"every sperm is sacred" .. man I love Monty Python.
Ah well, I breed egyptian spiny mice. I do not sell, give away, trade, or anything them... as I am still fairly new to them (only owned them for about 5 years now, breeding 4) and there is a severe lack of CORRECT information out there. They are also very often bred without care of temperament, socialization, anything, by those who do claim to be breeders.. and the others aren't even licensed to breed them and yet they still sell them. They require a USDA license unless you own 3 or fewer breeding females. that means females of ALL species you own (cat, dog, degu, spiny mouse) that are not spayed.
I probably shouldn't defend myself, as I know this is a very heavily rescue-influenced place (I've done and helped rat and mouse rescues many times.. I can say now that I could NEVER breed domestic rats or mice.. there are far too many out there in horrible conditions, and rats can have as many as 15-20 babies, and breed at only 5 weeks of age.. mice younger and more prolific). However I will say sometimes breeding is necessary to ensure healthier lines, with better temperament, better ..well.. all-around pet. I am not knowledgable with cavies so I'm sorry if it does not apply to them...
Spinies are still very much wild animals. I've been working on temperament with my guys, documenting who's mated with who, who was born, what genes they carry (I have three different mutations), their temperament, health, and what they died from and how long they've lived. I maintian a SMALL colony of around 20 spinies, seperated in different enclosures for different reasons, and there's a 20 gallon long with some young males I keep in my bedroom so I can better watch them constantly, as they've developed some tail biting (common in spinies sadly.. it's a learned trait as well as hereditary it seems..) and they were direct desendants of an older spiny who recently died at 4 1/2 years.
not defending myself... I believe in going to rescues before breeders, and breeders before ..well.. everything else.. then pet stores as a last resort. then again I have a giant pouched rat that took me 5 YEARS to track down a baby of... I do know after my ferret passed away last year from adrenal disease (he was a rescue, died the night after his surgery from throwing a blood clot) that I want to look into a GOOD breeder with VERY healthy lines... as I don't know if I could ever go through that again.... I spent almost 1000 dollars and tried doing everything right, and of course it went wrong. although it'd be many years and lots of research on breeders before ever even remotely deciding on getting them again..
I don't know.. sometimes it's nice knowing there are decent responsible breeders out there working on improving their lines.. those who will STOP an entire line if a genetic problem arises, or if tumors crop up. those who track and have tracked their lines for decades past, and keep in contact with everyone who's ever gotten a pet from them. Yes, they exist.. although I don't know if they do with cavies, once again... as I said before I'm a rat person at heart and I do know a VERY select few absolutely wonderful individuals who breed rats.. I only wish to be like that... spinies are far from being perfect, especially when it comes to temperament, but every step in the right direction is a wonderful one..
just for the record: spiny mice have between 1-3 babies per litter. I plan out between 2-3 litters per year, depending on how many are born. The most I've ever had in a litter was 4, and that was once.... the least? I've had MANY consisting of only 1 baby. I believe the small litter size makes it far easier to do what I'm doing and keep all offspring, to monitor everyone's progress. best time to breed them is at 1 year of age when all their qualities show...
I currently have one female satin cream (she carries both agouti and cream and it shows... the cream made the red the agouti color disappear, but she has the tipping of an agouti... common result in crossing the two) who is by far the sweetest and most wonderful spiny I've had yet.. she'll be a year old in October and that is when she will be paired with my lone satin agouti male who has a fairly decent temperament. Yes, she is not "show quality" in the sense that she is a "bad" version of cream.. but her personality and temperament is by far the most wonderful I've had so far... this is actually going to be the only mating I have planned this entire year because I'm pregnant myself, and due in Sept., heh... and I know I won't have any time to spend on properly socializing other litters with a baby, but I do want this litter to happen, and be the most spoiled and best that I have.. it's a special event for me, sorry....
If anyone wants to see them, I'd love to post their photos... Lucy's my sweetie..
and this is probably just one big stupid worthless post as well, but being 19 weeks pregnant and not being able to take my paxil does that to me so bear with me.