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Post by Desiree on Feb 14, 2016 1:23:35 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. Thank you! I needed this! I should have been following more closely but I love this thread!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2016 3:12:18 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2016 3:15:39 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. Thank you! I needed this! I should have been following more closely but I love this thread! I'm happy that you like this~ It's very useful, I was lucky to have discovered it at the time I did. It really does seem to help boost their little immune systems, so it's quite helpful to have on hand.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2016 9:13:28 GMT -5
Here's a birth video! Giving birth to 11 babies can be so tough! You can see at the end of the video she's exhausted, let the others do the work lol! This is why It's so much easier to have some other nannies helping out. I recorded this at 2AM yesterday. I missed out on the other birth but its alright. You can get a good look at a birth at around 5:50!
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Post by bitbyter on Feb 14, 2016 9:20:09 GMT -5
I tend not to watch anymore. I get upset if they start cannibalizing them.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2016 11:36:07 GMT -5
Good and bad news. Good news first. My second black coloured mouse had a litter. I haven't checked in a couple of days so they much be a few days old. Bad news is I found one of my other females dead. (Non of my current breeders) I found it odd since they we're used to each other but I guess thats that. I now have 3 females who are maturing before they start breeding. They kind of act like nannies at the moment. I have one in with one group of mothers, another two in with the new mum. More good news, some interesting patterns and a new colour has popped up.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2016 0:52:46 GMT -5
I am having some bad luck lately. I saw blood on the bedding and automatically though babies got eaten. Nope. All 22 are alive and well. The females are not stressed, they're doing fantastic however they've... as you can see, attacked the male. I've separated him, and have done some first aid, he's not bleeding any more and isn't a deep wound however he's not looking too good. (He seems depressed, needs some TLC) I've decided that I'm going to retire him. He's done a great job. Now for some yummy comfort food for him and a nice bath. ;u;
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 9:11:40 GMT -5
Ouch! That looks like it hurts, hope he recovers well.
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Post by bitbyter on Feb 23, 2016 15:58:31 GMT -5
one of the other reason I gave up on mice. They are just NASTY to one another. I always removed the males I was using for breeding. The females with babies are just to temperamental.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 16:05:32 GMT -5
one of the other reason I gave up on mice. They are just NASTY to one another. I always removed the males I was using for breeding. The females with babies are just to temperamental. I've never bred mice so I'll take your word for it with the aggression towards each other, I've bred rats a few times and the females tolerate the males fine.
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Post by bitbyter on Feb 23, 2016 16:16:54 GMT -5
That's the thing with mice, there seem to be no hard and fast rules with them. Some can leave the males in with no problems, some can even house males together. I couldn't do either. I wanted to get all mine up to adult weight before culling but the males would start attacking each other long before that weight. That meant I was basically loosing out of a lot of potential food for the ferrets.
ASF's have been a MUCH better rodent for me but they aren't available / legal everywhere unfortunately.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 16:53:27 GMT -5
That's the thing. My first original girls were fine with him. Actually a majority of my females are fine with the male and are not aggressive in any way. It was a second gen girl, first litter, who was not having it. It's weird though. The male was so soft. You'd think he'd stick up for himself but nope. He takes all the bullying from the females. I've actually only ever had two females who've been bullies to the male. The first one was/is the himalayan. She gets fiesty after having a litter so she cannot be bred until a couple of weeks after her litters are weaned and removed. The other girls don't care much for the male. Then I have this black girl, who surprisingly came from one of the well mannered ladies, end up being basically... a word I should not say on the forum lol. Before she had her litter, she actually killed one of the other females. I couldn't remember if I mentioned it on here yet, but anyway I go to change their water and realise that there are only 2 mice in the tub. Thought it was strange so I moved my hand around the bedding and yep... I find a stiff mouse. Must have done it the night before. There was no cannibalism though, the adult mouse was still in tact, and there was no blood. Any hoo... I ended up culling her, and her babies. I was hoping for some pinkies anyway, and since I already have 22 fuzzies going on in another tub, it worked out. I wasn't really happy with how she'd flip at the male to the point where she would be going for his mouse parts. This was probably the third case of aggression. The first was the himalayan with the case of what she did to one of my old female breeder, blue. She too aimed for the mouse parts, but the difference was the time and the fact she was attacking a female. I was reading about aggression recently in a book. Apparently sometimes females may even rip the parts out in males. Some mice simply don't mix. @frolickingferrets I've bred rats in the past as well. Mice are a completely new ball game to me lol. I think it generally just depends on the personality of the animal. I've seen maternal aggression in rats. With the mice, I've never sen maternal aggression. They let me handle their babies at a young age (though I prefer to avoid doing that) Some have shown mouse to mouse aggression, possibly from either personality clashes or unwillingness to breed due to what ever reason.When I had a first litter of rats in the past, the mum wasn't very willing to let me near them at all. Getting bitten by a protective momma rat hurts!!
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Post by bitbyter on Feb 23, 2016 16:59:19 GMT -5
I also has some kind of weird genetic dwarfism thing happening with my mice. Every generation seemed to be slightly smaller than the last. I gave up on them for several reasons. The smell (mice are the worst), fighting, the weird size issue and I was starting to get interested in coat patterns (NOT why I was breeding them).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 16:59:38 GMT -5
@frolickingferrets I've bred rats in the past as well. Mice are a completely new ball game to me lol. I think it generally just depends on the personality of the animal. I've seen maternal aggression in rats. With the mice, I've never sen maternal aggression. They let me handle their babies at a young age (though I prefer to avoid doing that) Some have shown mouse to mouse aggression, possibly from either personality clashes or unwillingness to breed due to what ever reason.When I had a first litter of rats in the past, the mum wasn't very willing to let me near them at all. Getting bitten by a protective momma rat hurts!! [img src="http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/ .gif" src="http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/ .gif"] I never got bitten by my rats but the mums were very keen to have their babies back as soon as they had a chance to grab them. They never showed aggression towards each other though. I bitten by a rat in a pet shop when I was 5 but I don't remember it happening but I imagine it hurt a lot.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 17:09:01 GMT -5
I also has some kind of weird genetic dwarfism thing happening with my mice. Every generation seemed to be slightly smaller than the last. I gave up on them for several reasons. The smell (mice are the worst), fighting, the weird size issue and I was starting to get interested in coat patterns (NOT why I was breeding them). Wow! Lately I've noticed my guys are getting bigger. My fuzzies at the moment seem huge. Well a majority of them are. They look so plump. I'm interested in the coat patterns too. I wanted to keep a lot of my last litters but eventually made up my mind and get it over with as soon as possible or else you'd be taking away more and more every litter, then left with very little ferret food. I do want to breed fancy on the side line. I'm really enjoying the patterns and getting into genetics. But I know the to draw the line when needed. ;u; I find that breeding self colours is more easier for me to cull. Especially the blue grey's, blacks and whites/himalayan.
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