Rodent Breeding

Rodent Breeding

For Fun, Feed, & Profit

Breeding Mice

I originally started breeding mice just to feed my snakes. My collection was eating about 75-100 mice per week and, even though I was getting my mice at wholesale prices, it was getting pretty costly. I'm no expert, but I've learned from some very successful rodent breeders who have decades of experience. I've bred all kinds of mice in the past, blues, Siamese, calico, etc. but now I only work with "Swiss Webster" lab mice.

"Swiss Websters" are a laboratory created strain genetically designed to produce extraordinarily large litters.

I keep 1 male and 3 or 4 females in each breeding group. This usually gives a nice constant production in each box. More than one male and they'll spend more time fighting than breeding and the extra males may also kill off the babies. Each female usually has a litter about every 25 days. 4 females per box will give you an average of 4 litters per box, per month. After breeding for about 6 months the females slow down and produce smaller litters. At this time they get sold or fed to snakes.

These are commercially made rodent breeding boxes, commonly called "lab boxes".

Keeping their cages clean is an absolute must! I use pine shavings which I change every 3 or 4 days. The water bottles get checked twice daily and cleaned out with a bleach/water solution every week. Here's a great secret I learned....add Vanilla Extract (pure or imitation) to the drinking water. The Vanilla will be passed through their digestive systems resulting in 50% less odor from their stools and urine. If you'll be keeping your mice colonies in the house this will help you keep the odors down tremendously! I have about 40 breeding groups that I keep in the house and I can testify to the effectiveness of the Vanilla. Try it, it really works! The Vanilla doesn't have any ill effects on the mice or the snakes they're fed to. I use about 2-3 teaspoons per gallon, or a few drops per drinking bottle. I mainly use only imitation vanilla, it's cheaper than pure vanilla extract and works just as well if not better and it leaves much less residue inside the bottles than pure extract does.

I buy "Imitation Vanilla" at a local restaurant supply store. I pay less than $2 for a 1 quart bottle. At a regular grocery store, you'd pay about $5 for a pint!

Russian Dwarf Hamsters

I keep/breed these because their pinkies can be used to get stubborn non-feeding snake babies to feed. The baby dwarfs have a much more natural smell to them which triggers a feeding response from snakes that are refusing to feed on domestic mice. These little guys also make great pets and come in a variety of different colors.

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