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How long from pinky to adult?

M

Mudruck

New member
Greetings all!

Im looking at starting my own mouse colony and was wondering how long it takes for them to reach adulthood. I figure raising my own mice would allow me to better control what they are eating and in turn better control what my babygirl eats. My main question is how long am I looking at before my two or three starters breed and the offspring are old enough to start being food? In the meantime I would still be buying feeders from the local shops and I think I found a mouse 'breeder' here locally, but havent heard back from them just yet.

Seems like mice breed like.. well.. rabbits and eventually I would have to either separate the males and females to cut down on the population boom or start killing/freezing them to keep the population down.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks all!
 
Mice are adults at about 3-4 weeks, but it takes about 2 months, I believe, for them to get to the size of a medium adult.
 
I'm currently holding a 2f/1m colony. Each litter is different as they will grow at different rates, always a runt or 2. the litter i am watching now is between 12-16grams. I would recommend getting a pocket scale & cull them as needed.
once you buy your mice, 1 month +10 days give or take for the first litter.
age to cull depends on what size you need.
since you only need 1m/colony, If they are all going to be food, you dont need to separate the males and females. If you find yourself with to much stock I would recommend 1 of 2 things. Separate or cull the breeding male. if you cull wait until one of the males in the litter gets old enough to start breeding. or separate if you can afford housing.

other thoughts
3 litters/F is ideal
No red dye foods
start stocking toilet paper rolls ;p
you can find pocket scales online for $7-10 US (i will link if you request)
 
Mice can reproduce around 8 weeks sometimes a littler sooner. However, I would introduce them about 4-5 weeks and expect litters at around 12 weeks. This is a healthier way of doing it. If they start producing before that they can have complications. Kind of like a teenager having a baby. I would say mice are adults around 12 weeks. That's about 3 months old.
 
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