# Really Old Mice?



## tillyandapril (Aug 6, 2013)

What causes a mouse to live to be very old? Two of mine are well over 2 years and fast approaching 3. They are both in PERFECT health, and very active. Is it their genes? Good diet? Just chance?


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Genes of course play a big part, but you obviously know how to take great care of your meeces to have two live to that age.

My oldest mouse was about 3 yrs 10 mo.


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## tillyandapril (Aug 6, 2013)

They're just pet store mice, so I'm not sure how good their genes are. I don't actually feed them mouse food, I feed them Oxbow Regal Rat along with other random snacks and fresh veggies. I'm hesitant to switch to actual mouse food since they've been thriving on the rat formula


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Well, I wouldn't change a thing. The requirements for rats and mousies are about the same, from my understanding.


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## raisin (Sep 22, 2014)

feeding oxbow regal rat is a great idea! I'm just startin up my mousery and what to feed them was going to be a bit of an issue. my personal pets are fed seeds and some other bits, though I monitor them closely to make sure they all get enough. The mousery is an entirely different story and my members throw their seeds around, so I don't know if they've eaten. Mazuri blocks are somewhat expensive to ship in, but I have access to all the oxbow I want!

I would be skeptical to feed them this as thefunmouse.com, I believe, mentioned that oxbow young rat and mouse had no nutritional value for mice. it is a different food though, and if yours do well, mine could too.

does anyone know if pregnant/nursing mice will have what they need nutritionally from this? otherwise they'll get seeds and mazuri blocks


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

They'll need some extra protein. I use premium quality puppy chow for all my meeces. One piece of kibble everyother day for the whole population, and the breeders, pregnant and nursing, and little weanlings have it every day. Scrambled egg is good as well; just a little piece for each mousie.

Some of the top breeders swear by bread soaked in milk.


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## tillyandapril (Aug 6, 2013)

I have hollistic grain free cat food, would a few pieces of that be a good protein supplement? Honestly I dont usually give extra protein...I didnt know I was supposed to. Oops :/


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## andypandy29us (Aug 10, 2012)

Ive just lost my fav buck Eric he was 3 years and 7 months ....... I think its a combination of good living and food and genes that help


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I'd use one piece of kibble per day for breeders and little ones; one every other day for those not breeding. Too much protein can be harmful. And I don't know about grain free kibble; if the protein content is 20% or more, I'd break the pieces and give less. 16% protein is the number I remember for breeding meeces.


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## tillyandapril (Aug 6, 2013)

The cat food pieces are each about the size of a peppercorn. What percentage protein do you recommend for non breeding mice?


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I believe 12% is the commonly accepted figure; though 10% seems reasonable as well. If the chunks are the size of peppercorns that I have seen, two a day for breeders, and two every other day for the others. If they are a little bigger, then what I said before stands.


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## mich (Sep 28, 2013)

You are lucky to have them live to 3 yrs old. Surprisingly though the lifespan for a mouse is 7 years, about the same time as a finch.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

If I am recalling correctly, 12% protein is ideal for nonbreeding mooskies.


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