Hi!
My name's Holly and I'm from Camborne, in Cornwall.
I started off last year with two starting groups of mice. One lot came from a rescue and were big, hardy types which were very active and almost a bit 'wild'. They carried plenty of genes though which have really come out nice! The other group were dainty, more flat coated types from the pet shop. I mixed the two lines for curiosity sake and to mix up the genes. The rescue group had been at the ladies house for some time i think, and were quite old mice but they bred well, however several have now passed on.
All the youngsters are doing good now, although the two types werent that keen on living together at the very start i managed to make it work. I just love the mice now more than most of my other pets, they always get me re-interested every day! They have such good trusting personalities that don't need any taming and are just so engaging. I don't know why more people don't choose them over hamsters and gerbils (not knocking them if u love those too) but i think they make much better pets for children which won't bite or go flying off!
I have experience with lots of different animals I suppose. I have a dog, cats, guinea pig, budgies, snails, and lots of reptiles, and i have done animal care at college which i hope to continue at Uni maybe this year but being a very spontanous person i cant tell where my heart will take me! (cheesy i know but true)
I also do the crossword for the new Small Furry Pets magazine sold in WHsmith/supermarkets by Kelsey publishing. Two issues so far and the only mag dedicated to this group of pets. Its odd seeing as keeping rabbits, guineas and other rodents is so popular, yet bird mags/papers and the like have been out for years. I also help with Practical Reptile Keeping (I forgive you if this doesnt mix well with your love of mice but personally i have a fascination for animals at all stages of an ecosystem, and so end up having to find ways of getting through any uncomfortable bits). I do buy frozen food in case you were wondering but I won't deny I also end up using some of my own- times are hard at the moment and some snakes require a fresher source of food than frozen at certain times in order to induce them to feed- I don't use the ones I am attached to or which I am breeding for their colour, but ones which are known to only produce broken marked blacks for instance which are no value to me particularly, or anything which appears underweight or ill. I always advertise unwanted mice for sale so they also have the chance to go to a pet home if its available but they aren't popular in my area. I've not had a single interest despite only charging £2.
They are all bred in spacious tubs, not lab racks or anything like the frozen ones were, so I feel it is actually much more ethical this way. Seeing as snakes must eat something... unfortunately there's yet been invented a special breed of 'dead' mouse I therefore take on the emotional challenge of culling myself, and believe me it is one! I often regret it but if i had them all back I'd be overrun so just like nature it does help things tick over.
They are fed every day on a mix of stuff I make up myself and are truly spoilt I think, they get everything Wagg, Raspberry hamster food, a huge range of seeds which i add in, extra sunflower seeds, extra pea flakes from rabbit food, even bran flakes which they like.
I started off breeding just grey/dove types, the tan belly has spread throughout now. I have chocolates, agoutis, satins (3 tan golden/fawns (unsure on correct terms) & 1 tan agouti), a silver tan, variagateds in both the predominantly dark kinds and the mostly light kinds. I have those in black, slate grey, lilac, and fawn. I recently bought two pretty seal point females as well. There are several of cinnamon-y gingery brown with a grey undercoat which i have no idea how to label! You can see a fair few in my facebook album, which i hope to post on another thread since i would like someone to help me identify what a new coat type is that has just popped up in a new litter. It is sparse and curly, I suspect it to be Astrex. I had to introduce myself first though!
I am also a bit curious as to why some mice you buy can have quite fluffy coats whereas all mine now have close, flat coats. Is it a on/off gene or selective bred? I used a more fluffy coated male a while back but although his agouti gene passed on, his coat type didn't.
My name's Holly and I'm from Camborne, in Cornwall.
I started off last year with two starting groups of mice. One lot came from a rescue and were big, hardy types which were very active and almost a bit 'wild'. They carried plenty of genes though which have really come out nice! The other group were dainty, more flat coated types from the pet shop. I mixed the two lines for curiosity sake and to mix up the genes. The rescue group had been at the ladies house for some time i think, and were quite old mice but they bred well, however several have now passed on.
All the youngsters are doing good now, although the two types werent that keen on living together at the very start i managed to make it work. I just love the mice now more than most of my other pets, they always get me re-interested every day! They have such good trusting personalities that don't need any taming and are just so engaging. I don't know why more people don't choose them over hamsters and gerbils (not knocking them if u love those too) but i think they make much better pets for children which won't bite or go flying off!
I have experience with lots of different animals I suppose. I have a dog, cats, guinea pig, budgies, snails, and lots of reptiles, and i have done animal care at college which i hope to continue at Uni maybe this year but being a very spontanous person i cant tell where my heart will take me! (cheesy i know but true)
I also do the crossword for the new Small Furry Pets magazine sold in WHsmith/supermarkets by Kelsey publishing. Two issues so far and the only mag dedicated to this group of pets. Its odd seeing as keeping rabbits, guineas and other rodents is so popular, yet bird mags/papers and the like have been out for years. I also help with Practical Reptile Keeping (I forgive you if this doesnt mix well with your love of mice but personally i have a fascination for animals at all stages of an ecosystem, and so end up having to find ways of getting through any uncomfortable bits). I do buy frozen food in case you were wondering but I won't deny I also end up using some of my own- times are hard at the moment and some snakes require a fresher source of food than frozen at certain times in order to induce them to feed- I don't use the ones I am attached to or which I am breeding for their colour, but ones which are known to only produce broken marked blacks for instance which are no value to me particularly, or anything which appears underweight or ill. I always advertise unwanted mice for sale so they also have the chance to go to a pet home if its available but they aren't popular in my area. I've not had a single interest despite only charging £2.
They are all bred in spacious tubs, not lab racks or anything like the frozen ones were, so I feel it is actually much more ethical this way. Seeing as snakes must eat something... unfortunately there's yet been invented a special breed of 'dead' mouse I therefore take on the emotional challenge of culling myself, and believe me it is one! I often regret it but if i had them all back I'd be overrun so just like nature it does help things tick over.
They are fed every day on a mix of stuff I make up myself and are truly spoilt I think, they get everything Wagg, Raspberry hamster food, a huge range of seeds which i add in, extra sunflower seeds, extra pea flakes from rabbit food, even bran flakes which they like.
I started off breeding just grey/dove types, the tan belly has spread throughout now. I have chocolates, agoutis, satins (3 tan golden/fawns (unsure on correct terms) & 1 tan agouti), a silver tan, variagateds in both the predominantly dark kinds and the mostly light kinds. I have those in black, slate grey, lilac, and fawn. I recently bought two pretty seal point females as well. There are several of cinnamon-y gingery brown with a grey undercoat which i have no idea how to label! You can see a fair few in my facebook album, which i hope to post on another thread since i would like someone to help me identify what a new coat type is that has just popped up in a new litter. It is sparse and curly, I suspect it to be Astrex. I had to introduce myself first though!
I am also a bit curious as to why some mice you buy can have quite fluffy coats whereas all mine now have close, flat coats. Is it a on/off gene or selective bred? I used a more fluffy coated male a while back but although his agouti gene passed on, his coat type didn't.
