Post by Corvidophile on Dec 25, 2015 12:38:33 GMT -5
I want to basically talk to myself and some people who understand that raising feeders isn't heartless. I keep pet Peromyscus, probably white footed mice but they might be deer mice or even a hybrid, they can and do hybridize in the wild, but that's neither here nor there! Both species live wild where I am in south-central NJ, and the ones I have are descended from stock taken from an RV and trailer park I lived in previously in Eastern PA. They came in, I caught them, they made whoopie, I kept the friendliest young as pets and booted the others out into the park again, and the rest is history.
Background:
They're generally kept in separate sex communities (males of this species have no problem with other males unlike Mus mice), but I put them together to breed them once a year, usually twice in a row, to keep them in hormonal good shape, mix up their communities to break boredom, and keep track of who's a good patient mom that will let me touch her young and keep them nice and fat, and who's a good sharing-is-caring dad who doesn't try to eat his competitors' young or attack the other males for existing in the same territory during mating time. Adults who don't make the cut are removed and euthanized.
As the young grow and their personalities emerge, certain ones are obviously more friendly and fearless. They get handled more and more and lots of treats, and can be separated simply by putting my hand down in the tank and removing those that eagerly come. Certain ones are more suspicious and tend to stay back and watch carefully, they get ignored instead of played with. A few others are "throwbacks," either fearful to the point of bolting or aggressive and willing to bite if I come too close. They too get ignored.
When they're about five weeks old, I come in and scoop up the good parents and the friendliest babies. The keepers all get placed in a new tank. The rejects stay in their old tank, which is then moved to a different area, and then I start bugging them. Yes, bugging them! I no longer gently replace water and put down a dish of food, I dash stuff around gruffly and scatter food randomly. This turns the unsure young into panickers because now they have no reason at all to like or trust me, their suspicions are confirmed that I'm just a strange monster. If anybody stays in the open when I come in the room, they get poked and chased. I never hurt them, just scare them badly.
After a week of this they all hate me, and then I carry the tank out into the backyard and situate it in the storage area underneath my house, protected by a wooden tress with mouse-sized openings and behind a bush. Nothing can enter that isn't mouse-sized or smaller, but they can come and go freely. I have a selection of wildlife friendly native plants in the backyard and a bird/squirrel/mouse feeder nearby complete with mouse-height watering dish. I take the lid off, scatter seeds leading to the bird feeder, and they're free! In this spot under the house there's a large randomized pile of wooden planks that some previous owner left there, deep inside of which is quite warm, especially when they line it with hay, which I also keep a pile of down there and they learn to collect themselves from sedges in the yard. Year-round people throw away delicious trash in the back alley, where the garbage truck runs, about thirty feet away. The glass tank I put newspaper in, and it provides a guaranteed dry spot to nest in and store food until they figure all this out, I remove it when it's no longer utilized. They have bad memories of the tank, so they nest elsewhere as soon as they feel comfortable leaving. I check by keeping an eye on whether or not the newspaper is being pooped on. And in this way I acclimatize them back into the wild.
I used to actually track them, before release I'd snip a lock of hair from their rump, they have grey undercoats and rich brown top coats, so it's easy to tell my mice from the wild population. Nowadays I don't bother- the success rate is very high.
———
Now:
I want to continue feeding Winnipeg whole prey, his primary food is Mus mice, and I'd love love LOVE to be able to guarantee the food he eats most lives a life to my standards, eats food to my standards, gets tons of exercise, and dies to my standards. But. I tried getting Mus to breed and that didn't go so hot, the smell of their pee is off the charts strong and cleaning their tank after I gave up and euthanized the starting mice gave me a nasty asthma attack, and I still can't get my heart around arranging a breeding of my pet Peromyscus strictly to euthanize the majority of them.
I have no problem setting them free outside and knowing all but the best will die in another predator's mouth a month. I also have no problem euthanizing the bad parents or litter runts and feeding them to Winnipeg, and I have. (Bad parents that are otherwise friendly mice can't go free- they've matured in a pampered life thinking people are their friends and don't have any fear. They not only will fail, they might stupidly and calmly walk into peoples' view and endanger the whole population by causing neighbors to set out poison)
So I'm uncomfortably sitting on my hands sighing that I have a population of mice and no will to breed them more often to: lessen my impact on mouse milling, save money, and offer Winnipeg more nutritious food! SIGH... I just wanted to get this out in the open and hash over my conflicted feelings.
Background:
They're generally kept in separate sex communities (males of this species have no problem with other males unlike Mus mice), but I put them together to breed them once a year, usually twice in a row, to keep them in hormonal good shape, mix up their communities to break boredom, and keep track of who's a good patient mom that will let me touch her young and keep them nice and fat, and who's a good sharing-is-caring dad who doesn't try to eat his competitors' young or attack the other males for existing in the same territory during mating time. Adults who don't make the cut are removed and euthanized.
As the young grow and their personalities emerge, certain ones are obviously more friendly and fearless. They get handled more and more and lots of treats, and can be separated simply by putting my hand down in the tank and removing those that eagerly come. Certain ones are more suspicious and tend to stay back and watch carefully, they get ignored instead of played with. A few others are "throwbacks," either fearful to the point of bolting or aggressive and willing to bite if I come too close. They too get ignored.
When they're about five weeks old, I come in and scoop up the good parents and the friendliest babies. The keepers all get placed in a new tank. The rejects stay in their old tank, which is then moved to a different area, and then I start bugging them. Yes, bugging them! I no longer gently replace water and put down a dish of food, I dash stuff around gruffly and scatter food randomly. This turns the unsure young into panickers because now they have no reason at all to like or trust me, their suspicions are confirmed that I'm just a strange monster. If anybody stays in the open when I come in the room, they get poked and chased. I never hurt them, just scare them badly.
After a week of this they all hate me, and then I carry the tank out into the backyard and situate it in the storage area underneath my house, protected by a wooden tress with mouse-sized openings and behind a bush. Nothing can enter that isn't mouse-sized or smaller, but they can come and go freely. I have a selection of wildlife friendly native plants in the backyard and a bird/squirrel/mouse feeder nearby complete with mouse-height watering dish. I take the lid off, scatter seeds leading to the bird feeder, and they're free! In this spot under the house there's a large randomized pile of wooden planks that some previous owner left there, deep inside of which is quite warm, especially when they line it with hay, which I also keep a pile of down there and they learn to collect themselves from sedges in the yard. Year-round people throw away delicious trash in the back alley, where the garbage truck runs, about thirty feet away. The glass tank I put newspaper in, and it provides a guaranteed dry spot to nest in and store food until they figure all this out, I remove it when it's no longer utilized. They have bad memories of the tank, so they nest elsewhere as soon as they feel comfortable leaving. I check by keeping an eye on whether or not the newspaper is being pooped on. And in this way I acclimatize them back into the wild.
I used to actually track them, before release I'd snip a lock of hair from their rump, they have grey undercoats and rich brown top coats, so it's easy to tell my mice from the wild population. Nowadays I don't bother- the success rate is very high.
———
Now:
I want to continue feeding Winnipeg whole prey, his primary food is Mus mice, and I'd love love LOVE to be able to guarantee the food he eats most lives a life to my standards, eats food to my standards, gets tons of exercise, and dies to my standards. But. I tried getting Mus to breed and that didn't go so hot, the smell of their pee is off the charts strong and cleaning their tank after I gave up and euthanized the starting mice gave me a nasty asthma attack, and I still can't get my heart around arranging a breeding of my pet Peromyscus strictly to euthanize the majority of them.
I have no problem setting them free outside and knowing all but the best will die in another predator's mouth a month. I also have no problem euthanizing the bad parents or litter runts and feeding them to Winnipeg, and I have. (Bad parents that are otherwise friendly mice can't go free- they've matured in a pampered life thinking people are their friends and don't have any fear. They not only will fail, they might stupidly and calmly walk into peoples' view and endanger the whole population by causing neighbors to set out poison)
So I'm uncomfortably sitting on my hands sighing that I have a population of mice and no will to breed them more often to: lessen my impact on mouse milling, save money, and offer Winnipeg more nutritious food! SIGH... I just wanted to get this out in the open and hash over my conflicted feelings.