I realise there are many fanciers better placed than me to offer guidance but, for what it’s worth, here are my ten rules for achieving some success as an exhibitor of fancy mice. There are, of course, successful fanciers who don’t follow all of these rules, so make of them what you will.
Rule 1. Do not keep too many different varieties. I suggest two or three varieties at most unless you are very experienced and truly have the time, space and commitment to care for more. It helps if your varieties are linked, breeding-wise, e. g. pink-eyed white + self silver, or pink-eyed white + Himalayan + seal-point Siamese.
Rule 2. Choose varieties that you like, and acquire the best available breeding stock of your chosen varieties right at the outset.
Rule 3. House them in a well-lit, well-ventilated, clean, dust-free and vermin-proof environment that is not prone to big temperature fluctuations.
Rule 4. Do not raise too many babies in a litter. I suggest removing any obvious runts on day two, and then cutting down to just three or four babies on day five. Marked varieties may need a day or two longer.
Rule 5. Keep litters single sex. Raise only bucks or only does in a litter.
Rule 6. Keep accurate (but simple) records for each litter, identifying the buck, litter size, and what you are keeping. This, along with rule 5, will help to avoid a brother/sister mating.
Rule 7. Feed them a varied seed-based diet plus other supplementary foods they enjoy. A happy mouse is a healthy mouse! My mice are fed daily, and given fifteen different kinds of food during any one week, as well as fresh water in a drinking bottle.
Rule 8. Clean their accommodation regularly or whenever needed. I use Aubiose hemp bedding and clean white shredded teabag paper. Nothing else. They do like fresh meadow hay, but acquiring reliable dust-free and mite-free hay can be difficult. Never give them straw.
Rule 9. Check the health of your stock regularly. Remove any babies that are not thriving. Remove any litters that get squitty diarrhoea. Remove any mice that get sniffles or a tumour.
Rule 10. Do not keep more mice than you can comfortably care for, or are necessary to further your show career. Keep only what you need and keep only the best.
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I do very much the same, although I cannot say that I try to avoid brother to sister matings. Sometimes, these do not yield healthy stock but often enough it is brother to sister matings that produce some outstanding specimens.
Since I usually have several boxes of litters the same age, or aged within a week, I do not bother with single sex litters. After weaning, I put youngs bucks in one box and young does in another. I do not cull, but then, I don’t keep pale selfs where you need to compete with big u8s.
I keep all bucks until they are 12 weeks old at least, sometimes longer, before I decide which to breed with. And of course I feed pelletes, which allows for a much less frequent feeding routine. I only top up the hoppers.
Well said Steve that’s the same as we do .thanknyou for all the good ideas of the rules to follow .