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Set-up for mouse breeding.

Chris Steele

Chris Steele

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Hi, I have some questions and am looking for general suggestions. I plan to set up a cage for breeding mice. I plan on having probably five mice, because according to a couple sites I read, that is what my 20 long will accommodate, but is that accurate? Seems like it may be a bit crowded?

What I have to work with before taking your suggestions:
-Rusty exercise wheel, will the rust be unsafe for them?
-Plastic water bottle, not sure of the size, but it's 6" in circumference, is that too big?
-food bowls of course
-for a hidebox i am looking for suggestions, i have a popsicle stick log cabin i made a long while ago that i could use, then i have a hamster nest but its translucent, i also looked at some outlet boxes that my father has the metal part that is inside a wall i wondered if it'd be safe to use those? Also how many hides or how bigger hides would you suggest?
-Is an empty paper towel roll safe to put for them to run through?
-would ropes be good for them to have to climb and such? if so, what types are safe?
-I read that cedar and pine are bad for the health, so I should go with aspen?
-Is there anyway to sanitize a stick/limb to add to their environment? I assume it would definitely need to be well sanitized? I was wondering if soaking it in boiling water would work? If so, how long?

I am open to any and all suggestions, hints, advise, etc.

THANKS!
 
This is just what I'd do...

a 20 gallon tank would be plenty for 5 mice, but I wouldn't have more than 1 male, since they would probably fight.

I'd lose the exercise wheel. They don't need it and it's just one more thing to clean.

You might want to consider switching to a glass water bottle. Mice can and will chew on the top of a plastic one, which will render it useless.

For hides / houses, either think disposable or indestructable. Mice will ruin a popsicle stick house within minutes. I use either cardboard boxes and tubes or 8" chunks of 4" PVC pipe. The outlet boxes you mentioned might have sharp edges, and rodent urine will corrode most metals quickly.

For the food bowls you might want to use something ceramic, since they'll eventually chew up a plastic one.

I wouldn't bother putting ropes in there, especially if you're not sure what they're made out of. The mice will just chew them up and pee on them anyway. Same with the branches. For the bedding I use pine or aspen.

You could soak a branch in boiling water, but it would probably be easier to put it in the oven at 300* for 15 minutes. You would need to keep it in there longer if it's thicker than 1-2 inches.

Hope that helps.
Good luck
 
I am not breeding in mass, just to let you all know. I am looking to breed a few mice to feed my snakes, but also care for my breeders as pets.
 
-Rusty exercise wheel, will the rust be unsafe for them?
-What size water bottle is too big for mice?
-Anymore hide suggestions? Are paper towel rolls safe? (wondering because of the slight amount of glue used to hold the paper towels on)
-Would some types of ropes be harmful if chewed/injested?
-What are some of preferred mouse feeds?
 
I believe rust is unsafe for anything so if you want an exercise wheel I'd get a new one.

Paper towel and toilet paper rolls are perfect for mice. Leave a little bit of towel & TP on them too. They love to chew them.

I wouldn't give them any rope at all. Give them chunks of untreated pine 2x4s, 2x2s etc. to chew on.

There are a lot of brands of rodent block. Mazauri (sp?) makes one brand. You can also use hamster food. I give mine all the leftover bird food (I breed birds) and I breed a ton of mice and a few rats. I keep my mice in the shoeboxed sized mouse breeders and I keep 1.4 mice in each one.
 
Thank you Karen. I am feeding mine rabbit food, with a slight bit of alfalfa and keeping an alfalfa cube for their teeth. I also have a mineral block in their with them. I occassionally give them some fruit/vegi. Does that diet sound approvable? I threw away the wheel and plan to get a new one, also I I put a paper towel roll, I also plan to get me a limb and put it in the oven then into the cage. I am also drilling holes through an untreated wood block for them to crawl through and chew on. I am not replacing the water bottle at the moment, but I will when they chew it up. I also plan to build a small hide box out of untreated plywood. Any more suggestions? Thanks for the help guys. Also, I'd like some feedback on how that cage sounds. Oh, I have aspen shavings.
 
I use the bottles from Country Bob's All Purpose Steak Sauce for water bottles after they chew up the store bought ones. The lids w/the sippers fit the Country Bob's sauce bottles. They also fit the glass A-1 steak sauce bottles. I have a few of those too.

I don't know if rabbit food is good for mice or not. I have fed some dog & cat food too. I do know that too much fresh food (fruit/veggies) will give them diarrhea so I'd limit those.
 
Well, I have my mice. I got 1.1 a brown male and black female. Then the next day I added a brown female, they had a bit of a skirmish at first, but after 15-30 minutes were nestled together. I added a female albino today and the skirmishes haven't stopped and it's been over an hour. What can I do? I don't want them hurting each other, please respond someone.
 
Mice do kill each other from time to time. If I have a problem like that, I take out the aggressor and feed it off. It's best to start with young mice which are just weaned. They usually get along pretty well. If you have adult mice, it is harder but not impossible to put them together. Two males will fight immediately. Are you positive the albino isn't a male?
 
My formula

A few years ago, I decided to raise my own rodents. Although I was successful, I soon learned that I was allergic to rodent dander and after a year of suffering, I had to abandon the project.

Regardless, The system that I employed, worked well.

I purchased a number of cheap 10gal aquariums. they are available at most pet stores for $8.00 or $9.00 ea. I then purchased a roll of 1/4" x 1/4" hardware cloth at the local DIY store. From the hardware cloth, I fashioned lids for the aquariums.

These lids would fit snugly over the aquariums. I then cut out a section on one side of the lid 6" x 8" long. Using more hardware cloth, I fashioned a drop-down section which would fit within the cut-out portion and drop down about six inches into the aquarium. This section was split into two sections allowing for a water bottle on one side and food on the other. This setup made it very easy to provide fresh water and food without actually entering the enclosure.

For bedding, I chose Aspen. It is very absorbant and only required a change-out, once a week.

For food, I opted to use Harlan rodent chow which is available at some feed stores, or can at least be special ordered by them.

I set up each cage with one male and four females. The pinky production was steady and easy to care for. I set aside six of these cages for grow-outs, to accommodate larger animals, and to, provide for breeder change-out.

It was a reasonable efficient system which was built at minimal cost and required minimal maintenance.

Good luck with your breeding efforts.
 
Ouch, the pet store here is a ripoff. The ten gallons are around $15 I believe. How expensive is hardware cloth? I'm interested in looking into that. I like your methods and such. Thanks for the details.

I have another question now. Will only the male try to eat the babies or will the other females try as well? Also, I was wondering if taking the male out and reintroducing him after a day or two will encourage breeding any?

Much appreciated.
 
Wal-Mart's 10 gallon tanks are around $9 and change. A yard sale is even better. I have a ton of them that I only paid around $1 for.

If you remove the male, most likely when you put him back in the females will kill him. I keep mine together all the time. After the mice have grown up, it's really hard to introduce another mouse to the breeding group.

I don't know why they sometimes eat the babies but that's just something you have to deal with. I give mine two chances. If babies are eaten a second time, then I feed off the entire group and start over with hoppers.

As for hardware cloth, if you buy it in a small roll, it's pretty cheap. Check out hardware stores, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.
 
What is the difference in alfalfa and timothy hay? Which do you guys prefer for rodents?

Yard sales: I'm going in the morning, wish me luck.
 
I have a quad of breeding mice (1 male, 3 females). They are housed in a 10 gallon aquarium with a mesh lid. I have a 16 oz water bottle for them and a 10 oz stainless steal food bowl. I feed a rodent mix along with with mixed dried fruit and hard cat food. For toys, I have a stainless steal wheel and TP tubes. My mice have been very productive and have produced nice big litters. My last litter consisted of 18 babies (17 live, 1 still born). And, I personally would never feed them alfalfa or timothy...
 
Chris Steele said:
What is the difference in alfalfa and timothy hay? Which do you guys prefer for rodents?
Click to expand...
I believe alfalfa is a more quality hay than timothy. I'm really not an expert on hay by any measure but alfalfa hay usually costs more. It shouldn't hurt your mice to eat hay but they really don't need hay at all. Besides hay is messy, messy, messy.

Chris Steele said:
Yard sales: I'm going in the morning, wish me luck.
Click to expand...
I love yard sales. How did you do? Any terrific buys? About 10 years ago I bought a Minolta camera with an 80-200 zoom lens for $2. I figured it didn't work and the lens was worth a lot more than $2. There was nothing wrong w/that camera and I still use it today.
 
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