# Does this home made mix of mine sound alright?



## Runaway Mousery (Jul 5, 2012)

Does this home made mix of mine sound alright to you folks?

40% rolled oats
15% rabbit feed
15% barley
10% wild bird seed (millet, canary seed, oat groats, wheat middlings etc.)
10% high quality dog food
5% split green peas
5% brown rice
+ a light dusting of flax seed

I've been reading a lot of the topics here in nutrition, and have tried my very best to apply it. But a once over from the more experienced keepers here would surely set my mind at ease! Thank you in advance =)


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

That's not a bad mix at all, though I would take the dog food and use it as a separate item, doled out in very specific ways.

I give my mousies one lump of puppy kibble every other day, except for breeding, pregnant, nursing, or four weeks old or younger; those get a lump every day and I break it up for the little ones. I also give dry bread of dry cereal soaked in whole milk, about a teaspoon for a breeding couple, pregnant or nursing female, and just a little extra for a young litter 2 to 4 weeks old. I also give these same categories scrambled egg in very small amounts shreds, really, say a shred or two per mousie.


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## besty74 (May 26, 2012)

sounds great, its fun mixing up your own mix
I agree with moustress about the dog food, too much of it and your bucks will get fat! but the females will need it when pregnant or lactating.


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## Runaway Mousery (Jul 5, 2012)

Okay, I will do that with the dog food then! I was figuring the uneven distribution with it mixed in was going to drive me up the wall - so that sounds like a much better plan. Thank you very much for the tips!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I'm pleased to help! 

I'm curious; what's in the rabbit mix?


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## Runaway Mousery (Jul 5, 2012)

The rabbit feed is Purina Show Formula. The main ingredients are dehydrated alfalfa meal, wheat middlings, ground soybean hulls, dehulled soybean meal, wheat flour, and ground oat hulls. It's a 16% protein, corn free pelleted feed. I've read here in a few spots that the mice tend to skip over these - but I have a rabbitry so it's readily available to me, and I thought I would include a small amount of it for the sake of variety. If they never touch it I'll phase it out and just substitute in higher barley and oats in it's place.


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## MissPorter13 (Jun 20, 2012)

I don't know if this is just a myth or not but I heard that feeding the rabbit food can end up with lots of waste because they won't touch the alfalfa pellets (which the food we get for our rabbits is _full_ of)...Is this true? I wanted to include it myself but avoided it for this reason.


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## Runaway Mousery (Jul 5, 2012)

MissPorter13 said:


> I don't know if this is just a myth or not but I heard that feeding the rabbit food can end up with lots of waste because they won't touch the alfalfa pellets (which the food we get for our rabbits is _full_ of)...Is this true? I wanted to include it myself but avoided it for this reason.


I am interested to see too, which is why I used only a small percentage of it and I made a very small batch of mix to begin with. I have to seal it up tight in the barn to keep the wild ones out of the rabbit feed bins. If the domestic mice won't have it then I will omit it when I make a larger batch, to avoid the waste.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

The mix would be perfectly adequate without it; I prefer to exclude corn, notivced my meeces didn't eat it much of the time, but they are cat food that had corn, so first I stopped adding corn, noticed a decrease in skin eyenad ear problems, then after awhile I noticed there were a LOT less mammary tumors. At that point I looked around and got them pet kibble that was corn free.

Wheat is another suspect in cases of skin, eye and ear problems, so I eliminated that as well. It can be nigh unto impossible to cure a mousie that gets itchy ears which they scratch to scabs...some wise breeder on this forum said if I eliminated that I would pretty well eliminate that problem...it's been a month and a half now and I have no new cases. (I have a couple hundred mousies!)

In addition to corn and wheat, I no longer give them sunflower seeds or peanuts, after eliminating both, reintroducing singly, and seeing tumors with each addition...the health of my mousies are an obsession, and I try always to do better.

I guess I kind of took over your thread here and used it as a soapbox...sorry.  (just a little)

You know what they say, 'You can't repeat yourself too often, I always say'. (that's what 'they' say, anyway...)


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## Malene (Jun 8, 2010)

Some mice might like alfalfa pellets or eat them if they're hungry enough, I don't know. But mine didn't. I don't think any of my mice has ever eaten them. Back when I used to mix my own food (and used food bowls), I included a commercial mix that contained them, and there were always just alfalfa and husks left in the bowls.
I don't know if it makes a difference when the alfalfa is mixed with something else in pellets, but knowing how much my mice dislikes it, I would avoid it.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I love to add timothy hay to th tanks, especially in winter, and the meeces like to taste it, though I don't think they eat it. It really adds a touch of freshness with it's nice sweet smell. I have a wire ball that I fill with it and let them worry it out piece by piece.


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## Runaway Mousery (Jul 5, 2012)

I do have plenty of orchard grass hay. I figured I would give them a healthy handful of it to nest with. =)


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

They'll love it! I harvested bull thistle last year; they ate the seed part and used the fluff in their nests. Little two week old babies, nestled in thistle down; almost too cute.


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## Runaway Mousery (Jul 5, 2012)

moustress said:


> They'll love it! I harvested bull thistle last year; they ate the seed part and used the fluff in their nests. Little two week old babies, nestled in thistle down; almost too cute.


Awww! That IS too cute! What a lovely idea for a soft nest lining. I shall have to break out the nippers and go hunting myself!


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## littlelovesmousery (May 19, 2012)

My mice are housed on alfalfa pellets. They don't eat them. When I first switched they nibbled on a few at first but now they couldn't care less.


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## andypandy29us (Aug 10, 2012)

Ive never used rice before ... do u cook it first?, soak it? or just put it in dried?

probably a really silly question but having never used it before i thought id ask


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