# Choosing a Diet



## innalia (Aug 6, 2012)

Well this is my first experience with mice in general, so with breeding set aside, my current focus is general health. When I had rats as pets, I fed them Harlan Teklad blocks and then fresh fruits/veggies every day. That was their diet. They seemed happy with it, and very healthy. With my mice, I was going to do the same, but figured it would be best to do some research on the differences in nutritional needs between rats and mice. In your opinion, what is a good staple diet for a mouse? I read that for breeding, you want to avoid lab blocks like Harlan and Mazuri because of the high level of corn and soy in those products. I usually pick corn out of seed mixes, and don't even feed anything with corn or soy to my dogs. I think I would like to make a homemade mix, but I was hoping some of you guys could recommend a good mix with measurements of each ingredient (rather than giving percentages).

Is fruits/veggies every day, going to be too much for a little mouse?

Why do many people use dog food instead of blocks? I used to feed Innova Reduced Fat cat food mixed with Wellness Healthy Weight cat food for my hedgehog. What brands of dog food are recommended for mice? Is there a certain level of protein I should look out for, like I did with my hedgehog? Is it okay to feed a grain-free dog food to mice, or is it better to feed something with grain since grains can be good for the mice, also? Is anyone feeding Innova or Nature's Variety to their mice? I'm very particular about dog food. I won't feed any of those crappy brands like Beneful, Pedigree, Eukanuba, Kibbles n' Bits, Iams, and most Purina foods. However, I would consider Innova, California Natural, Nature's Variety (I feed the grain-free version with my dogs, mixed with their raw diet). Also Nutro, Merrick. I'm not really a big fan of Merrick though. Anyone familiar with these brands?

If I decide to add dog food to their diet, as a natural rule, I will avoid anything that contains corn, wheat, soy, animal digest, and/or animal by-product. I'm not really worried about the wheat, but everything else is a definite no. That's just how I shop for dog food (although... I feed grain-free and grain-free foods should never contain those things anyway).

As for a commercial seed mix... well, does anyone feed those? If so, what kind?

Thanks for your time, everyone!


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

with dog food i was told the crappyer it is for dogs the better it is for mice, so where as for dogs you want a high meat content with no grains and other fillers for mice you want the oppersit. Mine are fed on vitilan working dog musely after seeing it recomended on here and all but 1 of the mice seem to like it and and all are doing well on it.

cant help with veggies as i dont feed them, only when traviling on in there maxeys for moisture.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

Check this thread out, it helped me decided to what feed mine.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8334


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## besty74 (May 26, 2012)

thats the thread i used to decide on my final mix too!


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

yeah i was uming and arhing over if for weeks befor seeing that post.


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## Jeannot (Jul 30, 2012)

I use Harlan as a staple diet for my mice and rats. Harlan produces several different formulas. They offer two lines of rodent diet: Teklad Global Diets and Traditional Rodent Diets. Teklad Global Diets differ in that they are vegetarian diets (no animal byproducts) and avoid (or greatly reduce) soybean meal. Corn is also reduced the Teklad Global Diets line. Within each line there are different formulas based on protein and fat content.

Most of my mice are in breeding condition and I use 2018 Teklad Global 18% Protein Rodent Diet as a staple diet for them. My rats are fed different Teklad formulas depending on their age, sex, and breeding condition, I generally reduce the protein as the animals mature, and particularly so in males.

Here's a link to the complete list of Harlan diets: http://www.harlan.com/products_and_serv ... dent_diets

I supplement my mice with grains (oats, sugar-free Müesli), spray millet (largely for enrichment, and because I have it on hand as a staple for my Roborovski's hamsters), fresh vegetables, occasional fruits. Every now and then they'll some nice cheese or a good crusty loaf of whatever I have on hand. I like these things so I usually have some to share with the critters.

I generally like English fancier's take on feeding and use it as a guideline for my supplemental feeding, however, I use Harlan as a staple.


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