[Benjamin]

Hi all - I've had my mice (Blacks and BP Siamese) for a couple of months now and have only managed to have one litter so far - the bucks have been in with the girls for nearly 4 weeks now and no sign of pregnancy.

I was wondering if the diet they are getting could be affecting them i.e. making them too fat? I feed them once a day - usually in the morning and they get one small pot (roughly 2 inch diameter by 1 inch deep) between 3 mice is this too much? I must say they seem happy and healthy enough - bright shiny coats and bold alert eyes!!

Their mix is made up of the following in a 3:2:1 ratio, which has lactol mixed in.

- Naked oats,
- Wild bird seed mixture (wheat, Black & Striped Sunflower seed, Kibbled maize, White Millet, Black Rape seed, Canary seed, Hemp, Naked oats, Red Millet)
- Burgess supa rabbit excel pellets (the ones that look like condensed grass biscuits in a green bag)

They also get a Purina Beta puppy kibble each once a week.

Any advice gladly recieved.

Thank you in advance,
Benjamin.

 

[Cait]

Do they eat the pellets? Most mice won't touch them. Besides that I would say that the amount of food is never going to be the problem with mice (unless it's not enough of course) as they do not gorge themselves like rats and dogs and various other animals. What you're feeding them is fine, I feed less seeds in ratio to oats, barley, pea flake, maize flake, crushed dog biscuits (like Bonios etc) and Wafcol dry dog food as I find too many seeds can cause problems for the rumpwhites (though not my other varieties!). Some strains just don't reproduce well. Myself and another breeder on this forum both have mice of a certain variety from another exhibition breeder that will not breed successfully, though of course they obviously did for him :roll: If you still have no luck and you have swapped them around and tried other methods then the only real recourse is some new stock. If you tell the original supplier that the mice won't breed they may be able to offer specific advice about their lines or they may just replace the stock for you.

 

[Benjamin]

Thanks mousebreeder .

They do eat the pellets, in fact after the sunflower seeds I'd say they were favourites - I have tried to mimic the diet they were getting from the original breeder. He did say to me that the blacks were noted for poor reproduction. Maybe I should swap the bucks around?

I will get hold of some flaked barley and peas and reduce the seeds down see if that has any effect.

Thank you again.
Benjamin

 

[Cait]

Rather than changing the food I'd maybe just give them the dog food a little more often than you are and swap the bucks round. This alone may do the trick.

 

[Benjamin]

Ok I will give that a go for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I was just worried about giving them too much protein as I had read it could damage their livers?

Fingers crossed for babies soon

Thank you so much

 

[Cait]

Too much protein damages their kidneys, yes, so you are right to be cautious. Perhaps you could do 3:1:1 with oats, seed and dog food instead of 2 parts seed? As I said before although I use seed and dog food in the regular mix I don't use loads, and less than your ratios.

 

[Benjamin]

So just to clarify 3 parts oats, 1 part seed, 1 part rabbit pellet and 1 part puppy kibble? I will definately give it a go.

I have just swapped the black bucks and both were very keen on their new ladies chasing them round having a good old sniff an the business end :lol:

 

[Cait]

Yes that's what I meant with the food, sounds as though the problem may not persist though :lol:

 

[Benjamin]

haha :lol: lets hope not - I really want to try my hand at showing soon, but would like some home bred babies to take rather than showing bought in animals. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that they stay clear of the affliction of my blues and BP Siamese (see health section).

Thank you for all your help