RatRations Food Mixes?

by sceptredisle Wed 29 Nov 2017, 9:49 am

Hi all, I've been struggling with the best possible diet for my mice since I got them months ago, and since I'm in the UK, the recommended foods in the 'Mouse Diet' sticky post aren't available. I want to give them the best I can, and want to know they're getting the right nutrition.

I have fed just commercial brands of mouse food before, and at the moment my current mice have Mr Johnson's Rat and Mouse, which they seem to like, but again I just worry it's not the best they could be eating. The protein content is high according to the sticky post recommendation, but I don't know whether I could bring that level down somehow. I'd like them to eat more whole ingredients as well as the specific fortified ingredients found in branded pet food, but I don't know what to supplement the Mr Johnson's with, how much, and what that will do to the nutritional breakdown of their diet.

In researching all this, I came across the Rat Rations website, which sells many straight ingredients for creating your own mix, and some premade mixtures too based on their own formulas. Some of the base mixes for rats seem like they could be a good supplement to my mice's diet and have a good spread of grains and seeds, but I've found it really hard to try to break down the nutritional values myself, and although rats and mice have similar requirements, I'm not sure if using a base of Mr Johnson's and adding one of Rat Rations' mixes to it to get a spread of whole ingredients and fortified ingredients, would be beneficial or not.

Would anyone be able to help? Do the Rat Rations mixes look like a good addition? Should I stop trying to find something better and just keep them on the packaged food?

by stephlisa Wed 29 Nov 2017, 10:56 am

Hi!

I'm in the UK too. I make my own mix based on suggestions from my local rescue's mix recipe. I posted it about it before, you can find it here:

https://www.petmousefanciers.com/t2162-wood-green-s-suggested-homemade-mouse-food

It aims for variety rather than proper nutritional analysis, but my boys love it.

I'll just detail here what I put in mine as I don't think I ever got round to that.

Ingredients for my current version
6 scoops Reggie Rat and Mimi Mouse Mix
1 scoop Supreme Science Selective Mouse
1.5 scoops mixed seeds (usually a basic canary seed mix available from my local pet shop)
1.5 scoops oats
0.5 scoop dried fruit

by CallaLily Wed 29 Nov 2017, 5:46 pm

I would be willing to try their No7 With Soya No Garlic mix as a base if I had access to rat rations. It has a lot of variety and the GA looks pretty good. Fat is a little low, maybe look into adding some walnuts? Definitely round it out with a good block-type food. I really like Supreme Science Selective Mouse and so do my mice. If you prefer Mr Johnson's they have a pellet food too that I've used before. I liked it and the mice ate it but not as well as the Science Selective.

by sceptredisle Wed 13 Dec 2017, 12:25 pm

Hi, thanks for the reply. I'd wondered about the soya because if I recall correctly, mice don't utilise the protein from soya very efficiently? I could be remembering that incorrectly though!

I used to feed the Selective mouse food, but none of my past mice would eat it. Not one. I'm sure it's changed a bit since then, but I haven't had great success with it.

by CallaLily Wed 13 Dec 2017, 12:37 pm

I'm not 100% certain on that info about soy. I've only ever been able to find one source that states that (TheFunMouse). I just try to make sure sit isn't the main ingredient in their food mixes. It's listed pretty far down in the ingredients list in the one I linked, so I don't think it would be a problem.

by sceptredisle Wed 13 Dec 2017, 9:18 pm

Maybe I'll try the Selective food to get them used to it, and then see about purchasing some of the Rat Rations mix with some walnuts added. Perhaps some other seeds high in fatty acids too?

Thanks for your help! I'd definitely feel more confident that they were eating a more complete and nutritious diet this way, rather than leaving them on the Mr Johnson's mix alone.

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