Why Toast?

by CallaLily Wed 25 May 2016, 11:12 am

I've haven't given the mice bread as a treat before but I'm sitting here with the heel of a loaf of rye bread. I remembered reading that it should be toasted or at least a bit stale, but why? I think I even put it down as "toast" when I put together a safe food list. I see other sites mentioning a choking risk but it seems kind of silly now that I'm thinking about it. I mean, the mice wouldn't wolf it down so fast it would stick in their throats. They'd nibble on very small bits carefully held in their paws, like any other food. Right? So is there a reason I'm forgetting? Is this just an extra precaution taken by very worried fanciers? Please share your thoughts on this with me. Confused

by scaredymouse Wed 25 May 2016, 11:37 am

I don't know why it would *have* to be toasted. But I do know that my critters seem to enjoy toast more, they like crunchy stuff. I've given my critters regular bread before, this is the first time I'm hearing that it may be problematic. Yeah, they ate it like normal mice... they didn't wolf it down like feral beasts and choke on it Rofling

by Peachy Wed 25 May 2016, 1:01 pm

I remember one post someone shared about "bread diets" on the old Mouse Lovers forum. There was something with fresh bread that toasting or letting it go stale fixed. I've given regular bread without issues, but I'll see if I can find anything on Google.

Edit: http://www.rmca.org/Resources/mouse-faq.txt

It talks about bread at the end of 3.02.

by MouseLover Wed 25 May 2016, 1:12 pm

I don't remember where I heard this, so I can't quote a source or comment on how accurate this is. So don't take it as gospel, but...

Bread is kinda like a sponge and can expand in your stomach. This would make an animal with a very small stomach feel very full up. The problem with this is that bread is actually not very rich in nutrients, so if they eat bread and feel very full, then they may not then eat enough of other food to get all the nutrients they need. This is why it's not advised to feed bread to birds and ducks - it swells up, makes them feel full, but doesn't actually carry the nutrients they need. Toast and stale bread are dry and crunchy, and less spongy than fresh bread, so I think it lessens the swelling effect Confused

Mice like crunchy things better anyway Cool

by MesaMouse Wed 25 May 2016, 5:14 pm

I think it may also be because, by the time you get to the end of the loaf, the bread isn't going to be all that fresh and may start to harbor bacteria. Toasting the bread will, ostensibly, kill bacteria. CallaLily, think about how we bake sticks and branches to kill off any "bad stuff" before introducing them into our hermit crab tanks -- same principle with toasting bread. And, as others have said, mice prefer crunchy to soft Cookie

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by CallaLily Wed 25 May 2016, 5:48 pm

Thank you for all the input guys! I prefer toast myself. Laughing

Stale wholemeal bread makes a very good mouse food, and lots of show mice live
on very little else. It should be allowed to dry out thoroughly first, then
soak it in water (or skimmed milk for babies/mothers, or stock/gravy for a
change of flavour). The reason for allowing the bread to go stale first is
that some mice react badly to enzymes in fresh bread which are killed by
the staling process (they get spots & itchy skin).

Interesting! I never would have thought. Most of what I could find during my quick search only mentioned rats possibly choking. Thank you, Abeona.

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