Bird seed alone, even a variety of it, isn't a sufficient diet for a
mouse. Mice eat a wide variety of things. Can you get hamster or gerbil
food where you are? I have successfully fed hamster food for about 10
years and my mice do much better on it than mouse food. Truthfully
mouse food makers, for the most part, need to reevaluate their mix
anyway as most of that isn't the greatest for mice either. When
getting a mix be sure that the protein % is 13% or less. Any higher and
you risk your mouse having allergies. Other common mouse allergens are
wheat, peanuts, sunflower seeds, etc. If you can't find good hamster
or gerbil food then here is a diet recommended by Lisa from Lisa's
meeces (http://home.comcast.net/~lisas_meeses/)
whom I know and trust
with this (however, I have never tried this diet with my own mice). Her
protein % is a little high for my liking but as long as you don't
have a mouse prone to the problem you should be fine.
Take care,
Barbara
http://www.thefunmouse.com
All-Around Mouse Diet
1/2 lb. rolled oats
1/2 lb. pearled barley
1/2 lb. rolled rye
1/2 lb. buckwheat groats
1/2 lb. millet
1/2 lb. rolled spelt (wheat/rye hybrid)
1 lb. flax seed
1/2 lb. sunflower seeds hulled OR 3/4 lb. sunflower seeds in shell
1/4 lb. pumpkin seeds
1/4 lb. Total cereal, flax cereal, or Corn Chex, crumbled
1/4 lb. brewer's or nutritional yeast flakes
Mix together thoroughly, adding the yeast last and gently folding it in
(it
will turn to powder no matter what you do so don't worry about it).
Store in
refrigerator or freezer if the mix won't be used up within a week or
so.
To the above mix I add 2 packages of vegetable "Toppings" and 2
packages of
fruit "Toppings." They're found in the rodent food section. It's
cheaper if
you can find dried fruit and vegs but they must have almost no sugar
and no
salt.
Because flax seeds can go rancid, store the mix in the fridge or
freezer.
Makes about 5-1/2 lb.
Notes:
For any of the "rolled" grains above you can substitute:
rolled wheat, rolled kamut (wheat hybrid), rolled triticale (wheat/rye)
as
tolerated by your mice.
Wheat is a common food allergy among mice.
Buckwheat is not wheat.
The yeast I'm talking about is not the kind you use to make bread.
For greens put timothy hay in the cages, grow some oat grass and give
it to
them, and feed green peas. I separate the frozen peas into ****tions (1
or 2
per mouse every other day) using Glad Press-Wrap, then pull out of the
freezer
and thaw before giving.
|
