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My mouse and rat colonies

Ryan23

Ryan23

New member
I've been breeding my own feeders for about a year now and I don't think I'll ever go back to buying ever again, it is extra work but I'm at the point now where I'm selling surplus to herper friends so they pay for themselves. Figured I'd show off my setups for them a bit.

This is what I started out with for my rats last year......

ratcolony2.jpg


And this for my mice.....

Mouserack.jpg


Nothing fancy but it does the job really well and my rats at least are producing like crazy for me, the mice on the other hand not so much :shrugs:

Recently a friend of mine who also bred all his own feeders decided to get out of reptiles for the most part and asked me to take his colonies and the setups that went with them, not exactly how I would have designed them but they still work. Now my colonies have pretty much doubled and I have to invest in big freezer.

ratcolony.jpg


mousecolony.jpg


He used rubbermaid bins which I never would have used but he's had these housing the mice for 2 years and only replaced 2 bins so I guess I'll use them untill the chewing begins. Please excuse the dog food, I ran out of Mazuri and I live in the middle of nowhere so I have to take a trip to get more. The other addition will be a watering system, it was fine when I had my small colonies but now with so many I have no desire to fill that many water bottles.
 
VERY nice.. i wish i had that tallent ;) as for me i can never figure out how they pull the food through the Chick wire? the foods bigger then the hole is it not!? mabey im just missing something here lol.. if youd care to fill me in id appriciate it..

ill just stick to the food/water bowl since i only have 1.2 Rats and 1.2 Mice Now.
 
the foods bigger then the hole is it not!?
Click to expand...

Yep the foods bigger but they have no problem getting the food, I've actually sat and watched them eat and they stick their arms up through the holes to hold the food and nibble at it through the mesh. Once they've broken down a piece enough they can pull it through and finish it off, gives them something to do at the same time. The problem I've always had with dishes is that the food ends up all over the place mixed with feces and urine usually, either that or the bedding, feces and urine ends up in the dish.
 
do you put anything in with the mice, like a running wheel or tp rolls? or is this counter-productive to the breeding?
Any advice for the smaller (1-2 tupperware) breeders?

awesome set-ups though.
 
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