# My mice breeding journal



## summnd (Oct 22, 2013)

So, I tried to join 3 different mice breeding forums..One hasn't activated the account in nearly a week. One activated the account but you have to have 150 posts in the 'new member' section before you can post elsewhere. One only allows 'new members' access to about half the forum categories AND admin has to approve each post you submit, but no admin has approved any of my posts in 3 days.

It makes me REEALLY appreciate this forum even more than I did before! 

I bred mice for 7 years, took 2 off, and started again last year but ended up not getting far before I quit for about 6 more months. I'm just starting back up, so I'm not really new but still starting over.

I wanted to make a 'journal thread' for these two breedings I'm attempting right now, but as stated, none of the mouse forums are doing me any favours. 
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I'm breeding my bucks Dogwood (black/white, banded) and Larkspur (dove/white, banded, Berkshire) to my does Dahlia (banded, lilac, ruby eye, Berkshire) and Peony (agouti chinchilla)
Dahlia is .68oz on the 24th 
Peony is .78oz on the 24th

Males were introduced to their females on the 23rd, so I need to remove them no later than the 9th. 

Permitted both girls take and have live pups, Dahlia's litter will be the 'countries' litter or 'cities' litter (haven't quite decided) and Peony's litter will be the 'soda pops' litter or 'candies' litter (again, haven't decided.)

The waiting game is the worst!


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Hey there 
As kids we had pet mice, my sister bred them but it was just a long succession of pet store quality mice. We occasionally got cool colors (my favorite was chocolate agouti or solid lilac) but nothing else really. We loved our little mice! 

What do you do with yours? How many do you have before the litters are born?


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## summnd (Oct 22, 2013)

I keep a lot of them by bad habit xD I just love them all..some I feed and some I sell either as pets or feeders. I have a hard time culling though  I very rarely do it. I have 8 right now and two are with bucks. They shouldn't have large litters since it's their first times, but then again, I had a doe have 13 her first time and she raised them all to be nice and plump. I was surprised a first time mom with 13 didn't eat any or abandon the litter.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

That's a large litter! Do you have pics?


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## summnd (Oct 22, 2013)

This is 10 or 11 from my 13 litter..







Mom and some babies aren't in the picture.

The females I'm trying to breed now are
Peony








Dahlia








The males are Larkspur








Dogwood









Larkspur is a pretty slate grey and Dahlia is Lilac. Their colours weren't coming out right with flash or off.


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## DatBetta (Nov 14, 2013)

Is that poo in the last pic? If so that's huge for such a small creature


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## summnd (Oct 22, 2013)

Hahaha, I almost edited to say "Oh, and that's not poo in that pic" but decided against it. No, it's a bark shaving. I am using Aspen shavings in their 'hold here while I do something with your other cage' tank.


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## summnd (Oct 22, 2013)

in your opinion, could I use a little bigger one of these to house pups between weaning and selling, if I drilled ventilation holes in the sides and front of each drawer. it would only be from 4wks, when genders have to be separated, to 8wks or younger depending on how they grew and when I sold them. of course if they were big enough to add them to a colony before 8-12 wks, I would do so..


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

OOOOOOO they're just too cute!!

I would advise against the container only because even with drilled holes it gets too stuffy (My cousins used to keep her rats in a large tote box with holes and it got sweaty and they all got sick) and also on the back of the drawers on the inside (at least on the one I have) the babies would be able to climb between drawers.


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## summnd (Oct 22, 2013)

I didn't think about humidity or condensation building up. I've never seen my containers do it, but they've never had anything living in them. Good point


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