How bad is this diet for mice?

by lizardtails Mon 18 Feb 2019, 6:18 am

Okay, so, I'm a first-time mouse owner. I basically started working at petco a couple of weeks ago, fell absolutely in love with a little golden mouse I saw in one of our habitats, and wound up taking her and three of her friends home the same day. I wasn't exactly prepared. ^^;

I've already bought some mouse foods before reading the guide here on which foods are best, and given how much money I spent, i'm kinda loathe to toss any of what I've bought out--however, I absolutely will if any of these are truly dangerous to feed my little girls. I checked for ethoxyquin on the ingredient lists and didn't see it, but am wondering if there's anything else I'm not noticing that is a big red flag and may impact the health of my little girls.

So, here's what I'm feeding them.

Kaytee Fiesta Food for Mice and Rats
Oxbow Essentials Mouse & Young Rat Food

These two are making up the bulk of their diet--I put the Oxbow in their bowl and then scatter the Kaytee food throughout their tank, hiding it in the bedding for them to scavenge. I also got some supplements and treats to add to give them on occasion as well, usually one piece broken up in the hopes that they'll all get a nibble lol.

Oxbow Natural Science Multi-Vitamin Small Animal Supplements
Oxbow Natural Science Vitamin C Supplement
Oxbow Simple Rewards Apple and Banana Baked Treat
Oxbow Simple Rewards Baked Treats with Bell Pepper

I didn't really know what to get so I got a variety of things hoping to find something they liked and that the variety would keep them interested. Confused

Are these okay to keep giving to my little girls until they run out and I can replace them with the recommended Parakeet food?

by MouseLover Mon 18 Feb 2019, 11:28 am

I noticed that the Oxbow multi-vitamin said not suitable for mice? I skim-read the ingredients on the other treats and it looked okay to me, but they contain sugar (molasses) so I'd give them in small amounts at a time.

The oxbow food has 18% protein, which is higher than what most mice need. However if they're young mice (under 12 weeks) they can benefit from a bit higher protein anyway, so I wouldn't be too concerned about that. Both those foods are really high in corn. They're nutritionally complete foods, so your mice will survive on it. But some people are concerned about how corn affects the longevity of mice, and whether there might be links with cancer if they're fed large amounts. I don't know how concrete the evidence is for that, but it's something to keep in mind. Whether you want to switch to another food, or mix it with a parakeet food now, or just feed that until it runs out is really up to you.

by lizardtails Mon 18 Feb 2019, 11:52 pm

Oh man, how did I miss that "not recommended for mice" bit??? It was in all caps!!! I'd try to send it back for a refund but it came in an online order, so I guess I'll just have to see if anyone else I know wants to use it for their much more suitable pet. x___x

The Petco I work at is where I do most of my pet shopping, and sadly they didn't have either of the recommended parakeet feeds in stock--but they did have the Sun Seend Vita Prima Sunscription Dwarf Hamster Food, which I'm 95% certain is the same food recommended in the Mouse Diet thread? So I'm gonna start mixing that in with their food. I'm waiting a bit to do that though because they've been stashing a lot of their food and I'm trying to get them hungry enough to actually maybe think about taking food from my hand, heh.

Once they finish what's currently in their cage though, I'll probably mix it equally with their other foods, with the occasional treats and vitamin C supplement thrown in? Until I run out of the less quality noms at least.

Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it! Love

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How bad is this diet for mice?

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