# Your views on my food?



## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

Hello Everyone. I have fed my mice for a long time on the following and would appreciate your comments.

Burgess Supa Natural Rabbit Mix (Mainly for it`s grain content) contains no animal protein
Burgess Supa Rat Royale Kibble (I break these up for the mice and add to the above rabbit mix) has animal proteins added
Kallo Organic Wholemeal Puffed Rice
Organic Jumbo Oats (Tesco`s own brand)
Budgie Millet (this is only a scattering over the above food and not always daily)

Bits of brown bread/toast as a treat
Sunflower seeds as a treat

I`ve read a few postings in this section that mention wild bird seed and wondered if this is any different to actual budgie millet? I did buy a bag of canary seed recently which includes Linseeds and Hemp seeds aswell as another golden coloured seed and a very small black (looks like poppy seeds or rapeseed?) included. The mice like it. Any comments?

I`ve never bothered feeding dog kibble as I always thought it was too high in protein, so stuck with the Burgess Rat Royale kibble instead.


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## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

That looks fine for pet mice. If they seem fine on it, there's no need to change it. The feed only becomes particularly important if you're breeding mice, particularly if you're exhibiting.


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

Thanks for posting Loganberry. They do seem to enjoy everything above, although the rabbit mix contains bright green and brownish extruded biscuits which I choose to pick out (mainly due to the colourings), aswell as the corn/maize as I have read too many reports about corn being carcenogenic in mice. They never nibble the corn or the green pea flakes anyway, so I take the time to pick those out of the rabbit mix and leave the other ingredients, which is mostly grains.

Although I feed puffed wholegrain rice, I`ve read that some owners happily feed their mice brown rice raw? This is something I`ve been scared to do because of the swelling in the stomache stories. Not knowing the truth behind this myth though, I`m not sure what to believe. Would be interested to hear from those who do feed raw brown rice and whether they have had issues with bloated mice or seen any side effects from feeding it?


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I only feed cooked rice to my meeces. My meeces weren't eating corn either which is why I initially excluded it form their diet, and it was then I noticed they stopped getting tumors. I don't know what's in the rabbit foods, so I can't comment on that. And I agree that you'd need to add extra protein if you're going to breed.

My meeces don't get sunflower seeds anymore; too fattening and I also suspect them of causing cancer. Same with peanuts.


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

Thanks mousetress that`s good to know. I still feed sunflower seeds as treats only, but like yourself, I`m going to stop using them once this batch is finished. My rabbit mix is mainly made up of grains like flaked oats, wheat, whole oats and pearl barley etc.... I pick out the extruded biscuits and the corn/pea flakes. The mice never eat them.

I`ll stick to feeding the wholegrain organic puffed rice rather than take a chance with raw. I don`t breed mice so I don`t need to worry about extra high protein.


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## zany_toon (Apr 3, 2010)

Hi RM  I used wild bird seed in my mouse mix for a while but was finding that only some of my mice were eating it. I still add it occasionally as I keep it around for feeding the birds but have been using just some small amounts of linseed and pumpkin seeds instead which they all seem to prefer. Next time I make a batch I;m going to try the budgie food because from what I've heard it goes down really well - fingers crossed my mice aren't too fussy (they tend to like pea flakes and the extruded biscuits from the pre made foods which everyone else seems to say their mice don't eat - are my mice contrary or what?! :lol


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

The main reason I pick the extruded biscuits out is because they have bright colours (espacially the green ones) and I e-mailed Burgess a while back regarding their safety and whether the colourants (e numbers) used were harmful and they never did reply to my e-mail, so rather than risk my mice eating artificial junk, I chose to pick the biscuits out, the corn/maize and the pea flakes. The pea flakes are actually fine, but the mice don`t care for them so rather than have them filling up the food dish, I discard most of those aswell!

Zany - I currently add only budgie seed and canary seed. The canary seed has linseed and hemp seed added aswell as (what looks like) golden linseed and a very tiny black seed which I think is rapeseed, but hav`nt identified it as yet. I get a loose bag from a local shop in the high street. Goes down well though.


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

Racingmouse, it sounds like you throw an awful lot of food away! Why not switch to a plainer diet of oats and barley, bird seed and dog kibble? They'll still get all the nutrition they need and will waste nothing.

Sarah xxx


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

I was using waag mouse munch previous and all the brown pieces were always left they wouldnt touch it , I dont know what type of feed it was but since I switched too oats, barley bird seed , dog kibble they eat the whole lot.


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

Sarah, it does seem that way does`nt it?!! The rabbit mix does contain lots of grains though, so by the time I pick out the yellow maize, pea flakes and extruded biscuits, I`m still left with the actual grains in the mix. The rat Royale kibble I add is a combined kibble, so I thought by adding this that it would make up the difference where animal proteins were concerned. I realise that mixing different things together can dilute ingredients and complicate things. Rather than just feed a simple commercial rat mix, I wanted to combine different foods to make sure the mice had a good variety. The Shunamite diet for rats is fine for mice, which many people base their mices` diets around, although I don`t feed pasta or lots of human based cereals due to the fact they are sugary and not `natural` to mice.

What dog kibble do you use Sarah? I imagine that contains animal proteins? It could be something I could look into and add that rather than the rat Royale kibble?


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

kibble is just another word for dog food any dog kibble is ok.It is known in the US as kibble, and you dont need to buy expensive kibble.I love making my own mice food now and at least I know what is going into it.


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