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Breeding Mice – Comprehensive step by step guide

Breeding Mice

Comprehensive step by step guide for breeding mice

Reasons why you want to know the process for breeding mice and what you will need to start your own breeding farm

Reasons why you would want to start breeding mice:

  1. Breed them as pets
  2. You could want a few more because your kids friends want some as well
  3. Maybe you want to start a Pet Shop and decided to breed them yourself instead of buying them from somewhere else
  4. You might want to start your own mouse breeding farm to supply Pet Shops and snake parks with live stock
  5. Or you just want to start breeding mice to feed your pet snake

Things to consider before breeding mice

  1. When Breeding Mice th enclosures needs to be cleaned every 2 to 3 days, especially the male mice enclosure as they excrete a musky smell to mark their territory which can be very unpleasant
  2. They should always have clean water
  3. You need to keep an eye on them and ensure that they don’t bite each other
  4. The mice enclosure needs to be in an area that has a stable temperature that is between 22 to 39 degrees Celsius.

What you need to start breeding mice

Mouse Enclosures

Setup your preferred enclosure in a well ventilated area with temperatures between 22 and 30 degrees Celsius (71 to 86 Fahrenheit)

Wood Shavings

Add some wood shavings for bedding to ensure that your mice has got a comfortable place to sleep and give birth to offspring. A layer of about 2 cm will be sufficient.

Wood Shavings for Breeding Mice

Water Bottle

Insert your water bottle and ensure that it has always got clean water in.

Normal Water Bottle

Mouse Food

You can use a lot of different variants to feed your mice. When Breeding Mice I would suggest the rodent mix as it has more nutrition. But I have listed the most common once here.

Your Breeding Mice for this Project

I would suggest starting with a ratio of 1/4 or 5. Meaning that your Breeding Mice will consist of 1 male with 4 to 5 females in the same enclosure. As soon as you notice that a female is pregnant it is best to move her to another enclosure. You can put multiple pregnant females in the same enclosure as they tend to help take care of each others offspring.

If you need know more about mouse breeding for example, how to tell them apart, please see the FAQ section below.

Breeding Mice – Frequenter asked Questions (FAQ’s)

At what age is my breeding mice ready to breed?

You can start Breeding Mice relatively early

  • A female mouse can start at roughly 6 weeks old. However waiting until your female is around 12 weeks will produce stronger and almost always more litters.
  • Male mouse are ready to reproduce at the age of 8 weeks.

At what age is my breeding mice done breeding?

  • Males will generally stop breeding at around 12 months old.
  • It is recommended that you stop breeding your female at around 8 to 12 months as the death in child rearing increases.

How long is the pregnancy of a female mouse?

A female mouse will give birth to her offspring between 19 and 21 days.

How many baby mice or litters can I expect every time she is pregnant?

They can deliver between 4 and 13 baby mice but on average it is around 6.

How many baby mice does a female mouse produce in her lifetime?

A female mouse will typically give birth to around 40 to 60 baby mice per annum.

When should I wean the baby mice? / When should I take the baby mice away from their mother?

Baby mice should be weaned at around 21 days if the male is in the same enclosure and 28 days if only the mother is in the enclosure. The only time you will wean them earlier is if the same mom gives birth to another litter but then you need to ensure that their eyes are open and that they have teeth and have normal fur like an adult mouse.

How can I tell if my Breeding Mice are male or female?

The easiest way to determine is by looking at the Males has a genital area that is much further away from the anus than the females. When comparing a male and female you will notice that the female has a vaginal orifice/opening behind the bump and the male does not.

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