# Case of meeces



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I couldn't resist taking some pix of this bunch demolishing the divider from our last case of beer:

These girls are of various ages from 12 weeks up to 4 months.


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## The Boggit keeper (Mar 5, 2010)

That looks like a mouse maze made in heaven! Bet it kept them busy for ages!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Heehee! It probably wont last the night. The last one I gave to a tankful was flattened and shredded in two days. Keeps 
'em from shredding everything else in sight. I've never had one chew through plexi, but the plastic on the rim, the water bottle, you name it....they chew it up it it can be done. More power to 'em, I say. 

I'd forgotten I'd saved it and found it tucked in with the recycling, and rescued it Thursday night.

Scenes like this are why I don't use plastic bins. I love to watch them play.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

It's been 11 days since I posted photos, and the cardboard has largely survived. The wide assortment of types in this tank is pretty mind boggling. The one splashed/tri yellow doe is so much bigger than the other girls!


You can see the marked agouti in the middle, I hope. She's an example of how I've pushed my agoutis to a warmer, more red tone.

The yellow splashed/tri really stands out in this mob.










This last little doe is so much smaller than the rest. I might not breed her if she doesn't get significantly bigger, but she's so nicely proportioned, IMHO.


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## bethmccallister (Mar 5, 2010)

My favorite is the tri in the 5th picture down. I love the tail set on it's fuzzy butt!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Thanks Beth; I love her beautiful long soft coat as well as her tail set. The tail set is so well defined by the fringes on her rump.


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

What up with the crinkle hair one in the corner?










Is that a different hair type?


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Ooh, yeah. A young curly doe with a profile. She may have to be pts. I hate it. I'm gonna try switching her to paper bedding, but then she's have to be on her own. I have one younger curly doe that is almost weaned, and if this one doesn't get too bad in the next week I'm gonna house them together and see if they don't both improve. So I've said before; l I didn't breed curlies on purpose, but I do have to deal with them realistically.

On top of that, the profile, I mean. These meeces have other physical deformities like an odd shaped head. weird butts....it's not a good thing at all.


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## SiamMeece (Sep 21, 2010)

Nice meeces, just love splashed and tricolor  are some of the agoutis splashed/tricolor? (like the one on your hand third picture from bottom) My first splashed litters are beige based but I'm so curious how it looks with agouti.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

It's kind of interesting....there are blue agouti tris and cinnamon tri in these pics. Some of them are splashed. others have the bits of color next to each other. I'd like to see better definition and separation of the types of agouti, but that's the challenge of working with these. What I really want is argente tris with good definition and separation....it's not going to be easy, I think I have the argente cream crossover, but time will tell. I'll take a couple more generations at least. pp dilutes are my faves. As far as I can tell, the tri gene(s) operated pretty much the same with any kind of dilution, at least in the first few generations.


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

Why are you putting the curlies to sleep? Do they have allergies?


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Aaaahhhh. I wish there was some reliable, and cheap (cheaper than cargo flying) way to get your curly mice over here. I'd take them in a heartbeat. I'm so used to taking care of the curly ones that it'd be no trouble for me.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

They are obviously miserable. Can't you tell that that little one is in discomfort? The curly hairs, especially the whiskers, turn back into the skin, causing itching, inflammation, irritation of the eyes(runny and red), irritation of the ears )red and inflamed) muzzle scratched until all the fur in gone. I suspect they also have problems around the anus as well. Sometimes shorthaired curly meeces do OK, but long haired ones almost always seem to have these problems.

I'm not heartless. It's unkind to let to allow an animal to suffer needlessly. I have been taking the bucks and ptsing them, as I don't want to breed more of these, the girls I'll make an effort to save, if I can.


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

Oooh, that's too bad. I figured it was some sort of skin inflammation/irritation. I'm just so new to mice that I can't tell as easily as some of you more experienced mouse fanciers. 

My one mouse is not looking so good and I'm about to invite you over, Moustress, to just look at her. I'll bet you'd be able to tell right away if something was wrong or not. Now if it was a horse I would be able to tell.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

pm me your info and i'll be there

Msybe it's the ambiance. hehehe Have you tried champagne and candlelight. May some Al Greene in the background?

If it's just a problem with lack of conception/coition, maybe the chemistry isn't right. I know that sounds absurd, but meees prefer to mate with other meeces that 'smell' like them. There was a study, I think I read the article in Science News some years back, where they showed that bucks preferred to mate with related females over unrelated ones.


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