# rupert rat blocks



## laoshu (Sep 16, 2009)

has anyone tried these? I have heard that they are quite good for rats and mice so have been looking for someone who i can get them from all morning only to find my local pet shop can get them in  
it works out about £15 a 15kg sack but at the moment i am paying £11.50 a sack of base mix then having to add another load of food on top of that and i am left with some waste...

I will still add a little mix of stuff for them for variaty, I might do a few days on and a few days off or something ( blocks for two days then mix for two day? ) not sure yet.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I used lab blocks for about a year many years ago and switched because my mousies didn't seem to like it very much. Later, I learned about corn being carcinogenic to meeces and switched to a corn free (not to mention added sugar free) diet.


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## laoshu (Sep 16, 2009)

I had read recently though that lab blocks have to be good for them as in the Labs they need the correct diet for when testing is carried out?
what problems can my mice get from corn as i have not really noticed any problems with using it in my mix.. I use a rabbit mix that has quite abit of corn.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Eliminating corn from my meeces' diet eliminated the occurrence of tumors, and reduced skin, eye, and ear problems. Any of these problems will shorten the life of a mousie, or in the case of tumors, end it. Lab mice are not bred for longevity, with the exception, of course, of those that are specifically used for longevity studies. Corn is a common filler in many kinds of pet food because it is bulky and cheap and the animals will eat it. It is, however, one of the most common causes of allergies and digestive problems, especially in dogs and cats.

It is my understanding (I'm still trying to find the reference for this-I think the site is no longer up) that corn mixed with the mousies' digestive acids creates a carcinogenic substance (probably nitrosamines). I discovered the wisdom of removing corn from my meeces' diet without having read anything about it beforehand. My mousies were on a diet of whole grains and seeds supplemented by dry cat food for several years after I quit using lab blocks. I noticed that a lot of the meeces were leaving the corn uneaten, so I stopped buying it. Within a half a year, I noticed a drop in the incidence of the health problems mentioned above. 'Aha! thought moustress' let's try a corn-free dry kibble!

Okay, this worked! 99% reduction in cancerous tumors and 80% reduction in skin, ear, and eye problems. I could have done a double blind test, but I couldn't do that to any of my animals when it seemed so clear what was going on. BTW, there are similar problems with peanuts and sunflower nuts. In addition to the digestive conversion of corn and acids to nitrosamines, there are problems with contamination of all three, corn, peanuts, and sunflower nuts, especially the lower quality used in pet foods and bird seed mixes, with aflatoxins or other fungal elements.

I did reintroduce peanuts and sunflower nuts, and started seeing tumors again. This might be deemed apocryphal, except for the fact that I have lines of meeces up to eight years standing, and I have a couple of hundred at any one time.


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## laoshu (Sep 16, 2009)

when i pick up this bag of blocks i will see what the corn content is if i can find it and see how it goes, I have been feeding the same sort of mixes for only 6 years and although i have had the odd tumour pop out i have not had enough for me to worry but the again i have not been keeping any where near 100 mice at a time to notice i suppose :?: 
how do you mix yours? I have trouble finding anything that can be used as a base mix that doesnt have corn in it.


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