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Rodent automatic watering system / feed

E

Elfmaze

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I'm raising Feeder mice sue to the lack of a good quality < $2 a mouse source around here. I kept getting skinny little mange bots for my $2 investment and finally got tired of it.


Watering-
I'm currently using cheap bottles, BUT the frequent filling and it would seem the bottles are daming up and not giving water, which is especially bad for my weenlings.
What watering system do you recomend. lower cost but i don't want my animals to stress over getting water. Also i frequently have weenlings so i worry about hard to use valves. I am using 4 tanks.

Food-
Currently using forti-diet from pets mart but that will get expensive fast at $9 for 5 pounds. I have heard of a friend using "Old Roy" but the Red dye comments on here have stopped me on that. I am looking for a good All in one food i Can feed them and not worry about nutrition. I worry about arbitrarly picking a dog food and haveing it be poor quality causting my yield.
 
I just (begrudgingly) started breeding rodents on a small scale.
I haven't switched to an automatic watering system yet, but if I opt to continue with this long term (and on a larger scale) I will.
For food, I am using Mazuri rodent food. I found a local distributor, and it costs about $20 for a $50 lb bag. I am using the 6F (6% fat), but they have 9F for a bit more money...I guess that is recommended for higher producing animals.
 
I don't have a mazuri dealer by me but i did ask a Semi- local dealer about that product. I was worried about the cost but sounds like it might be where i'm looking for food.


As far as water i was looking at this setup http://www.agselect.com/ED/showdetl.cfm?&DID=11&Product_ID=89&CATID=12 You can get those valves elsewhere for a bit cheaper but still not a bad gravity system for $40. I was hoping to verify that the weenlings could use it and that it didn't just leak all the time.

The other thing i'm trying to figure out is How to put the nozzel to the mice. I'm using ten gallon glass aquariums and that means short of drilling the glass the hoses might be exposed to rodent attack.
 
If i'm not mistaken those are the same components. Did you use the vari-flo valves?
 
Elfmaze said:
I don't have a mazuri dealer by me but i did ask a Semi- local dealer about that product. I was worried about the cost but sounds like it might be where i'm looking for food.
Click to expand...
Any feed store that carries Purina brand animal feeds can order the Mazuri. They can also order Purina Lab Diet.


Elfmaze said:
I was hoping to verify that the weenlings could use it and that it didn't just leak all the time.
Click to expand...
The weanlings can use the valves just fine provided they can reach them. The resistance on the valve stem is very low, it takes almost nothing to make the water flow.
As far as leaks, these valves are not completely maintenance free. They will leak on occasion and will have to be taken apart and cleaned. This isn't an all the time thing by any means though, but you will have a leak every once in a while that will need addressing. Regardless they are far superior to water bottles.

Elfmaze said:
The other thing i'm trying to figure out is How to put the nozzel to the mice. I'm using ten gallon glass aquariums and that means short of drilling the glass the hoses might be exposed to rodent attack.
Click to expand...
Probably what I would do is run the tubing through some copper line. I would think 3/8" would do it, but you'd need to check to make sure. What you would want is a diameter large enough for the plastic tubing to fit through but not the body of the valve. That way you could run the tubing through, attach the valve, then pull the tubing back until the valve body touched the copper and secure it. the copper would prevent the mice from being able to get at the plastic line. A slight bend in the end of the copper would angle the valve away from the glass and allow easier access.
If you decide to expand your colony at all in the future though, I'd consider either buying or building a rack to raise them in. Glass aquariums are a pain for anything besides keeping fish.
 
Sounds weird but mice are a pain in the butt....switch to rats. Yes I realize that size is the issue.....but basically you end up breeding the rats and taking them and freezing the young at the appropriate size needed. A used freezer int he basement or an outside shed is HUGE benefit.

Pet shops here will normally swap you jumbo rats for much smaller ones even up. So basically if you can make such an arrangement then you will never been stuck with aging or elderly rats to deal with. An investment of one colony (ie 2 female rats and one male) should yield 10-30 babies bimonthly. I keep my rats together at all times. (unless 2 mothers drop litters at the same time..then I seperate them because the mothers are known to steal each others babies...and the constant moving causes loses in my limited experience)

I feed Mazuri Rodent ($14.90 25lb bag retail) and I use water bottles. I have 5 colonies at the moment and a bag of food lasts about 3 months.
 
I don't know if it's available nationwide or just in the south, but FRM makes a rodent diet as well. I believe it is less than $15 for a 50# bag.
 
Loungelizard said:
I don't know if it's available nationwide or just in the south, but FRM makes a rodent diet as well. I believe it is less than $15 for a 50# bag.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately FRM has a very limited distribution. I live in western NC and it isn't available here even though it's made in GA.
Bryon A. brought me several bags to try and I'm very pleased with it, especially with the retail price compared to other brands, but they just don't have a wide distribution. Hopefully that will change in the future as it is an excellent feed.
 
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