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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 10:30:05 GMT -5
@machan I was thinking about doing it with at least mice. Do you feed them the pinkies, from the litters and keep the older ones? I actually haven't done pinkies yet. I've done fuzzies through to adults so far. My next few litters I do aim to do some pinkies. The mice since I started have been breeding pretty well, but I kind of want to upgrade and breed rats since they grow bigger compared to mice and would be a nice meal. I'll probably gradually switch out to rats and after I get my first few rat litters, cull off my breeder mice (apart from my nice breeders, who I'll keep as retired breeders/pets. )
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 10:33:53 GMT -5
I'm going to have to do more research on it, but I definitely would like to start with mice. Once I get her eating not kibble .
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 17:40:50 GMT -5
I'm going to have to do more research on it, but I definitely would like to start with mice. Once I get her eating not kibble . Mice are a nice starter I think. They can be smelly at times, but as long as cleaned every 2-3 days they don't smell all that bad. I also use Vanilla in their water for males. Its males that smell the most but the vanilla surprisingly works to dull it down.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 19:22:41 GMT -5
I'm going to have to do more research on it, but I definitely would like to start with mice. Once I get her eating not kibble . Mice are a nice starter I think. They can be smelly at times, but as long as cleaned every 2-3 days they don't smell all that bad. I also use Vanilla in their water for males. Its males that smell the most but the vanilla surprisingly works to dull it down. That is good to know! Thank you, Ill keep that in mind! Do you keep the males/females together at all times? Or only when its time for them to mate
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 0:47:24 GMT -5
@chibisaurus some people prefer to seperate, however I do keep my male in with females depending on the female. My white female won't tolerate the male when she has her pups, so once she's pregnant, I switch her out and she gets either another female pregnant companion or a non pregnant female for nursing purposes (keeps the pups warm while the mother eats or exercises).
A few other females that tolerate the male, I then keep them in and take advantage of Postpartum Estrus. Female mice can come back into heat within hours after giving birth. It can put a lot of stress on the mouse, so I don't do it all the time (they need a break) The male also helps care for the babies, It's super adorable. ;u;
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 1:13:40 GMT -5
@machan That's awesome. Im going to be picking up a male and female mouse this weekend, Starting slow Im super excited! My other half is like "are you sure you have the stomach for this....?" I told him, well... Hermione needs to be healthy, if she eats mice, she eats mice. If she doesn't like them for some odd reason, well.. We have some pet mice.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 4:43:41 GMT -5
Today I brought home 3 lovely Ratties! After much thought, I finally came up with names for my lovelies. I do plan on keeping all three as pets even after they retire from breeding. I absolutely adore rats. I've missed having them so I'm so excited to have them in my life again. I'm strongly considering in discontinuing my mice colony once my rat's begin to produce pups. Possibly after both females have their second pregnancy. I was talking with the breeder today and she let me see the mother and father. We got into discussion for about 20 minutes about how she's trying to breed some nice rex rats that are partially hairless. The mother of both the females I picked out was agouti homozygous rex, she had quite a lot of patchiness here and there. She was massive!!! I've never seen a rat so huge before. You would literally need to support her with both hands in order to hold her. She was absolutely gorgeous and is now retired from breeding. Okay! Now for introductions to my gorgeous bunch. First we'll begin with the first rat I chose.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 5:09:34 GMT -5
@machan That's awesome. Im going to be picking up a male and female mouse this weekend, Starting slow Im super excited! My other half is like "are you sure you have the stomach for this....?" I told him, well... Hermione needs to be healthy, if she eats mice, she eats mice. If she doesn't like them for some odd reason, well.. We have some pet mice. It can be little nerve wracking and emotional to begin with. I'm Buddhist, a huge animal lover, & former rodent owner so I thought I wouldn't be able to do this. It's nice to watch the animals grow and have families. You can spoil them by giving plenty of fresh foods and handle them daily even but when the time comes its best not to become attached. You can be attached but you need the strength to let go and a good mind set to know when is the best time to cull when it comes to sick animals. As long as they are euthanised in a humane way, then they go stress free and pain free. I had to cull one of my breeding females the other day and It definitely hit me in the heart. little differently than usual. I tried not to think too much on it at the time because it was important to do a quick Cervical Dislocation. If you waver emotionally, you risk causing unnecessary stress and even pain if you do it incorrectly from lack of focus. I knew it was for both our bests that she was to be euthanised (she became a biter and was killing off the combined litter). Afterwards I had to sit down for a good amount of time and think about it. Being Buddhist, I find it my own obligation to do a little Buddhist prayer for all those I cull. I love all my feeders, They're such lovely little beings. All that matters is that they have a good life while they are alive. ;u; In the wild, rodents like mice and rats don't usually live past 1 year old and in captivity they do have a short span of 1-2 years for mice or 3-4 years for rats give or take. I love whole prey for my ferrets. They absolutely go crazy for their whole prey. It's very nutritional for them and also helps to clean their digestive tract thanks to the animal's fur. I wish all ferret owners would feed whole prey. Trust me, I'm sure Hermione would love them. It would take some time especially when you're still switching. I had some issues with my Haru. @poncesmom told me to cut open the stomach and put in some oil and that seemed to do the trick. Haru wasn't impressed, but after being stubborn with her, she came around. Another good way is to start with pinkies, and go up in sizes gradually. (e.g.. Pinkies > fuzzies > hoppers > weaners > adult)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2016 10:38:43 GMT -5
I just reminded myself to pick up some new Echinacea Liquid for the rodents. Echinacea is a genus, or group of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. It can be used as an an antimicrobial; Herbs that inhibit reproduction and growth of harmful bacteria, fungi, or protozoa. It's well known to be used as an immunotonic; Herbs that stimulate and support immune system functions. Echinacea works especially well for early onset of bacterial or viral infections, and as an occasional treatment for respiratory problems. I use this only when necessary for all my rodents. It's fairly cheap, roughly around $5-$15 and lasts a long time. With my former ratties, this was the one thing that helped me to manage and prevent outbreaks of mycoplasma pulmonis. When you notice small onset symptoms, such as little sneezes and such, then give them some of this for a couple of days. Make sure you choose the alcohol free liquid. You can give Echinacea in a variety of ways. One common method would be to place 1-2 drops on a small piece of bread. You would then repeat this 2-3 times daily for a few days. Another way would be to put it into the drinking water. Place a couple of drops into their water and leave it for a week. You need to monitor the rodent incase of worsening symptoms. If symptoms do not clear up within the week and are noticeably becoming worse then the rodent will require vet attention. This actually helped my other former ratty, Luca recover from his outbreak. He had quite a nasty one and all the meds from the vet failed to help him. They did help little at first, but he became worse and worse, so my last idea was to try this, and surprisingly it worked for him and we got it under control. It shouldn't replace proper vet treatment, however it can be used to prevent in most cases.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2016 9:33:23 GMT -5
These girls are due any day.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2016 9:34:38 GMT -5
They're looking plump and round, looks like they've eaten another mouse each lol
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2016 10:46:58 GMT -5
11 babies born at 2am valentines day! (14/Feb)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2016 11:01:48 GMT -5
Machan do you freeze your mice two weeks before feeding them? Just wondered if it is necessary?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2016 11:44:08 GMT -5
abbeytheferret6 I've never frozen for 2 weeks when it comes to my mice. The first litters I started out with I did freeze them. I then gave some fresh mice to the ferrets and have had no issues. Usually it's the Petstore mice which are the most likely to carry any diseases or parasites, but even then it appears to be uncommon. It really all comes down to the source. If you know its a reliable source with healthy animals then the freezing may not be necessary. You can take precautions like quarantining. I brought my guys home all together, I watched them for the first couple of weeks even though I bought my guys from a reliable source to make sure they were in good health. They're from a Fancy breeder, I got to see the parents and records from prior litters. All was well in that department and so far so good health wise even for the young that have grown into adults.
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Post by bitbyter on Feb 13, 2016 21:58:13 GMT -5
Freezing is only necessary for wild meats or home grown animals that are exposed to the outside / wild animals. I often give mine fresh unfrozen rodents on cull day.
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