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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2015 19:39:57 GMT -5
6 Nov 2015 Today my supplies came. (dance) So now I have three tubs to start with, along with the water bottles, bedding, feed and spinning wheels. Now all thats missing is some mice. The tubs are the small laboratory ones (32cmx22cmx17cm), so I guess I can fit 2 pairs in one. I think I might pick up 4 mice next week, 2 males and 2 females. This should be interesting since i haven't had rodents for a couple of years now. I'm going to be getting some bigger tubs in a couple of more weeks, but for now I'm set. Yay! I'm not too sure about which humane kill method to use. I know the most common one is Co2 but I'm scared of not doing it correctly. I'd feel more comfortable using the more hands on way, cervical dislocation- as sad as it sounds for me being a former pet rodent owner, but I've done it before in the past when I had a very sick ratty and no way of getting to a vet. ;n; I guess I will do more research, stalk some threads and such (since research is my favourite thing apparently lol), and try the co2 when the time comes, but if I get second thoughts, I will go for cervical dislocation.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 8:50:28 GMT -5
Looking forward to some pics of your set up.
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Post by bitbyter on Nov 6, 2015 9:35:22 GMT -5
I find I screw up more with cervical dislocation than I do with CO2. I've done CD about 8 times and would say I wasn't happy with the results 6 of those times.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 11:36:50 GMT -5
I'm definitely going to do a lot of reading on the subject and give Co2 a go. May as well try and see how I feel with it.. I think I was mainly hesitating at the thought since I first read about the baking soda/vinegar version and the chances of the rodents suffocating to death if done too fast. I was doing some looking around in stores and noticed that theres these mini Co2 bottles that are suppose to be used for bike tires and are reasonably cheap. I'm curious, do you think those could work?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2015 23:43:36 GMT -5
I got some mice today! I was planning on getting 4-5 but ended up getting 7 instead. I actually got the last remaining 2 for free. I got 2 males and 5 females. At the moment I have 1:2 and 1:3. Having 4 mice in one tub seems little crowded at the moment. I might Move 2 into my 3rd tub once I get another water bottle- Something that I forgot to get when I was in the next town. (headwall) I'm going to try and make some of my own tubs in the next couple of weeks. For now this will do~ I gave them some things to hide in just a minute ago and they were making their beds. It was fascinating to watch. It's been so long since I've owned rodents, so I was sitting there watching them. I've taken a liking to the marked blue female and the black pumped female. They're nice and big while the others are quite small. The males are both albino.  ^ These two are both female. The top one is very friendly while her sister is slightly skittish and hard to pick up change of mind, she's very friendly just like her sister. She was skittish at the beginning but it seems she's settled quite nicely. These two have an interesting coat. I think they're marked cream or silvers.  ^ The first one is the black pumped female. She's and her sister who is the blue marked one next to her are the largest out of the mice I brought home. The male is the third one, I'm thinking he's a light beige. His brother seems more albino. I might get photos of him later. Both males I picked are related. Two females (the cream/silver coloured ones) are related and the marked blue, black rump and tiny roan piebald are related   |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2015 23:55:12 GMT -5
I'm definitely going to do a lot of reading on the subject and give Co2 a go. May as well try and see how I feel with it.. I think I was mainly hesitating at the thought since I first read about the baking soda/vinegar version and the chances of the rodents suffocating to death if done too fast. I was doing some looking around in stores and noticed that theres these mini Co2 bottles that are suppose to be used for bike tires and are reasonably cheap. I'm curious, do you think those could work? I would not. Use dry ice, make a chamber and slowly add the Co2 in. Once the mice have fallen unconscious, flood the chamber. If you use Co2 meant for bike tires there's no guarantee it will work the same. Since it is meant for bike tires. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 0:04:42 GMT -5
Here is a very very helpful guide (with photographs!) on how to make a Co2 chamber and do it right. Usually used to large quantities of small rodents to be f/t. But you could do it with one or two rodents. Smaller ice.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 6:40:48 GMT -5
I wasn't sure where to get the dry ice from, but apparently it can be made fairly easily. I think I'll stick to CD until I can get supplies for co2. The dry ice is interesting, I'll note it and try it when I can.  thanks for the help! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 8:02:39 GMT -5
One of our grocery stores sells dry ice. Not sure how much it costs.
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Post by Corvidophile on Nov 16, 2015 10:06:03 GMT -5
Many liquor stores sell dry ice as well, popular for parties as an attractive maker of steam (as you all know, don't sniff that pretty steam!) gracefully pouring off the top of a wine and beer cooling bucket.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2015 15:43:14 GMT -5
I forgot to post my setup. It looks tiny here, but its actually a nice size for 2-3 mice. I have only 2 of these set up like this. The other is a spare at the moment. I'm getting the large one soon, simply because I want it and don't trust myself enough to make a mouse proof tub (rofl- I'm going to try though) At the moment each tub has a box. OH and I found out that I only have one single male. Oh well. Got the job done though since some of them are showing some little preg bellies. I've been handling them daily and they seem to be settled in nicely. Even the skittish male has calmed down and lets me hold him. I decided having them in my room may have been a horrible idea since they've woken me up more than a couple of times with the females yelling at the male (you know what I mean ~) The main problem was this one female, the black booty I like to call her (She's a black rump) is OBSESSED, and I mean OBSESSED with running on the wheel. The others don't care for the wheel, but she's mental. Always running on it, ALWAYS. It started making this annoying screech and one night I got so sick of it, that I took it out and put it back in the morning. LOL. I like these guys though, they're so funny to watch.  I've been feeding them a good quality rodent mix, as well as rodent blocks and some good quality kibble for protein. I don't use anything low quality since I want them to be as healthy as they can be. I also feed them fresh stuff daily. They had some steamed chicken bits yesterday and gobbled them up. Those little piggies! Today I'm going shopping, so I might pick up some veggies for them. Here's a couple of photos from yesterday. I also have photos of them individually. The one standing in the middle, is the (only) male. The one behind him (the white one) is the one I thought was also a male, but turned out to be female. Ha.... Oh well.   (^Three females here: The two sister silver/cream ones as well)  ^ I haven't really given these guys names, but I've nicknamed a few. This girly is very nice and is very vocal and makes light squeaking noises and very friendly when being held. She's probably my favourite. I've been calling her blue. She would be a banded (marking) dark slate blue and white colour with dark eyes. I think she's pregnant because she seems to have put on weight especially near her belly.  ^ This one is Blue's sister. I kind of call her 'black booty' (LOL) She has a black rump, so it only seemed natural. There's also a strong chance she is also pregnant. She's little more curious compared to her sister. When being handled she will look around and try to find a way off my hand etc. She's the little trouble maker who's woken me up more than once from running on her wheel!! (Yes! Obsessed one!) Both this one and Blue are the largest females, so they're probably little older than my other girls. She's also my room mates favourite temperament wise.  ^ This one is another female, you can't really tell but she's not completely white. She has this very light cream or silver patches going on. Her sister also has them. She could very well be mistaken for a white mouse though in a different lighting.  ^Okay you can see it better here. This is the sister to the last picture. Now you can see the light cream- or grey colouring thats in patches. Both these girls are the smallest, so possibly the youngest out of my lot.  This is the last female. She's little small, but has a sweet temperament. She has this roan like colouring of dark grey or light slate grey with white freckles. You probably can't see them clearly in this though. I have to go offline now since I need to get ready and go into town soon. I think I missed a shot on the white female, but you can see her in one of the other pics so it doesn't matter much lol. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2015 16:24:14 GMT -5
:heehee: They think they got it made. If they only knew.
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Post by Corvidophile on Nov 18, 2015 10:43:05 GMT -5
Dab the wheel joints with either petroleum jelly, Vaseline, or olive oil to quell the squeaking.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2015 0:54:59 GMT -5
Update: The male who I found out was female, is in fact NOT female, and IS a male. Gosh darn. Well that now explains why my white male was trying to hurt him. ;A; Solved the problem by splitting them up. Smart idea Corvidophile with the vaseline! I was out of oil, so that solved my issue. I can now sleep in peace again LOL |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2015 23:24:59 GMT -5
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