# How to get....



## Crested_Tern (Aug 7, 2010)

Hey all!!

I've got my introduction posted in the intros section but for those who haven't read it... I will be starting to breed mice for pet food - I work at a wildlife refuge that specializes in birds of prey and, as such, needs many mice a week; and I also feed my dog and cat on a raw diet and would really like to feed the cat a whole prey diet, which, you guess it! requires about 4 mice a day for her!!

Anyways, I have a source for my initial breeders but I would like to be breeding primarily dark colored mice. Question - would it be better for me to purchase black females and black males or would it be possible to get mostly dark mice if I purchased white females and black males (or vice versa). The reason for wanting to get different colors for male/female at least when starting out is for ease of separation with my first few mice.

Thank you very much for your help!!

Lauren & the crew


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

That could be hard, as albinos could carry almost any color or marking. and once you breed the black males to the white females, you'd have litters of mixed colors anyway.


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## Crested_Tern (Aug 7, 2010)

so it would be better to get all dark colored mice to begin with and only breed dark to dark.... I'm thinking I'm figuring out a little bit how interesting this endeavor is going to be...


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Albinos generally grow larger than most other colors; if I were going to breed for feeders, that's what I would pick. You need to get albinos that carry only the recessive c in the C locus, then they will produce nothing but albinos when bred together. If you get good show quality stock, you probably wouldn't need to worry about inbreeding.


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## Crested_Tern (Aug 7, 2010)

only problem with that is that birds of prey frequently have issues with white mice. Thats the reason for wanting dark colored mice.

does anyone here know if the same is true with rats? ie - white ones grow larger than colored ones? Thanks!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Hmmm...never thought of that!


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## Crested_Tern (Aug 7, 2010)

LOL yeah, I shoulda mentioned that earlier. The cat doesn't matter and I know it'd be easier to breed white but I've gotta be difficult!!

I'm not going to buy the mice for a few weeks yet but I think I'm gonna be willing to just get the dark mice and work my ways towards homozygous black mice... it'll take work but it's also for my school genetics project so it'll be worth it.


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## CatWoman (Jun 19, 2010)

It's nice to see another whole prey cat feeder here! I was feeling a bit lonely.  :lol:



Crested_Tern said:


> The cat doesn't matter and I know it'd be easier to breed white but I've gotta be difficult!!


I actually have one cat that will only eat solid colored mice. It doesn't matter what color they are, as long as it's solid. If they're marked in any way, he'll pass it on and wait for a solid one. :roll:


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## Crested_Tern (Aug 7, 2010)

That's interesting CatWoman!! I've only really given her solid colored mice that I've purchased from other places. I'll definitely be interested in trying marked mice with her!!

I know at the Refuge I work at we have a Red-Tailed Hawk that is an education bird and she will only eat her rats if they are dark colored!! If you give her a white one she'll skip right over it unless she's really hungry!!


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## Onyx (May 2, 2010)

Hiya, my white rats are no bigger than my agouti, black, black hoodeds, champ hoodeds etc, so probably fair to say no on that front. I believe white mice are generally bigger because they've been bred to be so through selectivity from us feeder breeders,- the bigger the better really (staying on the safe side of that, obviously).

Just wondering, how many rodents will you be needing for daily feeding? I have a royal python, 2 common boas, 2 halmahera boas, 2 spotted pythons and a plated lizard who eat mice. We have one colony of 4 girls and a boy who, after 3 months, are getting to a point where they are supplying our weekly/two weekly needs. I have other mice (more from an interest in their colours) that will eventually throw the odd offspring that I can't sell and won't keep that'll likely end up food too but to get enough for daily feeding I'd imagine you'll need many many colonys of mice?

That wasn't to put you off though! I think breeding your own food is the way forward to be honest - for anyone! As long as it's done in a healthy, controlled and humane way.

I just thought, since colour and markings may be an issue (I feel your pain - fussy snakes!) then getting different types would be beneficial. A group of whites, blacks, marked, selfs and so on would work in your favour =)


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## Crested_Tern (Aug 7, 2010)

Yeah, I'm gonna need a lot of mice/rats. I'm starting to consider getting rats instead since a full grown cat will eat about 1 small/weanling rat or 2-3 adult mice per day. I'm also going to be supplementing her diet with just meat (chicken/beef/etc) so I mostly just hope to be able to eventually collect about 10 mice per week.

Soooo yeah, long and short of it is I'm planning on starting out with 8 females and 2 males and supplementing with purchased food until I grow my colony out enough to support my needs!!


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