I learnt something dreadful yesterday!

I found out that people who breed mice kill the babies!!!

They do it because they want big mice, nice marked mice or they don't want males!!! how horrible!!!!!!

To think i was going to buy from a breeder!!!

Well not now, i'm going to get rescues. I'm disgusted at this act of cruelty.

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Well maybe if you go to a mass producing breeder they might cull the "undesirables" but tbh I REALLY wouldn't want to buy from someone that mass produces anyway!! Finding out they cull babies doesn't really shock me Disgusts me, yes, shocks, no. I imagine you'll probably find that they likely then sell on the dead babies as food for other pets.

Find yourself a nice hobby breeder and you'll be fine!

I like your idea of rescuing better though

I think it happens with lots of animals not just mice. Dalmation puppies are sometimes put down if they don't have enough spots, its so sad to think healthy animals are killed for no good reason. I guess thats the way they make the most money. It's not just anyone who breeds them though, people who breed for a hobby like me love their animals (check out my pics of my harvest mice babies).

At the risk of everyone disliking me.

I cull down litters. I take the numbers down to 3-5 because its less stressful for the mother, i take out all the boys then any females that are small. this allows the other babies to grown much bigger and healthier.

The babies i take out and cull do not go to waste, i dont throw them away and i dont make money from them. I give them to my friends who have reptiles so they can be fed a healthy mouse rather than a frozen mouse from a petshop that has no history of health ect.

I repeat the babies i cull go to feeding snakes because snakes have to eat too.

Edit : Also the reason many breeders like myself cull down on males is because they are a lot harder to rehome, Not many people like the musky smell of male mice. They cant be rehomed in pairs as in the future they are likely to fight and kill eachother.

Mark is it easy to tell the difference between male and female when they are born, I ask because I have just started breeding Harvest mice and can't tell the difference till they get near maturity, wondered if you can tell me how you tell with normal mice?

Its the distance between the anus and genitals, For pinkies you need to get a lot of practice in ive just started to get 100 % right out of my past 2 litters.

I had to use pictures which are on another forum which i can link you to if you wish.

I wait until they are 3 days old this stimulates the milk flow of the mother, and if im unsure i wait till nipples start to show then its much eaiser.

at the riskof anyone disliking you!?

What the...? Thats horrible!? You cull them so you get fatter mice. not so the female can cope better. Rats can have 22 babies and i don't know ANY rat breeders that murder the babies.

If you can't manage the litters then don't breed. How can you live with yourself?

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The babies are "culled" for a reason, To feed snakes and other reptiles. Admittedly its males that go for snake food but like i have explained they are becoming harder and harder to rehome. My mice are healthy and well cared for. Im even putting my own education at risk here as i have no money to go to college thursday and friday just so my mice and rats can get the best diet for them.

Surely you wouldnt want an animal to go hungry would you?

Lets not forget that there are valid reasons for culling babies in breeding all species of animals.

Reasons such as stated above large litter sizes and of course deformities and abnormalities that would prevent the animal from leading a happy and healthy life.

It also happens in farming.

Of course if it was left to nature the balance would be address by disease and preditors.

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yes well i'm vegan so i don't agree with farming animals for our pleasure! I alsodo not see why killing baby mice can be for the best. I have 10 rats, a rabbit and am soon getting rescue mice. I wouldn't kill them if something drstic happened and i couldn't afford them!

This is seriously sick. Talking as if it's "for the best" who are you kidding? The rat breeders did say mice breeders weren't as nice as rat breeders. As i said before rats have the same size litters as mice yet rat breeders don't murder the babies.

Rat breeders don't actually breed for money, they breed because they like rats. Culing mice must be for mone. You get money for selling the murdered bodies of the babies and you tell yourself it's for the good of the mother and your other animals. Well you know fine well it isn't. Wild mice cope perfectly ok, yes they lose some due to natural selection but domestic mice cope fine. I've never heard of rats or mice struggling due to normal sized litters. Mice are built to cope with large litters, i've seen many wild baby mice running around my garage, ones which have survived in the wild and ones which have been in huge litters.

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