# Rat/Mouse breeding questions



## beatlloydy (Jan 23, 2010)

So I am heading down the path of mice and possibly rat breeding. I have heard a few horror stories though and need a few questions answered.

The mice and rats will be in the garage which is about 25M away from the reptile room behind at least one closed door.

Can snakes smell the rats/mice from that far away?

This Myco that rats tend to get...how do they pick it up and what is the best way to prevent it?

If my rats/mice picked up mites...can they migrate into the snake room by themselves or do they require a host to carry them in?

Any other tips and tricks appreciated...I am not going the whole hog...just keeping a main breeding harem of 1 male and 2 females and thinking of culling out every 6 months or so.


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## Lonewolf (Jan 24, 2010)

I'm not sure about the whole snakes and smell thing. Mine don't seem affected by the smell of rodents near by. And won't even try to bite even if i've been down in the shed cleaning cages and absolutely reek.

But i do know that all rats have myco. It's passed from mother to bubs during birth. So unless you have a colony of c section born ratties you may end up with myco rats. There is no way to prevent it completely. It helps if their cages/tubs are clean and you don't use wood shavings though. Dust may cause sneezing but it's nothing to worry about until they start weezing and have porpherin (sp?) around their eyes and nose. It also helps if you buy rats from healthy parents. Pet shop rats almost always end up with one problem or another. So try locate a feeder breeder near you that has healthy ratties.

I'm not 100% sure on the mites either lol but i've heard ivermectin is good for feeder rats.

Hope this helps a little


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## wranga (Jan 24, 2010)

theres no problem with having your rodents 25m away from your snakes. i keep some snakes in my garage along with rodents and dont have problems.
myco, keep tubs clean and hope that you dont buy breeders that carry it.
mites, if you buy clean breeders to start with and yu dont have wild rodents comming around your breeders you wont have problems with mites. im not sure if the mites rodents get would be the same mites that would trouble your snakes. mites need a host to get to your snakes. that host could even be you.
culling, not sure if you ment culling your breeders or all rodents bred every 6 months. if your meaning all every 6 months you will have 300+gram rats which arent the healthiest to feed.


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## Tail_less (Jan 25, 2010)

Mites are transmitted by contact with other rats (ie in petstores) or by wild rats, mice etc coming into contact with your rats through the cage wire etc.

How to tell if they have mites? Usually you can see tiny dots around the edges of their ears, which are dried spots of blood. The dots usually look black or dark red. Rats with mites will also scratch a lot, more than the occasional itch.

To treat? When bringing home new rats, treat them with ivermectin (availble from vets) or a dose of ivermectin based horse dewormer paste such as 'Equimec' available from stockfeed suppliers. The dose is one tiny dot (about the size of a pinhead) for an adult rat. Halve the dose for a young or teenage rat.Wipe it into the rat's mouth with something like the end of a cable tie or pull the fluffy bit off a cotton tip and use that. The beauty of this Equimec is that it not only kills mites, but also worms.

Then after this, quarantine them away from other rats for a week to allow for mites to die off them. After the quarantine, thorougly clean out the rat's home and throw away all bedding etc. Sterilise bowls etc. This can all be done with diluted bleach but make sure to rinse everything really well. 

Rats can be dosed against mites every month or as needed. If someone had a bad problem with mites they may need to dose more often. Be careful as it is possible to over dose with dewormer. You wouldn't want to dose any more than every two weeks, unless advised by a vet. 

As for myco: all rats (except sterile lab rats) pass it on and it is dormant in their systems. Rats with a flare-up of myco usually hyave a runny nose and gunky/running eyes and sneeze a lot, look 'fluffed up' and generally unwell. The mucus from rats noses/eyes is red, usually looks like blood but this is just the colour of the mucus. Rats that are unwell,wormy or stressed will also show these signs.

Myco is aggravated by stress, dusty environments and pine/cedar shaving bedding (rats are intolerant of pine and cedar resin, the sap). Alternative bedding is shredded paper or newspaper, or paper pellets (sold as cat litter in supermarkets...see 'Breeder's choice' etc.) Cold/draughty or too hot conditions, overcrowding, inadequate diet etc can also bring on myco. 

Myco is treatable by quarantining the sick rat and ensuring it has clean dry bedding. It can be treated with antibiotics such as "Baytril." If antibiotics are not an option, then feed as much Vit C rich foods such as carrot, pumpkin etc. and fresh fruit as possible...and it cannot hurt to treat against mites, just in case.

Sorry about writing a 'book' here...just wanted to pass on some helpful info.


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## Bax155 (Feb 2, 2010)

So I am heading down the path of mice and possibly rat breeding. I have heard a few horror stories though and need a few questions answered.

The mice and rats will be in the garage which is about 25M away from the reptile room behind at least one closed door.

Can snakes smell the rats/mice from that far away? I have on average 5000 mice 20m from my snakes (and we all know how smelly mice can get) and there temperament has not changed at all, I even pack rodents at my desk which is in front of my enclosures, so smell shouldnt be a problem.

This Myco that rats tend to get...how do they pick it up and what is the best way to prevent it? Ive never noticed myco in my rodents so cant answer this one!

If my rats/mice picked up mites...can they migrate into the snake room by themselves or do they require a host to carry them in? Mites/lice that rodents carry are different to reptile mites so no need to worry bout this one in my opinion, you will first notice if you have mites on your rodents by looking at the pinkies, they will be red dots if full of blood or black ones searching for blood, I treat mites with a spray called permoxin which is diluted in water, I've tried ivermectin as someone previously stated and found it useless, I also sprinkle sulfur in my tubs which tends to keep the mites away!

Any other tips and tricks appreciated...I am not going the whole hog...just keeping a main breeding harem of 1 male and 2 females and thinking of culling out every 6 months or so. Read read read, everyone has there own methods and techniques its up to which way suits your needs best.


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## jennyb (Feb 3, 2010)

I have only ever seen 1 mice with mites, I checked it under the microscope at work and it turned out to be a classic 'walking dandruff' mite. Ivermectin will work but maybe 2 doses would be requred 2 weeks apart, a little note though is using ivermec on any animal they are not to be used for food use for about 28 days. This goes for using it on chickens and not eating their eggs as well.

Mites will multiply on an animal which is not 100% healthy and quickly deplete it and cause death. 

Jenny


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