gg
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Posts: 6
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Post by gg on Jul 7, 2013 16:02:27 GMT 10
The bulk of my mouse diet is Norco lab blocks, plus a home made mix of seeds & grains, some cereals & sometimes dried fruit. The home made mix is simply small parrot mix, canary or budgie mix, a low sugar & low salt museli mix (Woolies or Coles brand are fine), plus plain oats.
Other foods they get are parsley leaves, spinach leaves, choko vine leaves, some dark lettuce leaves (no Iceberg lettuce), pak or bok choy, all roughly chopped up or ripped by hand. They get bits of broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, pumpkin (cooked, raw, seeds, skin, flesh), boiled or baked potatoes, and some cooked beans also (canned is fine, just rinse the juice off to reduce salt). They also get pieces of banana, apple, pear, apricots, nectarines, pineapple, sweet plums, rockmelon, water melon, honey dew melon, plus most berries like blue berries, mulberries, strawberries & raspberries. They only get what is in season veggie or fruit wise, they only ever get small amounts of fruit, sometimes they don’t get fruit at all. They also get both dry dog & cat food, Good O’s (a dog food, like fruit loops for dogs), plain baked dog biscuits, dried meats, mealworms, cooked meats like chicken breast or beef heart, sometimes a little cooked lambs liver, some baby foods (meat & veggie ones, fruity ones if sick). A bit of seafood is also good, they love dried shrimp & bits of crab, prawn/shrimp heads are enjoyed also, dried fish or canned sardines are favourites (only get those when Im feeding sardines to ferrets).
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Post by MojoMouse on Jul 7, 2013 16:44:14 GMT 10
Wow, your mice don't lack variety in their diet. With so many different foods, feeding time would count as lifestyle enrichment! I've just started converting my mice to lab blocks, but I give them treats to help with training, and for a bit of variety. I also give pregnant and nursing mothers some cat kibble and bits of cooked egg for extra protein. Oh, and I give them a milk supplement, and provide this for the babies as well when they're reaching weaning age.
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gg
New Member
Posts: 6
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Post by gg on Jul 8, 2013 10:23:23 GMT 10
Eh, they only get fresh foods 2-3 times a week, try to give them stimulation via foods as they're not fussed about toys other than tunnels or wheels. Helps they're all in small colonies also, as i find it encourages them to try new foods if all their friends are doing it
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Post by mousekateers on Jul 21, 2013 22:04:55 GMT 10
your diet is quite similar to what I give except for the fact that the only kibble/dog food I give are ones that have no food colourings or excessive preservatives. As an example, I give Lucky Dog Natural Bones but I would never feed Good O's to my dog or my mice because of the colourings and high salt content. I currently don't give lab blocks although I have used them in the past due to the variable quality, access to the better brands and the fact that a lot of mice won't eat them unless they've been brought up on them.
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Post by anielka on Jul 28, 2013 13:55:45 GMT 10
I try to give my mice similar to above (they love mealworms but they are expensive and I've never had any luck trying to breed my own mealworms). Never tried bok or pak choi. Will try that. They love kale, I've found.
Fresh corn on the cob is a favourite treat. My mice will not touch fruit. They seem completely disinterested in anything other than a nibble of a banana or avacado. Every so often I try apple or carrot but it is ignored.
They like fresh grass-seed heads and I sometimes put a selection of grass heads in a tiny vase (with a narrow neck so they can't fall in!!) which becomes food, climbing frame and nest material all at once.
Organic oats is great. I find I often have to freeze Coles pet seeds/ cereals to kill flour moth larvae. I prefer feeding them fresher organic seeds and cereals.
My mice love millet on the stalk but won't eat it often if it's loose. Perhaps it's the freshness?
And I've also noticed they only really like very, very fresh food. day-old food is already not fresh enough for them. I try to put fresh food in for " both crepuscular episodes" (evening and morning feed) but don't always get up as early as my mice!!
Mouseketeers once recommended occasional chicken as a mealworms substitute I seem to remember and I tried that for the first time a couple of days ago. Voraciously received! Good idea.
I'm paranoid about fresh water. Water is changed frequently and I try to have at least two water points. I trialled a vitamin additive to water recently despite initial reluctance (technically a fesh varied diet should be sufficient) but have to say mice seemed to prefer it to their alternate water supply and certainly seem to be invigorated although this may just be my fond imagining.
What fruits do mice prefer?
Parsley leaves and corriander are mouse-favourites. The most enthusiastic I've ever seen a mouse is for cabbage-white caterpillars which had been feeding on sage leaves. Thought mice were going to take my hand off at the elbow in their unbridled enthusiasm.
PS sardines.... That's interesting.
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Post by andy on Jul 28, 2013 21:15:40 GMT 10
I think most fruits would be ok as long as it isn't too much. I would steer clear of citrus fruit though maybe a bit too acidic
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Post by anielka on Jul 29, 2013 12:22:29 GMT 10
So I tried bok choi as you suggested, gg, and as you can see I'm pretty sure the mice Like it.....! Thanks! Great new suggestion.
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Post by greydawnbreaking on Jul 29, 2013 19:13:16 GMT 10
Well I'd never heard of giving leafy green vegetables to mice, but I guess that's why this forum is going to be so awesome. I ordered Chinese delivery tonight and there was some steamed bok choy which didn't look like it had anything objectionable on it, so out of curiosity I put a couple of leafy bits in with the mice. Within two minutes both of them had appeared from nowhere and were inhaling the bok choy as fast as their little jaws could munch. Hilarious! And I'd just about written these two off as not food-motivated. This is definitely going on the regular menu.
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