Neutering male mice?

I neuter mine (I'm a vet). I have two snippity boys who have been together 8 months now, no issues. They smell like the females, no strong male odour. Zany has two I neutered last year, and someone else has another two who were neutered this year after starting to tear chunks out of each other!

I know your a vet, Kallen. The reason why I thought it is a good idea to get some neutered is that I would like to integrate them with the does so they are basically one of them and I think it would give them a much better social life. I read that after this has been done they still have testorone racing around their bodies for a couple of weeks. Is this true? I have seen so many beautiful bucks but without this procedure it is a no-no.

Two studies in rats placed the cutoff point at 10 days. The testosterone has a short half life and is gone fairly quickly (few days), and any sperm sitting in the epididymis die off after about a week. After the 10 days you could house the neutered males with females, and not get any pregnancies.

Thank you for taking the time to tell me this, Kallan. I would love to give the same life style to bucks as I do for does.

I know farmers and people like that tend to do their own neutering. I've seen dogs neutered and it seems a fairly simple procedure. Is this something that a breeder could educate him/herself on and perform at home? I've had a few anatomy classes and know several people in the medical field. Around here it is very cost prohibitive to have the procedure done and I'm in the same boat as Galaxy in that I have a few males I want to keep as pets and not breed them and I think their lives would be much better if they could join my doe tank.

jadeguppy said:

Is this something that a breeder could educate him/herself on and perform at home?

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Not legally in the UK (I know you're in the States but this is a UK forum and I can only give info I know for this country). You can castrate male farm animals using elastrator rings up to 3 days after birth, but nothing is permitted that requires incisions.

It's fairly straightforward (until something goes wrong), but you need the right sedations, gaseous anaesthetic circuits and anaesthetic monitoring equipment, surgical instruments and analgesics.

I know I could NEVER perform that kind of thing (thats why we have vets!)

Galaxy said:

I know I could NEVER perform that kind of thing (thats why we have vets!)

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:lol: It's not actually that difficult, it's the second operation one masters before/after graduation. What's difficult is if ligatures slip/it still bleeds even though it's ligated/animal only has one descended testicle and you have to go fishing in the abdomen for the second one... :lol:

Well, that's in dogs. In mice (and other rodents), in addition to the above, they also have an annoying tendency to suck their nads up into the abdomen. And then try to commit suicide by pushing their abdominal contents out through the hole (they have an open inguinal canal, in contrast to dogs and cats)!!

I spose all males given the choice would want to hold on to them! :lol:

Definitely illegal in the US. Plus you'd have to be very skilled at anesthesia.

Actually, almost all animal welfare laws in the US specifically exclude rodents. Unless it's state or local-specific, it's probably not illegal where you are. Just... not a great idea unless you've been taught the procedure in person by a professional and have all the the appropriate equipment. You're likely to lose a few before you figure it out, and that's never a good thing.

I dont think its very ethical to attempt it when your just a lay person,very dangerous for the Animal.

I may see if a vet friend of mine will show me how. I just feel a bit funny asking her because I don't want to cross the friend/professional line.

I'm gonna leave it up to the professionals. I'd do it wrong & the buck would prob bleed to death or something!

Kallan
Out of courisity how much would your surgery charge to Neuter male mice?

Whatever the boss decides on the day - around £30 for one mouse, he was going to let me do 5 for Zany for £100.

Kallan said:

I neuter mine (I'm a vet). I have two snippity boys who have been together 8 months now, no issues. They smell like the females, no strong male odour. Zany has two I neutered last year, and someone else has another two who were neutered this year after starting to tear chunks out of each other!

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Tsk, tsk!! I have 4 boys from you that are neutered not just 2 !! Tate and Lyle from last year who live with a group of girls (which they love :lol: They've been with them for a year now and no fighting ever) and Gizmo and Tweaky (the ones who savaged their ears) live with an entire boy named Pop and haven't fought since. And I got two neutered boys from you to send to a friend who has them living with her single boy If it wasn't for the fact that I got so attached to the other boys they would have been neutered too Neutered boys are fab, they are great company for single boys who are too old/small to be neutered and can go in with girls too It also seems to stop them fighting for the most part too (unless a yummy treat is on the go

I can't remember!!!! Didn't realise you had 4 though, thought it was only two.. I must have neutered more than I think

Kallan said:

I can't remember!!!! Didn't realise you had 4 though, thought it was only two.. I must have neutered more than I think

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Well you've definitely neutered at least 6 :lol: Didn't you say that you kept 2 neutered boys plus the rescue one Timmy? That would make 9?