Breeding with Mice

[Kevin Lancaster]

You could try Fire Extinguishers (Also expensive I would think)
Make your own with Vinegar and Bicarbonate of Soda (Messy and not suitable for large scale slaughter)
or Try Afrox, they might sell lartge canisters of Co2???

[Seaborne]

I did some phoning around a while ago. I called Afrox to find out about Co2. The problem was that they rent out their bottles at about R130pm. Now unless you actually using it a lot that is really not viable.

I thought about the fire extinguishers also, but i was worried at the force it blows out, thus you might waste most of the gas and it would be quite an overkill.

I like the idea of the bicarb and vinegar as this can also be mixed in a separate bottle and then "tanked" and piped into the chamber. I guess you would have to experiment with the amounts needed as it is not what you call and exact science.

I think I would like to go the soda stream route and would need to work out what type of nozzle/valve is needed.

I would like it if somebody who has done this in the past could assist me here.

[Kevin Lancaster]

You can check out the following:

http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/care-s ... rator.html

http://www.metalmonkeyexotics.com/blog/?page_id=331

http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/view ... 26&t=18828

[Bushviper]

I use a co2 fire extinguisher and it works very well. Just dont push down too hard. Test it first very, very gently.

[bubblesharp]

There are places where you can buy CO2 "tanks" simmilar in size to those of Affrox, I'm not sure what they are called, we bought one a few years ago (2007)for a paintball field, it costed in the region of R1200.00 filled. and R600 to refill. We did not count the amount of paintball canisters we filled but it was a " " load full. If you can manage to get something like that, a cylinder would last you a year if not more.

Also if you can build a nice Euthanizing "chamber" that does not loose the CO2 when you remove the dead mice/rats, you can reuse the same CO2 (I think), Use an extraction chamber (similar to that of a MEGA syringe), Where you suck the air out and then later push it back in again. To build the Euthanizing Chamber I would build it similar to that of an upside down funnel, so that the "funnel" work as a chimney. When sucking out the CO2 from the Chamber it will have to be from the bottom as this is where all the CO2 will be situated. The reasoning for the funnel is, that the CO2 will sink to the bottom and push the air out the top. the "funnel having a smaller opening at the top will not easily loose to much of the CO2.

I just love building stuff that is more complicated than what it has to be, this will not really be to save a bit of money on the small amounts of CO2 needed, but rather to indulge myself in building something unique.

If you really want to you can connect a pipe to the funnel and run the air through some Lime water, when it turns cloudy, bingo turn off the CO2.

Maybe the whole design might not be that feasible but maybe you can find a use for some part of it to help you make your own design. Like I said I love making things more complicated than what they need to be.

[Seaborne]

Well hello there you all.

I know it has been a while since I posted and gave you all an update on the Breeding. To be quite honest not much has changed except those multi's eat like well mice.

They all seem to be doing fine and are growing nicely. I just cant wait for the 90 day period to end so I can start breeding the little buggers. I would give a guesstimate that i am on about 60 days now.

Update on the Food - Got the 25kg's of AVI Rodent Feed from the supplier in Turfontein. I also found a Sodastream complete setup with extra gas bottles on Junkmail. So I will be making my chamber pretty soon and will post some pictures of those also.

Due to the fact that the 55 females are all in one container I have decided that I will make the second layer of my rack this weekend. This would help in keeping the container cleaner for longer.

Well all I can say is that I have reached the boring part of breading as it consists of cleaning, feeding and water.

Talking about water. It seems that I would have to make a change to the type of bottles I use as the multi's have decided to start eating the plastic tops on the water bottles. I have started collecting metal top jam type jars as I don't think they would be chewing those tops.

More to follow, More to teach and even more to learn!

[mmwc]

I am liking this topic. My mother and myself had also started with the mice breeding quite a while back. There is plenty to learn from it. the metal tops from the jam jars work perfect.

[Seaborne]

Last night I did the normal feed, clean and water bit with the mice. I must say that the mice are now rather "large". They are now larger than normal adult mice so my Multi's are doing nicely.

I have not lost any due to death or another reason. I must just say that those little buggers jump and BITE. I wear welding gloves when I handle them and if it wasn't for this protection I would be filled with tons of little bites. I must just add that the welding gloves are not perfect for handling the mice as they are a bit bulky. I guess its another compromise I have to make.

This weekend I am going to do the second level of the rack and will post those pictures when I have them.

I also plan on mixing my females with some of the males in case my 90 day estimate might be a little off.

The nice thing about Multi's are that they are very sociable mice and you dont find them fighting with each other that much. They do however like to gang up on my hand.

On a lighter note - last night one of the little buggers got loose and it must have been quite a strange sight because I was chasing the mouse around the garage and trying to scare the cat so that he would not come closer.

[mmwc]

On a lighter note - last night one of the little buggers got loose and it must have been quite a strange sight because I was chasing the mouse around the garage and trying to scare the cat so that he would not come closer.

That must have been some sight too see

[Seaborne]

Okay so I had another bust weekend out the way. With this weekend being mothers day and all I had very little time to build my second layer.

I got the material and the equipment all laid out, did the cutting and welding and made my second shelf for the rack. This was so much easier to assemble than the first rack as it was just a matter of following my design. I now have 4 containers and counting. I made the feeders and this too was very simple.

I divided the males and females and counted out 12 females for 2 males per container. I am using small butcher trays so I have the space to handle more mice pet tray.

I also set up my "feeder" stock tank. For this i used a 3ft glass tank. I have a wire mesh cover and placed the food inside the tank. This will be used for my stock that I am either growing or selling. Mainly the extra males will be kept in here till they are sold.

I now just cant wait for the actual breeding to start so I can (a)make some money (b) make some money.

[Kevin Lancaster]

Time for romantic music, candle lit dinners etc

[Seaborne]

I have set up a Blackberry Group - Nice Mice

This is so that any interested people can link up with me and when I have stock available I can then update them as to what I have for sale.

[bubblesharp]

tried to scan, but my BB is not scanning the barcode from my pc screen.

do you have a group pin that you can post for us to add your group manually?

[Seaborne]

CO2 Chamber

Well I thought I would show you all how I made my very cheap and very simple CO2 Gas Chamber.

Step 1 - I bought a Soda-stream Machine


Step 2 - I found a nice sized bucket and made 2 holes in the lid. One is for the pipe and the other for the Oxygen to escape.


Step 3 - I bought some copper tubing and formed it into a circle the size of the bucket. I also got some rubber pipe from my fish tank.


Step 4 - I simply slipped the rubber tubing over the nozzle of the Soda-stream machine


Step 5 - I slid the other end of the tubing through the hole in the bucket lid.


Step 6 - I slid the other end of the tubing into the copper pipe. the reason i use the pipe is for weight and so the tubing wont flap around under pressure.


Step 7 - Drop the copper pipe and length of tubing into the bucket.


Step 8 - Finished setup and ready for use.


I would appreciate any comments about the setup. I have tested it and it works very fast and without any prolonged suffering to the mice.

[CarlaSmit87]

Wow love this thread! Almost like reading a story book. I myself is busy aquiring rats to breed my own feeders again, after I had to get rid of them because of my current landlord. My main reason for breeding my own feeders is mostly about the ease of always having rats to feed and exact sizes. Also any rats that does'nt get eaten is easily placed back. Also what is very important I know what goes "in" the rat so I know what quality I'm feeding my snakes. Goodbye to underfed and sickly petshop rats that only have stock every other day.
Can't wait for you next post, please add some more pics!