[DomLangowski]

It has come to my attention that a lot of feeder breeders, be it rat or mouse breeders, are hesitant to join forums such as this and say that they breed to feed their reps. Well i for one invite these breeders to come to this forum (obviousbly for mice) and tell us all about yourselves. NO ONE on this forum is against Feeder Breeders, and if anyone has a problem, then i suggest that they dont join this site.

This site is aimed at anyone who wants to improve the health and welfare of their stock as well as learning how to breed responsibly. The site is for breeders, be it show, pet or feeder breeders so swap suggestions, give advice and the like, so please dont be afraid to join if you breed to feed.

I for one think that any feeder breeder who will go out and learn about their mice and how to breed responsibly is a good and caring breeder, and thus gives the best to their reps.

SO COME On, JOIN!

Original message from Ruthy

 

[Sdaji]

I'm a feeder breeder, any our rodents are probably better cared for than the snakes! :lol: They're certainly a lot happier than the ones I've seen in some 'mouseries' and 'ratteries' bred for the pet market, and they're very healthy.

Most snake people love animals, and so most are interested in making sure their mice don't suffer.

I think pet mouse keepers can learn a lot from feeder breeders too. Feeder breeders typically keep many, many, many times more rodents than pet breeders/keepers, and gain a lot of experience from it. We see so many more litters than pet breeders ever will, and do many things on larger scales and quantities than pet keepers ever will, but we also do things differently (we breed primarily for health, not primarily for colours and patterns). Whether or not they personally do it, most feeder breeders are familiar with what happens when breeding mice from a very early age, breeding back to back litters, how mothers react to their babies being taken away (and not returned), etc etc etc, and this means we can offer advice when pet keepers accidentally do things the pet world is unfamiliar with. Some mouse people assume that breeding a female more than two or three times will kill them! Some think that breeding an older male might kill him! Some think that mice won't be healthy if weaned earlier than about five weeks.

A feeder breeder won't learn much at all from a forum about how to mass produce mice, so they'll only be around if they actually do like their mice.

 

[Dragonfly-Stud]

I say thank god for feeder breeders the amount of mice I shift to them is huge you know how it goes mmm I'll keep that one and that and that before long aaargg too many mice their seems to be no shortage of feeder breeders looking for colonies.

 

[Mark]

I give the culled mice to my friends who have reps

 

[Mighty Mice Mousery]

although I have just begun I am very interested to learn as much as I can as fast as I can... I even sat up late the last couple of eves with a calculator and averaged out the number of pups to a femails litter at optimal health and how many mice one could end up with in a 90 day period with the majority of mice pups being femail and only 1/3 of each litter being male.... and came up with ASTONISHING numbers.... :shock:

LOL!

But I am still game. Might Mice Mousery intends to breed both for pet as well as for feeder varieties and any knowledge you care to share will be more than welcome... especially if it comes from experience!!! :lol: teach me oh mighty mouse san.... teach me!

LOL

ok, ok... a bit overdone... but hey... who said we couldnt have some fun while we learn and grow?

MMM

 

[ChancedOutlaw]

I am a feeder breeder and I love my mice. I breed to feed my frogs, the ones my frogs don't eat, I find homes for them (usually sell to my local petstore) or give them to friends with larger herps.

 

[Anna_May]

Hi
I am completely aware of why some people may no like the idea of breeding mice to then give to reptiles, but at the end of the day i think its alot nicer for you as the owner and breeder to know that the time and energy you put into making sure your mice are healthy then goes onto knowing that you have been able to help sustain another persons pet.
I breed mainly because i am interested in the genetics and the variety of colours mice offer. But you do sometimes end up with a particularly ugly litter and they become the mice you sell as food, as you know that no paying customer wants an ugly mouse.
I love all my mice and the ones that are nicely marked are then sold onto my local pet store.
I'm only 19 years old by the way xx

 

[moustress]

Yes, Virginia, there are such things as mousies that are just truly ugh-lee!! I send my surplus and uglies to a sote that stocks mouscicles as I am one that does not believe that snakes need live food. It's a lot better than just putting them down, at least they are going back into the food chain.

 

[Lime Green Mouse]

I was so thrilled to see this, I'm so happy you guys don't judge us feeder breeders harshly like other rodent loving communities do! I know there are a lot of forums out there where we are simply not welcome. I take a lot of care in making sure my feeders are happy and healthy, but most people around here hear that you kill your mice or sell them to reptile owners, and they flip out like you don't really care about the mice. It's such a misconception and something I'd love to see change some day, and I hope I'm helping to make that difference in my area. Thank you all for being so tolerant!

 

[moustress]

Yes, tolerance is very, very good.

 

[Jack Garcia]

How is breeding for feeders different than breeding for show and culling 75% of every litter? I contend that it's not. As long as the animals are taken care of while alive and dispatched quickly, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[podcreature]

oh my goodness! thank you! haha, that's all I can think to say. you know... some animal lovers can get pretty scary when someone mentions that they feed thier furry little freinds to another, scaly freind... I admit, when I was 16 I bred mice to feed my snake, though, these days, it seems more like I have a snake so I can breed mice...! I love my ball python! I've been a snake fanatic and a tomboy since as long as I can remember... I'd run all around the neighborhood catching garter snakes, frogs... and I'd come home smelling -terrible-! lol... and you know, just because I like all variety of animals, and eat hamburgers, doesn't mean that I don't believe that an animal in my care should be unhappy, or unappreciated. ...or in anyone's care for that matter! being a mouse keeper isn't any different from being the keeper of any other animal. that even goes for beef farmers! life is important to -me- anyway, and it's nice to find some level headed people who can understand that. my mice are happy clean, and healthy. and I came to learn even more about them, and I can only take it further than I have, by actually talking to people and hearing about their experiences personally! I also would like to improve the quality of my mice... they're bright eyed little mutts, but since I've been at it this long, I might as well aim for a pedigree lol... and it's nice to feel like I can go somewhere for good advice and not get shot at for poor Occi! (the ball python)

 

[windyhill]

I dont feed just for feeders, but sometimes if I end up with a litter that I cant adopt out for one reason or another, then I dont have a problem selling it as a feeder.
Tolerance is a great thing, and its one reason why I love this forum so much.

 

[Elven]

I breed feeder mice. But, I bred mice 10 years, before I got my first snakes. I really feel that I love mice more than snakes, reptiles are just a good way to get rid of too many mice, and older mice. Just today I had to put down one older male, because he had a tumor. I dont feel bad, because I know that his death was not useless.

 

[moustress]

Euthanizing sick mousies is a good deed. The ones I have trouble over are the really, really old meeces who aren't sick, just going downhill slowly. I guess that as long as they are still eating and don't seem to be in pain I tend to let them go on and die naturally.

 

[mouseman]

hi everybody, i am a feeder breeder and would ove some fresh stock in or around the cumbria area.
also i have 20 lab style cages for sale at £6each,the cages are 15cm wide 13.5 high and 35cm long, most have brass inserts to the rear so a standard hamster bottle can be used. just purchased a 56 cage rack so these 20 loose ones are no use really.
if any1 can help my mouse situation or would be interested in the cages call me on 07897590264 or mail me .... [email protected]

 

[Autumn2005]

I'm a feeder breeder and I just got into it. I've had a snakes all my life, and my current snake is 14 years old. At first I just had one buck and one doe, but once I started I fell in love with the mice, and now have 9 that I keep and breed in rotation. They all have names and I hold them every day. If a friend wants a mouse, I am perfectly happy to recommend mice from my friendliest mice, and if they want a mouse to feed a rep, I'm happy for that too. None of my mice are ever wasted, whether they are pets or food.

 

[miss.understood]

I've kept snakes for 19 years, and have been keeping mice for a few months now. One of my does had a litter and i found two dead babies, so rather than disposing of them, they were in a sense recycled by giving the dead babies to the small corn snake we have. Though i didn't like the idea much, it's surely better than wasting them.

I agree with the statement before. a lot of mouse breeders cull a fair few of the babies cos they don't make the grade...there isn't really a difference, either cull because the don't make the grade, or cull to feed another animal. i'd prefer the latter. though at the moment i breed to sell on as i know people who want mice (live). those which die, are a bonus for my reptiles.x

 

[Lizzle]

Reptiles have to eat too, after all. Just like we raise chickens and pigs so we can eat too. I can definitely understand how they'd be hesitant, though.

 

[Erica]

I'm on my second time of breeding mice. I had some last year, to breed to feed to my snakes, and I'm such a softie, I wanted to keep them all! I'm trying it again, and currently have about 58 mice, around half of which will be fed to the snakes (we have alot of snakes!). I do not believe in feeding live, as I feel it is too traumatic for the mouse, and poses too much of a risk for the snake as well. I prefer the co2 method for dispatch. The happiness and well-being of the mouse is what ultimately made me join this group, as I want my "keepers" to be healthy, and live long full lives (I'm also interested in color/pattern/genetics). The ones I name are the ones I keep, because once they are named, I am too attached to let them go, unless they are sick or in pain (i haven't had to deal with that yet). Also, I agree with what a lot of others already said, that its nice not to be judged for what we do...