What needs to be picked out of Browns Tropical Carnival?

by River Sun 17 Jul 2016, 10:40 pm

I was running out of food and still couldn't find a shop that carried Vitasmart, so I went with what I heard was the next best option; Browns tropical carnival, mouse and rat food. And yes, I checked the bag thoroughly for mold Wink

All I picked out this time was corn, sunflower seeds, and raisins; the necessities.
What else, if anything, needs to be picked out?
Also, doesn't picking out food from mixes risk damaging the mixes nutritional value? Or...?

by River Sun 17 Jul 2016, 10:54 pm

I noticed it has soybean products as well....aren't these supposedly bad for mice?

EDIT: Just noticed I probably should've got the hamster + gerbil mix. Uh...what should I do? Will they be fine if we finish this bag and then make the switch? I don't think I could return it without a good reason as its already opened...I can certainly try, if necessary.

by scaredymouse Mon 18 Jul 2016, 4:18 am

It's not the end of the world. It probably better than what they were being fed at the pet store. Finish the bag and get a better one next time. The problem with the food is that it is a little high in crude protein and less nutritious that the other foods we usually recommend. I checked the ingredients, you need to pick out the peanuts and sunflower seeds. You can leave the corn in. You are right, picking out too many things changes the nutritional profile. That is also why we wait for the mice to eat almost everything in the bowl before refilling, to ensure they are getting a complete diet.

Fosters & Smith has the vitakraft parakeet food and they have free shipping on orders over $19.00 with the promo code: julyship

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=28424

They also have it at PetSmart: http://www.petsmart.com/bird/food/vitakraft-vitasmart-parakeet-food-zid36-3918/cat-36-catid-400005

I always get it from Amazon, but I have prime... so I pretty much get everything from Amazon.

by CallaLily Mon 18 Jul 2016, 7:53 am

IMO, Brown's rat and mouse is ok. Crude protein is 14%. It doesn't have quite as much variety as the hamster and gerbil but it has a good deal more than many other brands. It definitely won't hurt to use it until you're able to pick up the food you prefer.

Soy, like corn, isn't necessarily a bad thing in smaller amounts. It's when the food is made up of mostly soy (or corn), that IMO it should be avoided. I've read that large amounts of corn in the diet seems to increase risk of tumor. Soy - I've read mice can't adequately digest it, therefore not utilizing the nutrients in it, and something about fertility problems with large amounts of soy.

The first couple items on the ingredient list make up the bulk of that food. As you move further down the list, the amounts of each ingredient listed are smaller and smaller. Now mind you, these companies can make it appear a better ingredient is at the top by "splitting" ingredients. So instead of just saying corn for example, they'll split it into "whole corn" "corn meal" "cracked corn" etc, effectively lowering them on the ingredients list.

by CinnamonPearl Mon 18 Jul 2016, 8:44 am

Not a fan of the Brown's brand. I completely avoid it. They have sold me moldy bags more than they've sold me fresh ones. I'd recommend switching to Vitakraft when you can.

by River Mon 18 Jul 2016, 7:34 pm

CinnamonPearl wrote:Not a fan of the Brown's brand. I completely avoid it. They have sold me moldy bags more than they've sold me fresh ones. I'd recommend switching to Vitakraft when you can.

Yeah, I didn't want to get it, but it was all they had that I knew of.
They do have Sunseed Vita, but I didn't know what mix to grab - anyone know?
They do have a lot of birdseeds from Vitakraft, but nothing I've seen anyone talk about, so which ones are safe?

by CinnamonPearl Mon 18 Jul 2016, 7:53 pm

I feed my girls Sunseed Vita conure. It's great!

by CallaLily Tue 19 Jul 2016, 7:50 am

Parakeet mixes are usually recommended. Pick one with crude protein between 12-14%, crude fat around 5-7%, and crude fiber around or less than 10%. Also look at ingredients and try to pick one with the most whole ingredient variety and to double check there isn't any ingredients you would want to avoid (for example, some bird mixes contain hot peppers).

by River Wed 20 Jul 2016, 10:50 am

I see!
Also, scaredy, I thought corn was necessary to pick out, since it's been known to cause tumors or something? Or is that just rumor?

by CinnamonPearl Wed 20 Jul 2016, 11:10 am

There's no definitive proof to say that corn causes cancer. Even then, it's only highly processed corn; fresh corn from the grocery store is 100% safe. And since most mice will avoid it anyway, there's not much reason to pick it out. However, since there is a little bit of evidence, you can absolutely pick it out if it makes you more comfortable.

by CallaLily Wed 20 Jul 2016, 12:54 pm

Like Cinna said, there is no proof it causes tumors. Only that large amounts of corn in the diet seem to maybe be connected to a possible increase in them. I personally don't pick it out but I do try to avoid foods that have corn listed in the top few ingredients.

Edit:please excuse any typos in my posts. Lately I've been having a lot of trouble typing up posts on this forum. Scratch

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