# Hello From Missouri



## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

Hi, I wasn't sure if I would be welcome here, but I have questions I can not get answered where I usually post. You see, I love mice. I love to breed mice. But I can not sell enough to keep numbers low. So my husband and I decided to get a few corn snakes to help manage numbers and we have loved the comprimise. I joined a different forum a year ago to talk about colors and such and was kicked out when they learned I have snakes. I got bashed and harassed and almost gave up my mice and my snakes. I got badly depressed. I slowly let go of what happened and got happy with my animals and my love for them again. Then I found a corn snake forum that has a feeder breeding section, but they don't discuss color at all and I got kicked out for pushing the issue. It took me a few months to decide to try again to get some answers. Especially after dealing with my females suddenly not breeding and the male turning canibal. I had to start all over.

In June I aquired a rew female at a small pet shop in Belton. I also got a blue tan male at a Petco in Lee Summit. (Missouri) First litter I had 3 agouti tans, one regular agouti, and 4 blue tans. After much thought I culled the males from this litter and kept the females which turned out to be the blue tans lol. Now they have had their first litters. I needed pinks so I culled the first litter to be born, it was a litter of 4. 3 had black eyes, surprisingly one had pink eyes. I hated pulling them when I saw that but I needed them badly for one of my snakes. Luckily, the next two litters (one has not had a litter yet, might actually be an underdeveloped male?) I am not sure which belongs to whom as they had them in one big nest and delivered close together. They have fur now, but eyes still shut. There is an agouti, a black, a blue tan, and two which have me confused. They appear to be satin? Their fur has a high shine that the others lack. They almost glow in good light. Its like they have a halo of glow. One appears to be a siamese, one lookes rew, oh had there is a regular furred one that appears to be lilac? If you want me to get photos I can. I plan to keep the shiny ones and the lilac.

I promis to keep mention of the snakes minimum and will use the term cull instead of process or anything else that might offend anyone.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Hi from St. Louis!

And welcome!


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## bethmccallister (Mar 5, 2010)

Hello fellow mouse lover. You will find yourself very welcome here!


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

Thank you! I was pulling the colors from memory as I had the mice in a different room but after seeing that I am indeed welcome I moved them closer to the computer. I have right now:

Adults: Rew Female, Blue tan male, 2 agouti females, 2 agouti tan females and one blue whose belly is almost as clean a white as the rew mom. The REW female and the blue tan male are parents to the others. One of the agouti "females" I am not entirely sure is a female, but there has been no fighting between this one and the deffinite male.

Babies: 11 that I am not sure of other than one agouti and two black  I put photos in the identification section. They are from 3 litters.


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## MouseHeaven (Oct 25, 2010)

You don't have to be worried about feeder breeder talk on this forum, we accept all types of mouse breeders. Welcome to FMB!


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

Thanks. I really like this site already. I am learning a lot just looking through the identification section. Of course seeing these interesting European mice make mine look so plain lol. I need to build or buy a rack. Right now I just have a 20 long with a lid. Not big enough and I can not seperate to focus on any oddities like the shiny pups in my current litters. Next month we'll have our W2 and I can go hog wild upon getting the tax return. Theough I have seen some nice tub adaptions on here. . .I might go with adapting and stacking. . .though with a rack I can slide them in and out easier. Decissions decissions lol!


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

By "shiny" do you mean satin? Since we have members from dozens of different countries, it helps to use as clear and accurate terminology as possible. 

If you're interested in getting nicer mice, you might be interested in joining the ECMA so you can hook up with other breeders. I think I might be the closest to you and I don't adopt to feeder breeders, though I do adopt to people who breed for show and use their culls as feeders. The only difference is emphasis, although it's an important one. Come to think of it, Tiny Heart Mousery in Kansas might not be very far from you, but I'm new to Missouri myself so I'm not really sure. If you're happy with what you can find from pet stores (some people are--especially those breeding for food), just ignore me.



> I joined a different forum a year ago to talk about colors and such and was kicked out...


I bet this was an American forum, and I bet I could guess it in one try (but that's not polite now is it?)! :lol:


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

Now now not polite at all HA HA! Yeah pretty sure it was an American based forum. A shame too.

I _think_ they are satin but it could just be that they appear to be shiny because they are whiteish and pale greys in color. They are about 8 days old, I will have a better grasp on colors and fur types in 6-10 days. I figured saying they are shiny is better than calling them satin and having it not be so.

Not really interested in anything too fancy, I prefer not to pay more than $2 for one mouse. I am not cheap I swear, just lower income and usually can not afford to pay too much more under normal cercumstances. Looked into some Rex mice down by Springfield once and she wanted $20 a mouse! That is NOT a typo. I need to setup a rack system, I saw some interesting mice at Petco a week ago. So tempting to go back ha ha!


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Yikes. Many excellent breeders don't charge anything at all for mice.

I would only pay $20 for a mouse in exceptional circumstances.


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

Yeah, her reasoning was that she had to have them shipped in from Washington state. She is the only source for rex I have seen, but I have not really looked that hard. My husband just got home from work and said we can start getting parts to make a rack so I can organise, get less crowded and get some new mice to expand my projects  Gotta love a guy that doesn't mind ya breeding critters!


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## jessierose2006 (Dec 1, 2010)

yeah i had noticed that too when i joined a ball python forum they wanted to talk all day long about snake colors but bring up one thing about a mouse and it was " why does it matter its just snake food"


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

Yes, it seems very difficult to find a happy medium, but I am very glad to have found this site as it seem to be just that!


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

I was just wondering if anyone knows how to find mouse breeders? I know there is someone on here in St Louis but I never get out that far east. I might be interested in some mice from a breeder but would depend on the type. I ran a search and got mostly junk sites and the one for the person on here :lol:


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

If you want show mice, you could email and/or join a mouse club like the ECMA. If you want to breed for feeders, though, that mostly limits you to pet stores or other feeder breeders. Maybe check reptile forums or clubs?


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

A warm welcome to FMB
:welcome1


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

So no one will sell to a feeder breeder just because they feed their culls to their snakes? I do not show nor do I plan to show I just want some neat looking mice for my hobby breeding. The fact they are feeders is secondary. I was hoping to find some asterex (sp?) or rex or fuzzy mice to play with. The petshops I am lucky if I can find a mildly longhaired mouse. Much less satin or anything else remotely interesting.


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## SephysManda (Dec 9, 2010)

Are you on the meat rabbit yahoo group? Your screen name looks quite familiar


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## bethmccallister (Mar 5, 2010)

> So no one will sell to a feeder breeder just because they feed their culls to their snakes?


I'm sure they would sell mice to you, just not show type mice to start with. Show mice breeders have worked at the purity in their lines with diligent and careful selection towards a certain goal and usually only adopt out to other show breeders who have this same understanding. Having said that there are only a handful of show breeders around and most people end up traveling or shipping stock in from various parts of the country.

You can still get rexes, angoras, and various selections of mice no problem since they are not all considered "show type". Type being the body structure/size and proportions and position of the extremities such as the tail and ears.

I hope I helped clarify an issue or misunderstanding.

Show breeders also cull heavily.


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

SephysManda said:


> Are you on the meat rabbit yahoo group? Your screen name looks quite familiar


Yup! Glad to meet someone from there on another forum


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## evansrabbitranch (Jan 2, 2011)

bethmccallister said:


> I'm sure they would sell mice to you, just not show type mice to start with.
> 
> You can still get rexes, angoras, and various selections of mice no problem since they are not all considered "show type". Type being the body structure/size and proportions and position of the extremities such as the tail and ears.
> 
> ...


Oh yes, thanks  I don't want show type, their culls would be fine for my purposes. Hmm, now to find one or two that would not mind that. . .


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