On the reproduction of yellow-necked field mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) and striped field mouse (A. agrarius) in laboratory conditions

During our study of the ecology of natural populations of Apodemus jlavicollis and Apodemus agrarius in an oak-hornbeam forest on Mt. Avala near Belgrade, we tried to set up conditions for rearing these animals in the laboratory. The results of population analyses in the natural environment still do not give the whole picture on population changes, nor do they clarify the conditions that cause them; therefore, findings obtained in laboratory conditions for populations ofA.jlavicollis andA. agrarius are unquestionably of particular interest (Andrzej ewski and Olszewski, 1963; Will and Reichstein, 1972; Hoffmeyer, 1973, 1976; Rodl, 1974; Ising et al., 1979; Ci hakova and Frynta,1996). During November 1998, animals were caught on Mt. Avala (44°45'E, 18 10' N), and 16 males and 16 females of each species (A. jlavicollis and A. agrarius) were subsequently paired in the breeding laboratory of the Department of Ecology of the "Sinisa Stankovic" Institute for Biological Research in Belgrade.