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Post by fuzzymom on Sept 7, 2012 9:54:00 GMT -9
Currently I have no rodents but as I'd love to begin breeding feeder rodents again, I joined this forum.
Back when I bred rodents before, I used glass tanks and some home-made plastic rodent bins. The home-made bins were great but they were a pain to make and not always very secure. Now, I've heard that glass tanks are horrible for housing rodents. I just want some opinions from the members here on glass tanks.
I have a 10g tank I was hoping to use to house 2-3 mice for breeding. With regular (2x weekly) cleaning, would this be okay to use?
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Post by quixoticwhit on Sept 9, 2012 16:04:51 GMT -9
Glass/plastic tanks are not the best. They don't allow for good air circulation which can be hazardous to the animals health.
What kind of rodents are you getting? Some are hardier than others. What kind of bedding will you use? A good dust/odor free bedding might be okay to use in a tank.
For my rats I had a rank topper, so the bottom level was the tank and the top two were wire. This worked well with frequent cleanings.
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Post by fuzzymom on Sept 12, 2012 12:29:39 GMT -9
I was thinking of mice. 2 females and 1 male. I plan on using aspen for bedding but may choose to put a layer of wood pellet bedding on the bottom for odor absorption.
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Post by quixoticwhit on Sept 14, 2012 8:15:22 GMT -9
I know people use tanks with success, but just be sure to remember that without air circulation you will need the best care and cleaning routines.
I'm pretty anti-tank, but they do have benefits--like if you have a climber, a bad climber, that doesn't learn from her mistakes. My poor hamster broke her leg by getting it stuck in the cage bars. But she just keeps climbing, and falling! (I don't think she'll ever learn how to climb down)
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Post by Katt on Sept 26, 2012 20:14:44 GMT -9
I used glass tanks for a long time. I had one breeding group (2 females, 1 male) per 10 gallon tank. The problem was with the 10 gallon it just gets crowded fast. I upgraded to plastic tubs and was so much happier (as were they) when I did. Also, the glass tanks tend to be heavy and more of a pain in the butt to clean. It can certainly be done though!
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Post by allenya on Sept 27, 2012 14:23:22 GMT -9
I personally like the plastic home-made bins and the glass tanks.
Now my reasoning for it is that Dwarf Hamsters love to escape. The bars on the average hamster cage are not close enough together. I had a hamster push through the bars on a cage I though I had fixed up so they couldn't do this. She got out of the cage and the tried to get back in to get to the water bottle. She got stuck and choked to death because we were not home to find her. Also with the digging the little boobs do barred cages can be really messy and at one time our Hamham's lived on a shelf above our bed. When we still had cages poops in out bed in the morning was kind of gross.
What I do is use a butane powered hot knife and cut squares out of the lid of the bin, not one large one but several smaller ones so the lid helps support itself. I lay and wire on mesh. I then get a small fan, a computer fan can work really well. The fan will such out the 'dirty' air. I also had an air purifier.
I do prefer a bin to a tank as Katt mentioned the tanks are much heavier and that makes it harder to clean. And also I agree that a 10 gal is a little to small to breed. I would say if you want glass a 20 is better but even heavier.
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Post by Katt on Sept 27, 2012 21:52:59 GMT -9
I agree, I would never recommend barred cages for anything smaller than a Syrian hamster. Dwarf hamsters, mice, and I'm sure even gerbils can escape from barred cages. And yes as allenya mentioned - they are messy!
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Post by josiesmom on Oct 4, 2012 6:34:23 GMT -9
I used plastic in the past and while it started out well, eventually the mice chewed through. I am using 10 gallon tanks now. Housing 3 to 6 does and 1 buck per tank. Tanks are stored on wire rack, three tanks per shelf, four shelves per rack. Cleaning done once a week. Bedding was pine pellets, now is kiln dried shreds. Tanks are in bathroom where temp stays pretty much 70°f except when showering. So far this is working well. Litters coming monthly from practically all tanks. Average size is 10 pups.
Some pocket fuzz from my SG II
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Post by allenya on Oct 5, 2012 7:47:35 GMT -9
I believe mice chew not them dwarfs. My dwarfs have never chewed on the plastic homemade tanks. But they have chewed the rim on the 10gal I have, a lot actually.
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Post by Katt on Oct 9, 2012 21:07:16 GMT -9
I had them the the lid once but never the tubs. Rearranging the cage so they couldn't reach the roof solved that problem.
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Post by fuzzymom on Oct 25, 2012 5:32:55 GMT -9
Thank you for all the info. For now I will stick to the 10 gallon tank and do a 1.2 group. Another question. For enrichment, do you advise giving them things like wheels (I've heard if you planning to breed, not to give them wheels because the parents can injure the babies on the wheel)? If not, what do you suggest?
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Post by Katt on Oct 26, 2012 12:34:08 GMT -9
I learned the hard way to not give them wheels. I do offer things like toilet paper tubes and chew blocks though. Giving differen bedding items is nice too, such as throwing in the occasional bits of TP, paper towels, newspaper, etc. Also, allowing them out of the cage occasionally is good stimulation and exercise. I keep a little mouse ball on hand so I can let them run around on occasion.
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