# Food?



## mousetastic1995 (Mar 26, 2010)

Hi, I just got my mouse, and I have hamster food. They didn't have any rat/mouse food in the petshop, and I'm curious what I should take out. Heres a pic of my mouse's bowl.










Should I take the sunflower seeds and corn out? If it helps, I get it by the pound at the petshop, like 3 dollars for a pound or so.


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## Norman's Mom (Feb 12, 2010)

Hamster food is actually more ideal for mice than rat and mouse mix. Most rat and mouse mixes are far too high in crude protein...pet shop meeces need around 13%. I also stay far away from anything made by Kaytee. There is a chemical they put in Kaytee to preserve foods that has been known to be lethal to mice.

Anyhoo...I pick out Sunflower seeds and peanuts to use as treats alone. Sunflower seeds and peanuts are the two number one causes of food allergy in mice, and they are super fatty...they should be used as treats only, and if the mouse is allergic...never. I generally leave corn...although there is some studies that point to corn being cancer-causing...however there is discrepancy between feeding fresh corn and dried...and there really isn't enough conclusive evidence, IMO, that corn does cause cancer for sure for me to be overly worried about it. I haven't had any tumors in almost two years, so I let the corn stay. If you want to pick out the corn, go for it.

You do want to supplement that mix with fresh foods and Hard Proteins a couple of times a week though...like dog kibble, pasta, mealworms, crickets, scrambled eggs, chicken or turkey, oatmeal....stuff like that.


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## mousetastic1995 (Mar 26, 2010)

K, I will pick out the sunny seeds everytime I feed him. There isn't much corn in it, so I think I'll leave it. And the bedding (Aspen) is made by kaytee, is that alright?


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## Norman's Mom (Feb 12, 2010)

Kaytee bedding is OK....it's their food that is rubbish.

BUT...from experience, I personally stay far away from *any* wood-based bedding. Over the many years I have owned mice, wood-based bedding became such a huge problem for me that I altogether quit using it several years ago. If you freeze it in a sub-zero freezer (or bake it), that will kill any mites or other external parasites that come in on it (wood bedding is notorious for bring these nasty little "extra" gifts with it)....but I had SO many of my pet shop mice pop allergies to the bedding that it just wasn't worth it anymore. They suffered constantly from URI's...dusty wood bedding can make them sick, and some bedding, if it isn't kiln-dried, secretes natural oils that can kill mice....I just gave up. If you don't freeze or bake bedding before giving it to them, wood-based bedding is the number one cause of external parasites (mites or lice)...so that's another issue that wood-bedding can cause.

So, for many years now, I stick to paper-based bedding. Paper isn't as adsorbent as wood, but I think a little extra stink at the end of the week is worth their overall health. I use good old shredded newspaper and toilet paper, but Carefresh is a good brand (the colored kind, the grey kind is really dusty), and I've heard good things about Yesterday's News Cat litter.

Just some of my experience. If I can head off a problem before it starts, better safe than sorry. There is nothing wrong with using wood-based bedding, of-course, this is just me. I will tell you that I haven't had any issues with my mice becoming ill due to bedding for *years* now....and one Sunday paper at $1.50 provides enough bedding for all my tanks for two weeks! Much cheaper too!


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## mousetastic1995 (Mar 26, 2010)

Okay, I will have to freeze it then, don't want any mites. xD


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