How to stop food sorting?

by GabbiLuvsMice Mon 20 Jun 2016, 11:35 am

Freya is sp picky about her food, and throws the others off to the side! (Which I must admit is quite funny to watch) I feel like if I continue to let her sort her food and only eat select pieces, she will gee unhealthy. She seems to be favoring the flaked corn, but I'm not sure.

by CallaLily Mon 20 Jun 2016, 11:41 am

What I do is, I don't refill the dish until they've eaten almost all of it. I check around the tank for hidden piles too. But I've been lucky enough so far to not have any very picky mice. They've all eaten a bit of everything.

Every week when I clean the tank out completely I pay attention to how much food I find. If there's a lot going to waste, I'm extra careful about how often I refill. If there's nothing, I up the amount a little. If there's just a little, I know I've been refilling it just enough. I hope this makes sense.

by GabbiLuvsMice Mon 20 Jun 2016, 11:46 am

Thanks!

by MesaMouse Mon 20 Jun 2016, 12:24 pm

Anya the alpha would perch on the edge of a newly-filled food dish and dig through everything, flinging out foods she didn't like. The other girls would eat from the dish and forage around in the neighboring substrate for the "discarded" food. Every day, before refilling the bowl, I would rummage through the substrate and return Anya's discards to the dish. Of course, Anya would start anew with each refill...she lived to be two years old and maintained this behavior to the end.