What treats do your mice go wild for?

by stephlisa Sun 20 Nov 2016, 9:24 am

The title says it all, but basically I'm looking for a selection of new treats for Colin. I'm making him an Advent calendar and each day he's going to get a little stocking to look in that will have a treat hidden at the bottom! (On Christmas day he'll get a new toy that's covered in paper with enough holes to encourage him to shred the paper and play with the toy!)

So give me your treat suggestions! He's already obsessed with pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, cherrios and dried banana. Bonus points if they are something I might like to eat too!

Also, I forgot who, but I remember someone does pancake parties with their mice for special occassions...I was wondering what the recipe for the pancakes was? Is it a standard pancake recipe just with tiny pancakes?

by Peachy Sun 20 Nov 2016, 10:16 am

The calendar is a great idea!! How fun that'll be.

Our favorite treats (besides ones you mentioned) are popcorn, pretzels, crackers, and boiled egg yolks. Razz

by CallaLily Sun 20 Nov 2016, 11:29 am

Cute idea! Walnuts, Gerber puffs, melba toast, puffed rice, nori, hemp seed, flax seed, mealworms, crickets.

by CanadianExport Sun 20 Nov 2016, 12:59 pm

That is a cute idea! Black soldier fly larva, dog food, dog cookies, popcorn, flax seeds, and sesame seeds.

by CallaLily Sun 20 Nov 2016, 1:11 pm

CanadianExport wrote:Black soldier fly larva,

That's calciworms, right? I never thought to try those with the mice. Good to know!

by CanadianExport Sun 20 Nov 2016, 1:32 pm

Maybe? I got mine from the chicken section of my pet store, they were labeled as grubs. Mine go CRAZY for them but I have to be careful how many mine get because they are VERY high in protein and if I give more than one every once in a while Ori will go into a scratching fit as she is sensitive to protein content.

by AnonymousMouseOwner Sun 20 Nov 2016, 1:58 pm

Scout just LOVES meal worms, live and dried, but he has more fun with the live ones. The girls love pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, plain popcorn, oats, and dried mealworms

by CanadianExport Sun 20 Nov 2016, 2:11 pm

I am not sure I could ever feed live, partially because of the difficulty of finding small quantities of live meal worms and partly the fact that live bugs freak me out.

by MooMouse Sun 20 Nov 2016, 2:12 pm

Aww, what a great idea! Most of the treats that my mouse likes have already been mentioned, his favorite is meal worms. I don't know if this really counts, but my mouse goes crazy for dried sea grass. I usually buy Ware Seagrass Twists for my guinea pig and mouse to share, I just cut them into smaller pieces for him. They are very inexpensive as well.

by CallaLily Sun 20 Nov 2016, 2:19 pm

I've bought the seagrass twists before and the mice I had at the time loved them too, though I think they mostly chewed/shredded them and didn't really eat them.

by AnonymousMouseOwner Sun 20 Nov 2016, 3:49 pm

CanadianExport wrote:I am not sure I could ever feed live, partially because of the difficulty of finding small quantities of live meal worms and partly the fact that live bugs freak me out.

They are super easy for me to obtain because my dad has lizards that eat them, so he has his own mealworm farm. So I can pretty much get as much as I want for free! Razz

Hehehe, meal worms and the beetles they turn into don't creep me out. But, my dad's superworms and the superworm beetles scare me, because I heard superworms can bite Shocked

by MouseLover Sun 20 Nov 2016, 7:30 pm

Aaw this is such a cute idea Smile

If you're ever in Pets at Home and see Berry Nibblots they make my mice break out into arguments unless they each get given half each. Which I think means they like them Laughing

by EverythingAnimal Sun 20 Nov 2016, 11:02 pm

My girls distroy a bit of millet spray in a matter of seconds! I guess there's just something more appealing about it right off the stem instead of in a bowl. And the use it as nestring material after they eat the millet off. I only buy small sealed bags though, not the cheap bulk ones, so that might be why I haven't had an issue with pasasites, not having baked it in fear of it burning or lighting on fire or freezing because that would make it damp and moldy inside.

by stephlisa Mon 21 Nov 2016, 8:13 am

Thanks everyone! You've all given me a load more ideas for the calendar...(I'm still happy for more if you've got ideas!)

Mouselover: I've seen the Berry Nibblots before and wondered whether Colin would like them, its nice to have recommendations like that!

by theo1231231 Mon 28 Nov 2016, 5:23 am

So far mine are a fan of lettice and go crazy for a bit of peanut butter. I only gove them a little taste sometimes, but I was wondering if theres any specifications to look out for when buying peanut butter? Will any stuff do?