How To Breed Mice

Breeding mice is a fairly easy process and is cheap as well. Mice are a very interesting species for someone whose hobby includes breeding them. If you want to breed mice, but don't know the technique, then you have come to the right place. Read on to find out how to breed mice.

Selective Breeding - Selective breeding is a procedure to breed in a systematic manner in order to change the qualities in them. With the help of selective breeding, the offspring of the mice can improve. As a result of selective breeding, the mice can improve their color/ markings, types and their health as well. But before you go for selective breeding, there are certain points that must be kept in mind. These include:

What color, marking or coat variety you want to breed?
What is the quality of the mice that you already have?
What is the quality of the mice in respect to the general breed of mice found in the area?
How many mice are you keeping?
Do you want to breed same variety of mice or different varieties?

Choosing color - It is always better to choose one color or one type of marking and sticking to it. Choose a color that will suit the mice is a very important factor. Getting greedy and choosing too many colors would not have a good effect on the offspring.

Space - Before you decide to breed mice, you must see the amount of space that you have available at your disposal. Ideally, you should have a spare room to breed more mice, but if you don't, then make sure that you do not breed more than you can handle. Also remember, mice stink even if you change their bedding each day so the more mice you have, the more time it takes to take care of them.

Cooperation - Be cooperative with other breeders. Don't be selfish when it comes to mice breeding. You might even try out other breeder's mice for breeding purposes; here is where your cooperative nature will prove beneficial.

Suitability - Do not hurry into the breeding process. Take into consideration the suitability of the female mouse. Please be sure that the female mouse that you have is suitable for having young. She should be of suitable age; not too young or old. Also, it is helpful to take care that the female mouse does not have any kind of disease or it can very easily pass on to the offspring. On the other hand, the male must be free from diseases as well. When planning a mating, one should take good care that the male will take care of some of the weaker points of the females. For example, if the color of the female is dark, it pays to use a lighter colored male.

Diet - You should take good care of the diet of the mice, specially the female mouse as she will be the one who will give birth to young. The diet that you give must be versatile. You should feed your mice with vegetables or fruits, porridges, or even cat food.

Resting Period – Ideally, there must be a waiting period of atleast 1 month between mating. A minimum resting period of 2 weeks is essential before you try and mate the male and the female mice again.

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