# custom diets



## mousefan (Nov 3, 2012)

hello, I was wondering if anyone was willing to share there custom homemade diet blend.


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## Oakelm (Oct 17, 2009)

More than happy to share but nothing odd in mine.
50% bruised oats
25% rolled barley
15% wild bird seed mix (drop this down a bit in summer and increase the barley)
10% complete dog food, happens to be arden grange salmon for adults, its what my dogs have lol. But sometimes other complete if we happen to win a random bag of dog food
5-8% flaked peas
2-5% miscellanous, so left over cereal, crackers that have got squished, anything dry and unwanted
All approx as i just scoop so many if this and that until it looks right to me

They also get dried out granary bread from time to time and very very small amounts of organic veg left overs few and far between.

Then if I have preggie females or young litters that dont look like they are gaining enough I mix up a mini batch with more wild bird seed and throw a scoop of lactol powder in the mix, it sticks to things like the dog food and they seem to love it and do well on it but I only use it sparingly.

Others make these lactol/bread mashes but not something I have bothered with yet.

Everyone does it slightly different and you will get to know your mice, one thing I highly recommend is to buy straight grains and only mix up what you need for the week then if you need to alter the mix you can plus you have straight oats on hand in case of something like upset stomachs.


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## mousefan (Nov 3, 2012)

Thank you so much! i am getting started with mice this fall, and need lots of info.


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## thammy24 (Dec 20, 2012)

Here's what I have. 
20% yellow millet
20% flax seed
20% budgie seed (has 2 different types of seed in it)
20% Dhurum wheat
20% hamster mix that I still have left over. 
And I add a few pellet of dry cat food

with that mix, the concentration of sunflower seeds in the hamster mix is much lower. I leave them in because these are the small black ones that are better.

Then they also get plain cheerios, pieces of fruit and veggies and usually a meal worm every night. sometimes a piece of chicken or fish and if I'm making scrabbled egg in the morning, they get some of that too.

Thinking about adding steel-cut oats to the mix. Might try and see how they like that next time.


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## thammy24 (Dec 20, 2012)

I personally think giving flax seed is very important because a lot of studies done on flax seed when testing it on rats and mice showed a large decrease in tumours. if I have rats, that will definitely be an important part of their diet since they're so prone to tumours.


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## Oca2 (Jan 1, 2009)

Would you happen to have references at hand? I'd be interested in reading those studies.


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## mousefan (Nov 3, 2012)

thank you for the good ideas


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## thammy24 (Dec 20, 2012)

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 3597004709

You can only read the abstract unfortunately. I know that just because the research suggests that flaxseed may decrease metastasis, it doesn't mean flaxseed does, but I'm a science grad and know how absolutely certain scientists need to be before they dare to make such a statement lol.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8352261

This next one shows it's good to treat Proteinura, which is a condition caused by to kidney damage or kidney disease and mice fed 15% flax seed in their diet took 4 weeks longer before they showed the condition and some mice didn't get sick at all. Now of course your mice aren't likely to get Proteinura, but feeding flaxseed will be good for your mice's kidneys.

If you go to google scholar and type in flaxseed mice, you'll get lots more research on the affects of flaxseed on mice. Most scientists seem to feed the lab mice 10 to 15% flaxseed and the controls get just a staple rodent mix.

edited due to grammar error lol


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## Oca2 (Jan 1, 2009)

Thanks! I can probably get those via my university.


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## mousefan (Nov 3, 2012)

flax seeds are very nutritious. for both humans and mice


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## HinkyPunk (Apr 21, 2013)

> I personally think giving flax seed is very important because a lot of studies done on flax seed when testing it on rats and mice showed a large decrease in tumours. if I have rats, that will definitely be an important part of their diet since they're so prone to tumours.





> flax seeds are very nutritious. for both humans and mice


also its good for joint health as well, so a bit of a miracle food :lol: 
i use flax seeds and oil in my rat and mice mix, and it defiantly seems to improve their condition 

already mentioned this somewhere, but this is my current mix
50% rabbit muesli (Alpha herbal deluxe/Harrison's banana brunch)
30% cereals&grains (rolled oats/puffed rice/millet/buckwheat/cornflakes/shredded wheat)etc
10% dog food (burns chicken & brown rice)
5% pasta
5% mixed seeds (hemp/linseed/fennel/pumpkin/quinoa)


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## mousefan (Nov 3, 2012)

That looks really good! I will have to try that recipe to


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

I wrote a rather lengthy post about mixing your own food, which may be of use to you:

http://www.fancymicebreeders.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8334


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## mousefan (Nov 3, 2012)

Thanks Sara! that was a lot of help


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