# Corn



## Tikmio (Oct 9, 2011)

I recently got In a confusion with someone else on the forum about feeding corn. When I was using it, I had to cull a doe (Sophie) because of a tumor, and I read somewhere that corn can cause cancer/tumors in mice if fed in high amounts. After that I reduced the corn, but did not get rid of it completely. After that another doe got what I though was a tumor, but it turned out to be an abscess. Even though it was an abscess and Fran is fine, I decided to rule out corn 100%. After doing so I have had no problems with tumors. I am a small mousery, so Sophie's tumor while feeding corn could have been a coincidence. So any larger mouserys have an opinion on corn and it's issues/up sides?


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Well, lets look at how long you've had a mousery. These mice are not ones you've bred yourself, yes? Do you know the age of the does? Coming from an unknown line might mean that they have a predisposition to corn. The Native Earth I've been feeding has ground corn in it, and while I've only been breeding for a year, I've had no problems with tumor/cancer/etc... *knock on wood*


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

It is said that maize *can* cause tumours *if* it's gone mouldy. In truth, I doubt that very many tumours are caused by maize as fancy mice are prone to cancer anyway as a result of being descended from lab stock. I feed my mice lots of maize because it is high in hind-gut fibre (which scrubs out the intestines and keep them clean) and folate (which is good for preventing birth defects in pinkies). I can't remember the last time I had even one tumour in my mice


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## Tikmio (Oct 9, 2011)

Okay! I guess I'll forget it then and go buy the dog food I used to use that has corn.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

If you are breeding American on other non-English mousies, you might want to think twice about going back to corn and stuff with corn in it. Whole dried corn, be it ground, cracked, or used as ingredients is suspected in causing tumors, especially for mammary tumors. I don't think that's the same is illness caused by moldy corn or peanuts, which is a valid concern as well.

My understanding was that some component of the corn combines with digestive juices to produce a carcinogenic compound. This was in something I read years ago and don't have a reference, I'm afraid. I had already observed a steep drop off in mammary tumors in my mousie population after eliminating corn from the diet before I went looking around for the info, however. Just based on personal experience in a large mousery, I don't recommend feeding corn, peanuts, or sunflower seeds. I've tried reintroducing these things one at a time, over a few years, and each time I saw an increase of tumors.


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## Tikmio (Oct 9, 2011)

Oh...

First of all, I didn't know sunflower seeds and peanuts were a problem. I don't feed peanuts, but I do feed black oil sunflower seeds. Looks like I need to get rid of all this stuff.

Coming from you, moustress, I think I'm gonna stick to my maybe paranoid no corn thing  I was looking for an opinion like this - a big mousery that has sort of 'tested' it.


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## sys15 (Nov 26, 2011)

tumors are far, far more genetic than dietary. mice can thrive on a wide variety of foods.


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## MojoMouse (Apr 20, 2012)

I haven't found any particular references to corn being harmful to mice, except for a LOT mentions on this site. (I did a quick search) My experience is that corn, in moderation, is fine. It's a nutritious vegetable, and my mice love a bit when I give them veggies. I feel quite comfortable continuing this. I've not noticed any correlation with tumour occurance. Some foods which are more widely recognised as harmful are things like onion, and citrus fruits. These are more worthy of warning mentions, imo.


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## mich (Sep 28, 2013)

My mice love corn cobs cooked. I boil them they love to nibble on them. But they must be cooked.


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## mich (Sep 28, 2013)

Maize is corn. Either whole maize or cracked maize. I can buy it from the animal feed store. Good mixed in with their usual seed mix.


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