Are feeder mice safe?

[Bigtom Turkey]

I am looking to get into breeding my own feeder mice, but my mom is insisting that I prove to her that they are safe. So, any thoughts/tips/advise. Thx in advance.

 

[Qwerty3159]

Safe as in?
Domestic mice kept in clean conditions are generally free of the diseases that plague the wild ones. It’s pretty easy to keep them contained. A breeding colony will stink, though.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

By safe I mean disease free. They would be keep in large roomy cages with about 12-15 females per 1 or 2 males.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I had a pet mouse when I was a kid. He was meticulously clean and well mannered. How big of an operation are you looking to start? We used a fish tank with a hardware cloth top and deep litter (shredded paper over a full sheet of newpaper) to house ours in. The full sheet made cleaning up the whole cage as easy as lifting the corners, wadding it up to hold all the shreds and into the bin it would go. Thanks for the walk down memory lane, it was really nice to remember our little 'Squeeky'.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I was planing on using a trash can(clean don't worry). For the first few then, as I expand just growing the operation to fin my needs.

 

[cassie]

I am looking to get into breeding my own feeder mice, but my mom is insisting that I prove to her that they are safe. So, any thoughts/tips/advise. Thx in advance.

What kind of proof does she want?

 

[RosemaryDuck]

I was planing on using a trash can(clean don't worry). For the first few then, as I expand just growing the operation to fin my needs.

You can get/build mouse racks pretty cheap. A trash can in this instance won't be good because 1: They'll eventually chew through it and get out. 2: Mice, when you have a breeding colony, get very messy very fast. I clean my colonies every week.
Mice are great for feeders but you won't get results without the proper set up. Look into getting a mouse breeding rack. You can put the water bottles on top and food. Please don't just dump a bunch of mice in a trash can and expect them to breed or be healthy.

Also your ratio is very, very large. You ideally want 3-4 females with 1 male. The females can and will kill or mutilate the males. You also need to switch the males out every now and then, so you'll have to have several on hand. The females can also get burnt out from breeding back to back, so give them a break every once in a while. Don't allow your colonies to inbreed to much either or you'll run into deformities and stillbirths.

To answer the initial question: No, they aren't perfectly clean. When you have several, and you also have babies, they will make a big mess and they will smell. You'll need to clean every week and change out all the bedding and scrub the boxes. They can also bite pretty hard. I've had a few bite clean through my fingernails. It hurts but not horribly. I hope this helps.

 

[SpotTheCat]

This is for labs but it has some helpful bits
http://www.informatics.jax.org/silver/contents.shtml
Also might be helpful
http://www.fancymice.info/husbandry--health.html

 

[MissE]

I thought you were going to ask if they were safe as chicken food. I know mine would like to move in with you. They will take care of any mice you don't want.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Wow thx for all your great advise, I guess it is a lot harder then I thought. I will be researching more before I get them.