ordering bulk food dilema

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

I highly doubt it would be worth you time to breed as they stink, have a high rate of cannibalism and are just gross.

Who ever recommended dog food gave you terrible advice. Higher levels of protein is thought to lead to higher rates of cancer. Me and a friend got our breeding stock from the same source. He feed his mostly dog and cat food while I fed mine a scrap diet supplemented with seeds. He had many rodents with cancer and tumors and their coats were disgusting and oily. I had maybe one with cancer and I was producing about 50 a week.

will they always stink? i like to keep things very clean, so the cage would always be clean. i also trained my hamsters to go to the bathroom in a "litter box" so i might be able to do that with mice. is it just the urine and fecal matter, because that i could work with.
& what was in the 'scrap diet' you fed them?

[KORBIN5895]

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

will they always stink? i like to keep things very clean, so the cage would always be clean. i also trained my hamsters to go to the bathroom in a "litter box" so i might be able to do that with mice. is it just the urine and fecal matter, because that i could work with.
& what was in the 'scrap diet' you fed them?

If you are seriously working 17 hours a day you don't want to clean cages everyday. As far as the scrap diet I feed them a lot of fruits and veggies I got from my local grocery that they were throwing away, they loved pop corn I used to get from the movie theater and breads from a local bakery. I had two males and 33 female breeders in on enclosure plus all of the off spring smaller than adult size. They could eat me out of house and home for a joke. I would only give them protein sparingly.

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

If you are seriously working 17 hours a day you don't want to clean cages everyday. As far as the scrap diet I feed them a lot of fruits and veggies I got from my local grocery that they were throwing away, they loved pop corn I used to get from the movie theater and breads from a local bakery. I had two males and 33 female breeders in on enclosure plus all of the off spring smaller than adult size. They could eat me out of house and home for a joke. I would only give them protein sparingly.

one question- you said you have 33 females and 2 males in one enclosure, but do you have to separate the females when they have the litter of pups? i read the other females will eat and kill the babies that dont belong to them.

[MDT]

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

will they always stink? i like to keep things very clean, so the cage would always be clean. i also trained my hamsters to go to the bathroom in a "litter box" so i might be able to do that with mice. is it just the urine and fecal matter, because that i could work with.
& what was in the 'scrap diet' you fed them?

ILMS....you are, without a doubt, one of the more passionate reptile owners I've come across. It is apparent that you really care about your animals, and are extremely vigilant (almost excessively so) about the well being of your animals.

That being said, dude...you gotta let some of this stuff slide. Let them just do their thing. You'll sleep better at night. As far as food goes, like folks have said, go to a show or buy online...get various sizes and buy a bucket full for the year if that's what you want to do...It's $$$ upfront, but will save time and effort for you in the long run. Don't breed your own mice in an apartment, it will stink more than you can imagine. Your neighbors would not appreciate it.