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Food refusal with tank cruising and lid pushing

I started out having 1.2 mice, but kept having issues with cannibalism. I had no way of telling if it was stress, or if I had a bad mother. After wards, I separated my females and started weeding out the bad mothers. So, I now have: 3 ten gal, 1 twenty gal, and a five gal. Two of the ten gal have mice (one holds my breeder male, other has my colony of breeder females, third is empty because I need a different lid). 5 gal has my feeder males, and the 20 gal is divided into 3 sections and holds a breeder female and her pups in each section.

All my mice started out as mice from pet shops. Took me a bit to find the good genetics. I even got a male that had the obesity gene and ballooned up to 70 grams.
 
Was the obese mouse kind of the color of a poorly bred Irish Setter? Anyway, many pet store mice are the culls from people who breed fancy colored mice. When I was breeding mice, that's where my culls went. I know a lot of them ended up as feeders, but the pet store I was selling to took good care of them and didn't sell live feeders, they would do small batches of euthanizing with CO2, bagging & freezing, so for 1/2 the price of Gourmet Rodent (hah hah) at Petco, a reptile owner could get much better quality.
 
He was a broken marked brindle with a yellow base. He was either lethal yellow, had the obesity gene, or his weight was from the brindle. Pretty much all his offspring that weren't brindle got fat fairly quickly, which leads me to think he carried the obesity gene. I ended up getting rid of him and his offspring entirely. I kept him for awhile just to observe. He ended up getting diabetes from his weight issues. I finally euthanized him and fed him to the dog.
 
Sounds like he was obese yellow + brindle. I had obese yellows for a while, actually. As long as I underfed them like crazy they did OK.
 
Hard to say. He had a few black kids and even they got fat. Either way, the dog enjoyed the snack lol. I now have a line that grows slower and hangs out in the upper 20 to upper 30s, it seems.
 
I recycled my mice every six months to keep them at optimum. They tend to get breeded out after six months and go downhill. I practiced selective breeding too. If a female went bad and cannabalized her young, she and none of her young were used in breeding again. Same for males. If a male attacked a female, killing or doing great harm, he got recycled. I also liked genetics and always used an albino male to keep the albino gene going. The females were usually four different colors to be able to tell them apart...brown, black, gray albino, gray normal, tan, etc, were the basic colors. These were the healthiest mice you ever wanted to see, and large too. The females got 40-50 grams in six months and were always shiny and vigorous, but also pretty tame. They could be handle w/o getting bit or anything. Selective breeding. They produced large litters too. Usually nine at a time, but sometimes more. I bred this line for over twenty years with no additional genes. I think that says something for feeding and maintenance. I used mouse chow with a little raw oatmeal and some seeds mixed in. Field corn helps keep their teeth healthy. Rarely deviated from that combination.

I miss the little buggers... :awcrap:
 
I do the same, minus keeping an albino. I hate albinos lol. Every albino rodent I've met was mean and all the bites I've gotten was from them as well. My females have litters of about 11. I have a breeder that I'm probably going to retire here soon. As much as I hate to, but she's starting to get on the older side and has already given me two or three litters.

I feed dog kibble that is bought for the outdoor guardian dogs. It's no science diet, but it's not old roy either. They love the stuff and I noticed that once I switch over to it that I had a better growth rate than what I had before. I've read that a diet high in protein causes sores/dog food causes greasy fur, but I haven't had this problem in the least bit. Must be the brand.
 
Haha. I feed Shawnee 27/11 dog food.

Anyways. Killed a 30g male mouse and offered it. She struck, coiled, and is in the process of eating it. Once she gets done eating I'm going to turn the heat pad back on since the AC is running.
 
I'll have to take pictures later. I'm getting ready for college at the moment.

Her name is Morana. In Slavic mythology, Morana (or Marzanna) is the goddess of death and winter. I felt that it was fitting due to her coloration being drab and winterlike.
 
Welp. Got the package today. Unfortunately, it's a college day x) Since I'm up here at college, putting in the new stuff will have to wait til I get home tonight.
 
I just finished putting in everything. The hide that was sent was the same size as I already had. So, I didn't use it. However, when I get another snake, I'll put it to good use. So, I instead, used the wood that was sent to make a hide along with the vines. I made plenty of hiding areas as well. Morana didn't feel like showing off for the camera today. She's getting ready to go into shed so she'd feeling cranky today. Additionally, I weighed her again today and she's at 746. A bit of weight gain, but I think the fluctuations are more water weight than anything. She'll probably drop a gram or two once she sheds out. Anyways, pictures.

IMG_1462.jpg

IMG_1463.jpg
 
Looks great! Did she seem like she liked it? Hmm, that's the size hide lots of my adult corns like- they like to be squished! Your ice cream box even matches!!
 
She likes to be a bit looser. With the other hide, part of her would be hanging out from under the hide. With the ice cream bucket she can loosely curl up which is what she seems to like. After I put her in she lightly explored, knocked over the wood and then went back to her hide. She'll probably explore more once she sheds.
 
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