Traditionally, breeding and exhibition mice were housed in wooden breeding boxes, often outside in garden sheds. However more recently modern studs have been using alternatives such as second hand mice/rat lab cages, and converted plastic storage tubs, which are kept either outside in a garden shed, or inside in utility rooms/spare rooms.
Here at Taswell Stud I use converted 16ltr plastic storage boxes kept inside in a spare room. These boxes are convenient and cheap; I would recommend these to anyone wanting to start their own stud, and with the boxes living inside I do not have to brave the weather to tend to my mice. I've also found a number of other benefits to keeping my mice inside; for example I haven't had to pay to have a shed built, it's easier to keep vermin away, and temperature and draft control are already managed (sheds can be prone to drafts and overheating on hot days so precautions must be taken, while inside the house these things are already controlled for the comfort of the people living there).
Taswell Stud currently uses 10 converted boxes I've made - this is the minimum advised for a small beginner stud with only one variety, which requires around 30 does and 3 or so stud bucks. A good tutorial describing how to make some yourself can be found here. All boxes are cleaned out once a week.
Here at Taswell Stud I use converted 16ltr plastic storage boxes kept inside in a spare room. These boxes are convenient and cheap; I would recommend these to anyone wanting to start their own stud, and with the boxes living inside I do not have to brave the weather to tend to my mice. I've also found a number of other benefits to keeping my mice inside; for example I haven't had to pay to have a shed built, it's easier to keep vermin away, and temperature and draft control are already managed (sheds can be prone to drafts and overheating on hot days so precautions must be taken, while inside the house these things are already controlled for the comfort of the people living there).
Taswell Stud currently uses 10 converted boxes I've made - this is the minimum advised for a small beginner stud with only one variety, which requires around 30 does and 3 or so stud bucks. A good tutorial describing how to make some yourself can be found here. All boxes are cleaned out once a week.
Aubiose is used as a substrate with a handful of hay as bedding, and the mice are fed on a mix of lovebird seed mix, oats and barley, with a small amount of puppy kibble added. Diet is also adjusted for does in kindle and growing mice in the form of supplements including bread & lactol, mealworms, millet sprays and so on. Most commercially produced hamster/mouse feeds are far too rich for mice, which in the wild would feed almost entirely on grains, so a diluted version (containing a higher amount of protein with the addition of oats, barley and kibble which is essential for does in kindle and growing mice) conforms more closely with their natural diet, and also helps to stop selective feeding - a problem often created by commercial mixes. This food is not placed in bowls as this can cause the mice to defecate and urinate over the food while they perch on the sides, instead the food is scattered in the box, allowing the mice to display natural foraging behaviours. However bowls have recently replaced water bottles after repeated problems with the bottles jamming and preventing the mice from getting a drink.
Although not all studs find it neccessary, I try to keep details on each mouse kept within the stud including birth date, quality (for example any standard faults), medical history, pairings, litters, shows attended (and results), and any other observations (including behavioural in order to moniter temperaments). Most of this is recorded in the form of a spreadsheet, however a diary is also kept to take note of anything that might be useful during cleaning, feeding and handling. However as stated above this level of record keeping is not expected and there have been many consistant winners who kept no records at all.