How to rear feeder mice?

[Cirith Ungol]

I guess a few of you do that. How do you do it in an efficient way, what do you put in and what do you get out?

And three other important questions:
Does it smell?
Does it take a lot of room (how much)?
Does "it" make a lot of noise?

Thanks!
Cirith

 

[Crotalus]

For just a few snakes, get a mediumsized laboratory cage and a water bottle, get rodent laboratory food and wood chips (?) - sågspån in swedish. Place a few empty toiletpaper rolls in the along with some newspaper,so they can get occupied and build a nest.
Put 4 females and one male in the cage
You find all you need here: www.burbolaget.com

Does it smell? - Yes but not so bad if you change the substrate every week.
Does it take a lot of room (how much)? - Not really,not if you just need feeders for a few snakes.
Does "it" make a lot of noise? - Not really. But that depends on where you place the cage.


/Lelle

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Thanks a lot!

The thing is that I'm right now doing what I shouldn't be doing: I'm falling in love with my baby corn snakes, the newly hatched ones... and I'm thinking of maybe keeping one or two... But I really shouldn't.... This is all very stressful for me

 

[atavuss]

use aspen bedding if you can find it, do NOT use cedar.......pine is not as bad as cedar but still not good........aspen is best.
plan on cleaning at least weekly. they will get stinky if there are too many mice per enclosure in a week's time
I have raised breeder rats for years, used to breed mice too but rats are better parents IME as rats rarely if ever cannibalize their young.
I use sterilite plastic opaque 66 quart size bins. cheaper than lab cages. I used to use 10 gallon terrariums with store bought tops but these were 20.00+ each and after dropping and breaking one I got rid of all of them and changed over to the plastic bins. I cut the center of the tops out and pop rivet 1/4" galvanized wire mesh to cover the hole. I hang three water bottles and three food bottles from each top with an extra 32 oz. water bottle hung on each enclosure's side. this is enough to last them a week without any extra attention. you can easily put 1 male to 4 females in this size enclosure. I used to use rodent lab block food but it was hard to find locally. I found a dog food that closely matched the fat content, fiber, etc. listed on the rodent lab block chow and have been using the same dog food with excellent results for years. I have never had a rat or mouse chew out of the plastic containers. breeders will slow down after about a year so I hold back enough babies after 1 year to start a new colony, the old breeders are traded to the local reptile store for crickets. any leftover rat pups are fed to my larger tarantulas and scorpions which readily take them.
noise? no, my breeders are either in my garage or shed
space? depends on how many enclosures you need.....I have five stacked on top of each other, each enclosure is about the same size as a twenty gallon terrarium

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Thanks a lot!

But plastic containers? Aren't mice/rats prone to chew through the walls?

 

[atavuss]

Thanks a lot!

But plastic containers? Aren't mice/rats prone to chew through the walls?

I have never had a rat or mouse chew through the Sterilite brand containers that I use. I do not know if you have this brand available in your area, if they are not available look for smooth sides inside that will not allow them anything to chew on. another reason I hang the food and water from the lid is that it weighs the lid down so the rats connot push it up and escape.