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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 21:02:06 GMT -5
Do you keep your mice in house or garage? Do they need a certain temperature for them not to be in stress?
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Post by bitbyter on Jul 23, 2015 21:37:25 GMT -5
The tools I use are:
Dremel with cutting wheel (for cutting the plastic) Tin snips or Skil Power Cutter (awesome tool for hardware mesh) Drill (for making holes for the hardware mesh and zipties) J-clips and J-clip crimpers for making food hoppers
Mine are all in the house because our winters are to cold and summers to hot. They need a specific temp for raising babies. Wrong temps and your production will decrease. Temps also apparently affect the ratio of male to female babies.
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Post by Desiree on Jul 23, 2015 22:35:57 GMT -5
I broke my cutting wheel on my dremel trying to use it on plastic. I think I am to impatient. I now just use a big can, heated on the stove to melt out holes.
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Post by bitbyter on Jul 23, 2015 23:10:16 GMT -5
Yeah, you have to go slow and I buy the re-enforced wheels.
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Post by FireAngel on Jul 24, 2015 14:44:32 GMT -5
Ok so I finished my first bin and when I went to put my mother to bed that night I borrowed my dads dremel. Ill use that for the next 3 I have to revamp. I also sent an email to someone in my are that supposedly sells asfs per metal monkey a couple of days ago but have not heard anything back so maybe nothing still. Here are the pics of my first bin and the mice, Cream sickle and chubs (chubs is the only male in the tank) Goldie They are in a 15 gallon tank. I haven't decided if I am going to put them in a bin or not. The fancy mice are much less messy the regular ones or so I think. The bin Spot and Pinky both females Xenu is the male And the brain another female
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Post by Desiree on Jul 24, 2015 16:07:10 GMT -5
Looks good!!
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Post by Desiree on Jul 25, 2015 10:49:32 GMT -5
You'll find that those bowl get dirty pretty fast. Just for overnight treats they have soiled most of the dishes I put in there. Rats are much cleaner! Lol.
You can always build food hoppers. Get same 1/2 inch mesh like your 1/4 in mesh. Make a box and attach it to the side. I use lanyard hooks and attach a lid. Since not all my kids have mesh tops.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 13:34:48 GMT -5
u get your fancy mice from petsmart?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 13:47:00 GMT -5
You are off to a great start. I really planned on feeding live prey, then realized that not only would I name them, but I'd have them in pajamas and read them night night stories while they munched on cookies.
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Post by Desiree on Jul 25, 2015 13:59:12 GMT -5
I've named all of mine. LOL. I'm not worried about getting attached to my breeders. They will around for a while. The babies though will be hard not to get attached too but I will do what I must for furbutts.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 14:09:17 GMT -5
Bitbyter did you make that rack? \
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 3, 2015 11:02:47 GMT -5
I named all of my breeders, I don't know if I'll name the babes or not though. I did end up upgrading the satin mice to a larger bin from the 15 gallon tank and it seems I did it just in time too! Creamsickle had her first litter with last night or this morning! They had tubes and one of those balls people let them run around in the house in the cage and I had to take them out, when I took the picture all of the grown ups were in the tube instead of keeping the babies warm. When I took out the tube they went to the open ball, so when I took that out they finally went into the hides with the babies. I think there are 9-10 babes there but I didn't move around any of the bedding so I'm not sure. Seems like a large amount for a first time mother. I'm hoping she will be a good mother now that there is no other place to go! abbeytheferret6 I did get the not satin mice at petco yes. The satiny ones I got from the pet store that is very close to me and they were not kept separate so I'm not sure if Creamsickle was already pregnant or not but since I've only had them for 15 days changes are she was. I'm not really having any issues with the food bowls. They toss some bedding on top of it and that's about it. I put their Mazzuri blocks in the bowl and scatter some seeds around the cage also some dog treats a couple of times a week.
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 11, 2015 13:36:39 GMT -5
I may have just messed up * I noticed a couple of days ago that Goldie looked pregnant and thought i had another week before she would give birth. I should have cleaned the bins yesterday but I took my son school shopping instead and decided to do it today, figuring i still had a couple of more days. I apparently did not have another few days. I had already removed all adult mice before i realized there are 9 one week olds and 8 pinkys. I cleaned as quickly as I could and put everyone back and included some of the old bedding but I'm a bit worried I just lost the pinkys for sure and possibly the older litter as well. Any suggestions? I'm already figuring on not touching the bin again for a couple of days.
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Post by bitbyter on Aug 11, 2015 14:48:28 GMT -5
abbeytheferret6 No, just a random Google pic of what a rack looks like. Lots of instruction videos on youtube. My setup is the one with the clear tubs on resin shelving.
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Post by bitbyter on Aug 11, 2015 14:53:32 GMT -5
FireAngel unfortunately you just have to accept that sometimes even if you do everything right, some will be cannibalized. It is pretty common, especially for new mom's. Good food, hides, a calm environment and you can still lose a few. As long as you don't have a mother doing it repeatedly and killing large numbers I just consider it part of nature.
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