Mousey Babies! :]

[Productmur]

Well, I'm one of those weird "conundrum" people who like rodents and snakes. xD (Wanted to post them somewhere, but the "feeders" forum wasn't quite right. xD) So, when my fiance let me breed them, but for food, I was like....."well, at least I have a couple of them that I can love on." We went shopping around and found two sweet "mouses" (as the lady at the counter called them) that would do the trick. ^_^

Introducing Linkin (Park), my long hair broken-marked Agouti male (he's always so chill!):

And (Three Days) Grace, aka "Gracie Mama", my satin self Black girly who's a lot more active than Link:

And their most recent litter! I was excited about this one because last expo I got fuzzy mice for Butters, and so didn't really need to breed any more for her for a while; but my friend needed some for her ball python, who slams down adults like candy. So I got to see some of my babies grow up! (Albeit, for snake food... v_v) And this one was a big litter for Grace; twelve squirming pinks!

And surprise of all surprises, I got TWO pinkies with red eyes! O_O Not sure if anyone here keeps up with rodent genetics, but Agouti and Black mice have black eyes; red eyes being a recessive trait, I discovered that both mommy and daddy carried the red eye recessive (which dilutes the coat color, too; red eye selfs are Argentes, which is that nice tan color). You can see with the top two babies the difference between a pinkie with black eyes (eyes visible under the pink skin as a black dot) and red eyes (eyes just look like rest of pinky). So that was exciting enough, but those weren't the only surprises out of this litter!

 

[Productmur]

I culled 5 of the pinkies when they got a little bigger because I'm getting one of Nanci's be-a-utiful(!!!) babies, and that's what he is on, so wanted to have food for him and simultaneously make it easier on Gracie to grow up the rest of the bunch. Anywho, I left the red-eyes to see what I was going to get, a few of the lighter-pigmented mice, and a couple who just seemed to have nifty patterning.

And then sweet lil peach fuzzies! : D

And then I was like "the heck is that?!"

So, yeah, apparently the parents are hiding lilac somewhere in there as well. Two genetic surprises in one litter! Wonder if I'll be that lucky with snakes? :O

Now they are all sexed and almost ready to open their eyes; any day now! They've been handled often. Wanted to make good pets of them, too, in case my friend decided she wanted a breeder batch of her own. Some good picks out of this litter. :O

Total count is 4 boys:

Two of which are my "picks of the litter":
Two-face, a non-standard, but still awesome spotted Argente with the sweetest demeanor:

And "Quinn", an Agouti with such perfectly-even marks that he has to be standard somewhere :

And the 3 girls:

And my two favorites from them:
"Harry Potter", an Agouti who turned out to be female, but I still call her that. xD She has a lightning-bolt-esque pattern on her head:

And "Minnie" (originally Mickey, but again, turned out to be female), one of the Lilac surprises who has a curious spot on her side that used to look much more like a mickey mouse head:

Next step that I am eagerly awaiting is hoppers! O_O They're so ca-yoot! x3

 

[Tavia]

I'm sure you get asked this a lot but how do you handle culling along with getting attached to these mice you breed? They are very cute! I'm thinking of breeding a few myself, just to have a bit more control over having live pinks for hatchling snakes that might require them. But I'd want my breeders to be tame and will probably end up really liking them all.

 

[Productmur]

I kind of don't handle it too well. I admit it's a lot easier before they get fur, but I used to breed gerbils for pets--one of my babies even went on to show--and get attached quick to my rodents. My fiance is usually the one that puts them in the freezer. I usually pick them out, though. Again, it's easier when they're pinkies, so if that's all you're looking to really get from them, it shouldn't be too hard. I've even dropped a live pink in for Butters once, just to see what she'd do. It seemed to spur the constricting reflex in her, 'cause she never did it before and always has done it since. It is super convenient to have live pinks; I got a friend's hatchling corn to eat once because I had access to live and they did not (had to tease-feed him the first time, but he ate twice on his own after that--one live, one f/t, which was my goal, and now he's eating fine). I like having mom and dad tamed well, because they know me and let me around their nest (although, Grace still watches me every time with that "what're you doing? those are my babies!" look.....then I distract her with a peanut, and she waddles off. xD).

 

[Nanci]

If I had to grow my own rodents, my snakes would all be vegetarians! ;-) JK- not really. But they might be eating chicken!!

 

[gsdbecca]

I'm with Nanci. They are so darn cute!

 

[Tavia]

What kind of cage do you have them in? Looks kind of like what I was thinking of using but wasn't sure it would work well for baby mice.

 

[Pugsley]

Very cute mice you got their.

I'm working on getting my colonies going. I'm introducing some new genes, the satin, broken marked, cream (at least what I'm calling it till I know better), gold with red eyes and one with a gold coat, but a grayish belly.

I figure if you're going to raise mice, you may as well raise pretty ones, even if they are snake food.

 

[Chip]

I'm with Nanci. I've done my share of mouse colonies, but like you, kept back the pretty ones. Which soon left me with colonies of cute(er) mice that had to be killed. And forget about rats. They're too sweet and smart, I won't even own anything that has to eat them. For the most part, my serpents eat f/t mice only.

 

[hikisquid]

This is one reason I'm happy my husband is allergic to rodents. I don't get to raise mice that I will fall in love with.
They are adorable! I really love how cow-spotted the big male is.

 

[Quixotic]

They are adorable! I like rodents too. I've had one mouse and 7 rats over the years of my childhood and young adulthood as pets. I really hope that none of my future snakes are picky enough to need live food.

 

[Pugsley]

Sigh, *there*, not *their*. I hope Rich gets my check soon.

 

[Productmur]

Whoa. Responses. O_O Let's see...

What kind of cage do you have them in? Looks kind of like what I was thinking of using but wasn't sure it would work well for baby mice.

I have them in a regular ol' Crittertrail. Gotta keep an eye on the bar spacing, but pretty sure these lil guys can get out of them. Some people say they can, but right now they haven't even climbed down the tube. The model appears to be this one: http://hamsterss.com/images/crittertrail hamster cages/3_crittertrail hamster cages.jpg , except the water bottle doesn't go inside it, just clips to the outside.

What I'm using for the photos is a shoebox and a tupperware container. xD A lot of people have luck with large tupperware containers similar to snake racks. I only have need for one breeding pair right now, so never thought of something so excessive.

Very cute mice you got their.

I'm working on getting my colonies going. I'm introducing some new genes, the satin, broken marked, cream (at least what I'm calling it till I know better), gold with red eyes and one with a gold coat, but a grayish belly.

I figure if you're going to raise mice, you may as well raise pretty ones, even if they are snake food.

Yeah, I like genetics, so playing with color is a lot of fun. ^_^ If you want, shoot over some pics of your mice and I can help identify their colors. :O

@ All:
Yes, it is sad to feed off something so cute. Buutttt, on the other hand, I find my snakes cute, too, and know they must eat. xD I would like to breed feeders someday, I think. At least small enough to supply myself when I breed snakes. :O

Got a peek of them tonight, and Quinn is opening his eye! (Yes, only one, they usually do it one at a time; dunno why.)

 

[Pugsley]

I don't know how to call you, but I'll try to get some pics for you Productmor. I've got a crappy point and click camera, no artistic talent and I'm a poor photographer too.

Besides all of that, I can't dance, don't have any clothing style sense, am not promiscuous and don't like musicals much. I think I'm going to be drummed out of the gay union soon.

 

[Productmur]

I don't know how to call you, but I'll try to get some pics for you Productmor. I've got a crappy point and click camera, no artistic talent and I'm a poor photographer too.

Besides all of that, I can't dance, don't have any clothing style sense, am not promiscuous and don't like musicals much. I think I'm going to be drummed out of the gay union soon.

Lol. I've got no talent as a photographer, either. My method is "keep clicking and something'll turn out decent". xD My camera's not the best, either, but with an 8GB SD card, I at least don't have to worry about pic overload. xD

 

[Nanci]

Don't get me wrong- I'm very happy that Baby C will be getting farm-fresh mice! I'm sure he will not feel badly about that in the slightest!

 

[Productmur]

Don't get me wrong- I'm very happy that Baby C will be getting farm-fresh mice! I'm sure he will not feel badly about that in the slightest!

Lol! Yes, I hope he'll love them! x3 Really excited about getting him! Just got him a nice grown-up tank for him for later (they were on awesome sale at petco), but he'll start out in a smaller one for at least a few months.

 

[Productmur]

Update! All lil baby eyes are open. They got their first peek at sunlight today!

As they are in the "hopper" stage, I put them in a 5.5 gal aquarium for the photoshoot so I wasn't chasing babies all day. xD There is a heating pad on the tank, but it is not, and has not been, on. Just prepping for my newcomer. :]

Without further ado, pics!

*kisses*

"Harry Potter" was an excellent lil model today:

"Mickey" also wasn't camera shy:

 

[Productmur]

Two-face was my little explorer! Everywhere--simultaneously! xD

Quinn--upside-down!

And for anyone wanting to breed mice and tame them, handling at this stage is imperative. They will still recognize your scent from earlier handling, but sudden movements will frighten them with their new-found sight. Just go slowly, scoop from under, and cup them until they settle down. Don't hold too far off the ground just in case they decide to jump. They're called hoppers for a reason! Opened the nest box and one leapt onto my shoulder! I was like--wow!

Anywho, handling:
Sticking your hand in the tank and letting them climb all over you is an awesome way for them to trust you.

This little guy still kind of has his eyes shut:

And again, cupping them, and then opening your hand only when they calm down is a good idea so you don't have jumpers.

Updates can be frequent now! I can pull them out a lot more without mom worrying too much. They're old enough to start exploring. Will soon be tasting foods!

 

[Karoni]

I love snakes and rodents! My family jokes that I love snakes, think rodents are cute but spiders wig me out...go figure.

Those are the CUTEST mice, I have ever seen. Their coloring reminds me of gerbils.

I could never feed them to snakes, though. I'd end up overrun by pet rodents with frozen mice in my freezer for the scalebabies.