is more expensive than the other.....

Anyway, just rambling away here. LOL