# My new bunch



## Onyx

A full explanation of these guys can be found in General Chat but as a short story, I got the first lot of my breeding mousies today.
Three PEWs, who without looking at their sex, I cannot yet tell apart (apart from the buck) and will need to spend some time with them. The girls are probably pregnant. They are young, it's their first litter and due to the move, pretty hunched up in these pics. I'll add more once they've relaxed more.
The others are a young litter and still growing into themselves but I love them and they have no fear of anything lol 
My cameras settings are all out and it hasn't shown their colours as spot on as I like and they don't have white hairs through them lol. I took a picture of one of the blacks and it looked like a white and black demon mouse, so I'll need to change the settings for future pictures.



















There are more meecers but due to the liveliness of the youngsters, it was impossible to get pictures of them all this evening. So more to come eventually!


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## athiena14

gorgeous mice


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## Trixie's Mice

OMG where is my drool cup!!! These guys are beautiful! I'm so jellous, congrats on them!


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## Fantasia Mousery

They are gorgeous.  Congrats! I hope everything goes well, also with the coming litters.


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## Serena

beutiful mice!
Also, the cage looks interesting. Could you take a picture where you can see all of it? I'm always looking for new ideas regarding housing.


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## Onyx

Thanks folks!

Hi Serena, of course I can  It is the first wooden box I have had and I really quite like it. The breeder I got from makes them all himself and keeps all his mice in various adoptions of this. This one is a fairly small birthing box, where the Mummy and babies are birthed and grown on until roughly three - four weeks old, if it's a fairly large litter - and then moved to larger housing. Or for smaller litters, left until the bucks and does need separating etc. Looking at the box, I would do as he has on many of his other boxes and change the front wooden panel to clear plasticy stuffs. But forebye that, they are nice. I must remember that the mice can climb the wood, though. So no taking lids off and not replacing them for a quick chore or photo unless my partner is acting as a second pair of eyes.

I will add some pictures in a wee while for you


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## Onyx

Daily mousery chores complete and a photo of the box for you.

Two compartments, a nesting box at the back plenty big enough for two Mums and two litters, or one Mum and a large litter. There is a meshed ventilation area on one side of it. The hole made between the two compartments is large enough for a couple of grown mice to fit through at one time. Or -all- of the babies when you are trying to take pictures :lol:

The front compartment is for everything else.

The partition between leaves a few inches below the lid, the mice love climbing this and use it as a stepping stone once the lid is off and jump up onto the sides. You could adapt this though to make the boxes taller and it less easy or make it flush to the top. They are good at climbing the wood regardless, though.

The lid sits flush with the top, lipped so that the main of it is inside the box, if that makes any sense to you xD There are two meshed ventilation squares in the lid, one fairly close to the front of the box and one a inch or two from the partition but not over the nest box (keep it cozy).

The front panel has a larger meshed square. As I said before I would personally change this for that thickened plastic stuff and put a few holes in it.

The pic was taken with the hay removed from the nesting box because I'm a mean mummy and before morning chores, so it's a bit of a mess


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## Serena

that's really neat! How do you cope with the urine? is the wood sealed with some sort of varnish?


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## Onyx

Yeah he sealed it with something but I can't remember what he said with, sorry! I will ask him when we speak next. He told me he makes several floor panels at one go well ahead of needing them, varnishes them and let's them sit for a month - just cause you can never be too careful. A cm or two of the bedding you can see and it doesn't smell at all, well, just the smell of hay and general mousey-ness!


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## ThatCertainGlow

How interesting! I've always wondered about those wooden boxes. Thanks for the visuals. Congrats on your mice.  What a dream to be able to go see a breeder, and be home, in less than a day. *Insert daydreaming emote here*


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## Onyx

Yes, I got quite lucky with finding a close breeder and a lovely fella he is too. He's been in the fancy for many years and won several times, so he will keep me right I am sure. Everyone at the NMC has been lovely 

You are welcome for the visuals hehe


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## Marlimoo55

those are all so beautiful and adorable little meecers! Lucky duck! And that wooden box is interesting, i like how is has two rooms. haha


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## firstmice

These are just gorgeous mice


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## pondering

Really gorgeous, good luck with them


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## andypandy29us

beautiful  hope you have room for more


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## Onyx

About 250 more, give or take  I've been spending much time with them and taking lots of photos in different lights etc. Working out what I need to do etc to improve on colourings and what not. Quite fun! And looking forward to the challenge. I'll post some more photos shortly. Now that they are settled and coming out of their hopper stage, they are much easier to photo lol


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## Onyx

You'll see in these pictures that the Sables appear to have super tan colouring, it's not quite so tan and in-your-face in person but my camera shows it as really orangey and I can't seem to find a way to use flash (less blurry pics with my camera) without getting that result.













Amongst other things, the Maxeys have proved quite useful for photosgraphs lol


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## andypandy29us

Brill pics ... Im going to try and get myself a maxi cage at the show and hopefully a breeding trio of tris and a couple of while or cream textel/astrix


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## DeepBlueC

Hi Onyx......PM sent.


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## Trixie's Mice

Gosh these mice are just wonderful! Congrads Onyx!


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## mich

Those wooden boxes are so much better than plastic and far healthier too as plastic doesnt breath. A lot of breeders in Australia use plastic crates and I've yet to see them use a wooden one. I persona  :?: lly wouldn't use plastic full stop. By the way the mice are beautiful.


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## WoodWitch

I strongly disagree mich, that wooden boxes are far healthier than plastic. Although I like wooden boxes aesthetically and in a traditional sense, I MUCH prefer the use of the plastic, lab style cages. Plastic is easily kept clean and the 'breathing' you refer to.....nothing is better ventilated than a lab cage, with an entirely open barred lid! One problem I see with wooden boxes is the eradication of bacteria and fungi such as ring worm; plastic can be scrubbed and washed with disinfectant but wood....I'm pretty sure they can live on that for years.


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## mich

I didnt mean lab boxes but those big plastic storage bins with lids that you can buy virtually anywhere. Lab boxes are excellent. Sorry I should have explained better before.


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## Serena

I think it depends on how you convert the storage boxes. If you just drill a few airholes in each side: yes, you will have a problem with ventilation. 
I put a large "window" on one side and most of the lid is mesh, too. so imho that provides good ventilation, equal to the lab cages.


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