New Mouse, What food?

by Anilec Wed 06 Sep 2017, 4:16 pm

Hello! So I've only had my Mr Meeseeks for 2 weeks maybe? He's my first mouse although I have experience with rats and currently have 8 rattie babies. The food that he currently is eating is just the same stuff that he was on as a baby as I didn't want to upset his stomach and when I get new food I'll slowly wean him to the new one. The current stuff is "Carefresh Complete" and although I don't know much about mouse nutrition yet it appears kinda crap. Also I've notice his fur on his stomach and chest looks very thin which I believe is a sign of too much protein in the diet and as the food has %18 protein I think it's too high.

Basically my question is what food do you recommend?

I already see that there is such a varied answer for this and I can't find two people saying the same thing.
Rats should never have a mix diet and Oxbow pellets is the best for them but from what I see Mice /should/ have mixes and that Oxbow mouse food isn't good for them? Just trying to do the best for my little guy Love

by Peachy Wed 06 Sep 2017, 4:28 pm

Welcome!

This thread has a few food mixes that we commonly recommend. It also includes info about what to look out for when deciding on a new diet.
https://www.petmousefanciers.com/t15-mouse-diet

by CallaLily Wed 06 Sep 2017, 5:07 pm

Welcome!

Definitely read through the thread Peachy linked when you have time. I don't know much about rats but a mouse's recommended diet is pretty different from what I've seen. Oxbow's mouse food is mostly junk ingredients and there have been reports of mice failing to thrive when fed it exclusively. Plus I do believe it's a little high in protein too. It's a shame because I know some of their foods are highly recommended for other pets.

The patchy fur could be from too much protein, but being on his stomach and chest it could also be a bedding allergy. So maybe take a look at that too?
Bedding
Hairloss and itching

by Anilec Wed 06 Sep 2017, 5:42 pm

Thank you both! To Peachy, I looked at the food thread and when looking over the foods I was a little concerned that none of them were specifically for mice? Is there any block style food that is good for mice? With each of the suggested foods I saw things that concerned me but they may be OK for mice and it's just my experience with rats that's throwing me off.

Brown's Tropical Carnival Gourmet Hamster & Gerbil Food - I see corn, pretzels, raisins, and cheese meal all high on the ingredient list. Aren't these all bad?

Vitakraft Vita Prima Sunscription Dwarf Hamster Formula - Lots of corn products, aloe vera, and dye colours.

Vitakraft

VitaSmart Parakeet Food - Corn and colours

Sun Seed Sunscription Vita Prima Parakeet Formula - Corn, colours, and added salt

Sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to find the best for him Cookie

Callalily, thank you for the links! I'm currently using carefresh Ultra white as bedding but was thinking of switching to aspen. Could he be allergic to carefresh? it doesn't look like any of the photos in the hairless and itching thread. I'll try and get a pic of him to see if anyone has any guesses to what it is.

by CallaLily Wed 06 Sep 2017, 6:34 pm

It's probably not the bedding then.

It's so difficult finding a good commercial food for mice. Most are pretty awful, which is why many choose parakeet or hamster foods. Not perfect, but not as bad as most commercial mouse food. Same for block-type foods in the US, they're full of junk and usually too high protein.

Corn isn't necessarily bad, but shouldn't be one of the first few ingredients.

Brown's isn't the greatest but is usually recommended just because it has a pretty good variety and is within the guidelines for protein, fat, and fiber. I don't remember seeing cheese meal in there but they may have changed the formula since I last looked at it. I personally didn't like how artificial it smelled. Also there wrre a few people finding their bags moldy when they opened them.

Artificial dyes aren't thought to be a concern, but I'm with you on avoiding them.

A little salt is necessary in their diet. (In most animals diets, no? ) Shouldn't be a problem of its not too high in the ingredient list.

Right now I make my own seed mix using a different parakeet mix as a base (around 30% of the mix) because I couldn't find a commercial mix that I was completely happy with. (I was originally making it all from "straights" but I found using the parakeet food as a base boosted the variety more for a little less upfront cost). Alongside that I offer a mix of Supreme Science Selective Mouse and Mr Johnson's Advance Mouse and Rat food just to round it out. Though once the Mr Johnson's is gone I'll probably just stick to the Supreme.

by Anilec Wed 06 Sep 2017, 7:02 pm

Thank you! Ah I forgot that Supreme made a mouse food, I used to love their rat food but shipping to Canada got a bit much. I can get Supreme mouse online and as I won't need to buy it as often the cost won't be as bad. For Parakeet food I can't find the two suggested anywhere where it ships to me but I can get "F.M. Brown Tropical Carnival Natural Parakeet Food" which looks pretty good. Still has corn but it's much further down in the list. So would the Parakeet food and the Supreme mouse blocks be a full diet for him?

by Rodents rock! Wed 06 Sep 2017, 10:08 pm

I use Vitakraft Vitasmart Parakeet food as Mickey's main diet.
I add in a little Vitakraft hamster food as a treat.
I also give a few organic "Cheerios" as a treat too.
He also gets Milk-Bone small dog biscuits to munch on to keep his teeth in good shape. And he gets Millet spray.

by Peachy Wed 06 Sep 2017, 10:57 pm

The mixes in the thread I linked were put there mostly as quality examples and/or starting points. They're all accessible, good quality, have a good variety, are within the recommended guidelines for crude protein, etc. But there's no harm taking the good and finding something else. I fed one of Brown's "natural" varieties of foods for a while and I loved it! Was actually super bummed when I couldn't find it anymore. lol

by CallaLily Thu 07 Sep 2017, 5:33 am

Anilec wrote:So would the Parakeet food and the Supreme mouse blocks be a full diet for him?

Yes, that seed mix looks ok to me and it would be great to add in the pelleted food to round it out.

by Anilec Thu 07 Sep 2017, 10:40 pm

Whoops I'm back with one more food question. So the ingredients and information for the Supreme Petfoods Science Selective Mouse is:

COMPOSITION
Wholemeal wheat flour, soybean meal, barley, hazelnuts, oats, dried apples, soya oil, dicalcium phosphate, limestone flour, salt.

NUTRITIONAL ADDITIVES/Kg
Vitamin A 15000 IU, Vitamin D3 1500 IU, Ferrous sulphate monohydrate 152mg, Calcium iodate anhydrous 1.5 mg, Copper sulphate pentahydrate 20 mg, Manganese oxide 38 mg, Zinc oxide 62 mg, Sodium selenite 0.2 mg.

ANALYTICAL CONSTITUENTS
Protein 14.0%, Crude fibre 4.0%, Fat content 4.0%, Inorganic matter 5.0%, Calcium 0.6%, Phosphorus 0.4%.

And then the Supreme Petfoods Science Selective Rat food is:

COMPOSITION
Wheat, soybean meal, barley, oats, soya oil, dried apples, dried blackcurrants, wheat feed, limestone flour, salt.

NUTRITIONAL ADDITIVES/Kg
Vitamin A 15000 IU, Vitamin D³ 1500 IU, Ferrous sulphate monohydrate 152mg, Calcium iodate anhydrous 1.5 mg, Copper sulphate pentahydrate 20 mg, Manganese oxide 38 mg, Zinc oxide 62 mg, Sodium selenite 0.2 mg.

ANALYTICAL CONSTITUENTS
Protein 14.0%, Crude fibre 4.0%, Fat content 4.0%, Inorganic matter 5.0%, Calcium 0.6%, Phosphorus 0.4%.

As they are nearly identical could I use the rat one? I only ask because a 350g bag of the mouse one costs $13.69 while the rat bag is 1500g and only $21.28. Smile

and of course this will be fed along with the parakeet mix.

by CallaLily Fri 08 Sep 2017, 6:34 am

Yes, the I think the rat one would also work.

by Sponsored content

New Mouse, What food?

New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?

Re: New Mouse, What food?