How often and how much do I feed my mice?

by Graceeh Sun 04 Aug 2019, 4:02 pm

I'm a new mouse owner and just wondering how much I should be feeding my mice at a time and how often I should feed them? I'm using the Vitakraft Vitasmart Parakeet food and supplementing with Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat food. The dish is about the size of 1/4 cup — do I fill that to the top when I feed them?

I was also wondering how often I needed to change their water? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks all!

by Robin~ Sun 04 Aug 2019, 7:22 pm

I'd say fill the bowl to the top each time you feed. Just be sure your mice always have access to food (they have very high metabolisms).

I believe I said this under your other post, but I'd remove the rat food. It's not really helping with anything as the parakeet food is complete by itself and, as it hasn't been tested/used by anyone else, I'm not sure of the actual safety of using it.

As for water, changing it out every 1-2 days is best to ensure the water is fresh and algae doesn't grow. You should rinse the bottle out every time you change the water, and wash it down with soap and water weekly.

by Graceeh Sun 04 Aug 2019, 7:46 pm

Thank you! How long does it typically take for two mice to go through a bowl of food? I switched to using the parakeet food as their primary one based on your recommendation, but I read in a PDF from the Cavy and Critter community on Facebook that the Oxbow adult rat food would also be a good option since it's only 1% above the recommended 14. Currently, I'm just using that to scatter around their cage as an extra/different treat to find.

by Robin~ Sun 04 Aug 2019, 8:12 pm

Graceeh wrote:Thank you! How long does it typically take for two mice to go through a bowl of food? I switched to using the parakeet food as their primary one based on your recommendation, but I read in a PDF from the Cavy and Critter community on Facebook that the Oxbow adult rat food would also be a good option since it's only 1% above the recommended 14. Currently, I'm just using that to scatter around their cage as an extra/different treat to find.

I find it takes my four girls about 1 1/2 days to get through 1/4 cup, so I'd say 2-3 days for 2 girls.

As for the rat food, I guess if you really want to feed it you can? I dunno, I just personally wouldn't feed it. I just don't see a point in it Undecided

by CallaLily Sun 04 Aug 2019, 9:42 pm

The rat food is safe to use as a supplement to a good seed mix. Very Happy

Oxbow’s adult rat food is better than their mouse recipe and is perfectly fine to use to round out their diet. I personally always preferred Supreme Science Selective Mouse Food (or their rat version) but I know it’s not easy for everyone to get their hands on.

I would fill the bowl and then only refill it once they’ve eaten most of it. Be sure not to mistake empty hulls for a full dish. This will prevent selective feeding while still providing them with their main staple at all times.

Refreshing the water every 1-2 days is best if you have a water bottle. If you use a dish you’ll probably need to refresh it way more.

by Graceeh Mon 05 Aug 2019, 2:24 pm

Awesome, good to know. When should I start supplementing fresh foods like veggies and fruits? Do I need to do that? I didn't' want to overwhelm them with a bunch of new food at once since they were eating something different at the pet store but wanted to know for future reference.

by CallaLily Mon 05 Aug 2019, 5:24 pm

Fresh foods should be offered at least twice a week. Start out slowly with small pieces and keep watch for any reactions. You can eventually work up to small amounts daily over time if you’d like, just make sure it never is so much that it keeps them from eating their staple seed mix. But the minimum you should be offering fresh foods is twice a week. Also be sure to remove any leftovers after a few hours.

by Stitch Sat 28 Mar 2020, 4:29 pm

Hi, We have 4 female mice, they are 4 months old, 3 are fine, 1, Stitch, who is the boss is getting a bit fat, otherwise fit and well, they obviously live together in a large cage, have lots to do and 2 wheels for exercise, any suggestions, we don’t really want to separate them as they are happy together. Thanks

by Robin~ Sat 28 Mar 2020, 10:45 pm

Stitch wrote:Hi, We have 4 female mice, they are 4 months old, 3 are fine, 1, Stitch, who is the boss is getting a bit fat, otherwise fit and well, they obviously live together in a large cage, have lots to do and 2 wheels for exercise, any suggestions, we don’t really want to separate them as they are happy together. Thanks

Hello!

What makes you want to separate them? One of my girls is a little more chunky but we’ve sort of boiled that down to genetics since she has some brindle in her; she’s still great in the group, especially to the “omega”, Moo.

by Stitch Sun 29 Mar 2020, 6:19 am

The reason I mentioned seperating the was to limit her food a bit whilst not affecting the others, just don want her to be unhealthy.

Thanks

by Robin~ Sun 29 Mar 2020, 1:47 pm

Stitch wrote:The reason I mentioned seperating the was to limit her food a bit whilst not affecting the others, just don want her to be unhealthy.

Thanks

Food for mice should never be limited; their metabolisms require constant food intake. As previously stated, it’s likely something to do with diet or genetics, nothing to worry about Smile

You can always have a chat with an exotic vet if she starts gaining more weight.

by dancincat417 Sat 11 Jul 2020, 9:01 am

So, the diet for mice should mostly contain seed mix and not rodent blocks (we have the oxbow adult rat food as well)? I'm also a bit confused about what to feed them and how much.

by Robin~ Sat 11 Jul 2020, 10:19 am

dancincat417 wrote:So, the diet for mice should mostly contain seed mix and not rodent blocks (we have the oxbow adult rat food as well)? I'm also a bit confused about what to feed them and how much.

How much pellets you feed depends a good bit on what type of seed mix you’re using. If you’re using a bird seed or DIY mix as your seed mix, I wouldn’t have pellets be less than 50% of the diet so there are no issues with fortification. If you’re using a rodent mix (ex a hamster food) I would keep pellets between 25-50% of the diet since their needs are pretty similar. If the seed mix is already intended for mice or rats, you could probably use that all by itself since it already fulfills the purpose of a pellet. Smile

GA also plays a decent part—because Oxbow is slightly high in protein, you’ll want to try and take that down to under 14% to avoid issues with hot spots. So, if you have a bird seed mix with 13% protein, you’ll want to make the mix exactly 50/50 so the protein is at 14%.

by Sponsored content

How often and how much do I feed my mice?

How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Chubby mouse

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?

Re: How often and how much do I feed my mice?