Re: Mouse Diet

by Colors Sun 07 Jan 2018, 2:35 pm

My sister and I are going to get 2 female mice soon, but I want to take better care of these two than my last mice. We used aspen shavings with our last mice and fed them these cheap food blocks from Walmart with terrible ingredients. I still have some mouse blocks but I'm not sure if it would be safe to give them to the mice. Could I give them just to use them up? Also, is rabbit pellets a safe source of nutrition with supplements? I can't spend much money on their diet but walmart doesn't have a large selection of good food.

by CallaLily Sun 07 Jan 2018, 3:09 pm

How old are the pellets? You might want to check the expiry date. No, rabbit pellets are hay based - not a good base diet for mice. Look to Wal-Mart's parakeet mixes. You may have better luck there, if for some reason you can't shop at petco or petsmart for the usually recommended brands mentioned in the first post. Smile

by Colors Sun 07 Jan 2018, 5:01 pm

Aren't seeds used as a supplement for mice? The parakeet mixes at my Walmart are just seeds.

by Colors Sun 07 Jan 2018, 5:02 pm

Oh I'm not sure how old the pellets are... they probably are expired by now, I had them since my last mice and that was a long time ago.

by CallaLily Sun 07 Jan 2018, 5:22 pm

Yeah, I would chuck the old food.

Mice should have a high variety diet (seed mix) that is around 12-14% crude protein and under 10% crude fat and fiber (for the average mouse from untracked lines). You can supplement with a good block food if you want but it shouldn't be the staple. To prevent selective feeding, only refill the dish when they've eaten most of it. Mice naturally eat mainly grains, seeds, and insects. This of course should be supplemented with small amounts of fresh foods at least twice weekly. You can read more in the first post in this thread.

Studies clearly show that mice must have mixed food as at least part of their diet to stay healthy. Being scavengers by nature, mice have a physical need to forage food. Scavenging for food keeps a mouse mentally spry. This directly reflects in their behavior as well as their health. A mouse that is given a healthy diet that they can scavenge for will be healthier and live longer than mice that are not given this opportunity. However, you need to make sure that your mice are not only picking out the stuff they like best and leaving the rest before you refill their dish. Additionally, make sure you check the food daily to insure they have actual food, not just empty shells.

I believe the advice to only feed a block food is out-dated. Hopefully others chime in with their thoughts. Smile

by Colors Mon 08 Jan 2018, 3:18 pm

So most of their diet should be seeds and grains? I should've known it was that simple but I thought they needed lots of vegetation and fiber in their diets. I'm going to use up the pellets and then I'm going to make a homemade mix out of my budgie's seed, dry veggie pasta, whole wheat bread, with dried mealworms and pellets as occasional supplements. Is this a good diet to start with? I'm getting them tomorrow ;3 So excited to have mice again <3

by AmyLynn Sat 21 Jul 2018, 1:55 pm

So I am always looking for a good low corn, no fillers, dye, and pesticides. I can across these...

Henry's Fresh and Healthy Pet Food

They seem pretty good. They girls like them but by boy will not touch them (I got the healthy blocks) my concern is that it doesn't provide the % of Protein, Fat, and Fiber the way other foods do. I have not given these exclusively as they are a bit pricey and I can not decide if they are really a "Healthy" option. I have been giving them a few times a week alongside the girls normal diet. (Sunburst rat and mouse - Protein 14% - Crude Fat 7% - crude fiber 5% mixed with some extra oats and fresh stuff)

Has anyone else tried any of the brands flavors or have a way to calculate these percentages correctly.

by AmyLynn Sat 21 Jul 2018, 1:56 pm

I posted this in the wrong spot...

by CallaLily Sat 21 Jul 2018, 5:52 pm

From what I understand, the way to get the percentages from that sort of label is to take the grams of protein/fat/fiber and divide it by the serving size. If I’m correct in that, the protein and fat of this food is extremely high. Which being mostly pecans, I can see how.

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. I’m going by info given on a hamster forum about converting people nutrition labels over to percentages.

by MooseTheMouse Thu 09 Aug 2018, 11:24 pm

In the ingredients listed for the Browns Carnival food, there is stuff like corn, pineapple, peanut and raisins, but on the safe foods page, it says to avoid these things, can I still use the food?

by CallaLily Fri 10 Aug 2018, 9:50 am

MooseTheMouse wrote:In the ingredients listed for the Browns Carnival food, there is stuff like corn, pineapple, peanut and raisins, but on the safe foods page, it says to avoid these things, can I still use the food?

Corn is safe, it’s just many advise it not be the bulk of the ingredients. Peanuts are safe (though should be fed in moderation) but a common allergen, so watch out for that. It’s my understanding that the small amount of dried pineapple in the mix isn’t a concern. Raisins are questionable. Some say they’re unsafe (they are for a lot of animals), but others say they’re just fine. I could never find anything definitive on it. Some people who’ve fed this food have picked some of these things out to avoid them but that will change the overall analysis, raising/lowering protein, fat, fiber. I personally don’t advise picking items out of a commercial food because of that.

Though I feel this food is a bit “junkier” than some of the other foods commonly recommended here it does have an awesome variety, protein/fat/fiber is good, and many mouse parents have fed it with no problems. Keep in mind the list of recommended foods aren’t perfect —no commercial food is. These are just the ones that A) fit decently within recommended guidelines (especially compared to others) and B) are the most commonly fed and easy to find (at least in the U.S.).

by el_cousland Wed 22 Jan 2020, 9:00 am

I thought I was feeding my mice a good quality pellet but after reading this thread I looked at the back and am second thinking their diet.
I use Vetafarm Rodent Origins the analysis is:

Min Crude Protein 17%
Max Fibre 3.5%
Min Crude Fat 5.0%
Max Salt (NaCl) 0.5%

and the first ingredient listed is corn.

by Robin~ Wed 22 Jan 2020, 9:02 am

(Not letting me quote for some reason)

Hello!

The GA wouldn’t concern me as long as your mice are doing fine on it (no excessive itching/scabbing), but corn as the first ingredient can signify a food that’s lower in quality.

What country do you live in? Are you able to get Oxbow Adult Rat? My mice love it, the protein is a dash lower, and the first ingredient is brown rice Smile

by el_cousland Wed 22 Jan 2020, 9:15 am

Robin~ wrote:(Not letting me quote for some reason)

Hello!

The GA wouldn’t concern me as long as your mice are doing fine on it (no excessive itching/scabbing), but corn as the first ingredient can signify a food that’s lower in quality.

What country do you live in? Are you able to get Oxbow Adult Rat? My mice love it, the protein is a dash lower, and the first ingredient is brown rice

One of my girls is a little itchier than the others and I've noticed her fur thinning shes 1 next month so I just thought it was her getting older.

The packaging looked so professional that's why I trusted it. I live in Australia and I haven't seen that brand.

I had troulbe finding consistent info when researching so happy to have found this site.

by Robin~ Wed 22 Jan 2020, 9:25 am

Honestly I feel the info on here is still conflicting with what my vet has told me. Generally what he was getting at was a high-quality base and everything else will fall into place. You can also add in bird seed like the topic suggests for variety but keep it to a pinch a day.

What pet shops do you have near you? I’d be happy to have a look at their sites and see what looks good.

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