# Dandelions



## Govanbill (Mar 16, 2011)

I have just given the girls some for the first time and they love them


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## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

The flowers or the leaves or both? Will have to try some, my mice are never interested in anything I have to offer!


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## Govanbill (Mar 16, 2011)

leafs


Kallan said:


> The flowers or the leaves or both? Will have to try some, my mice are never interested in anything I have to offer!


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

My Mice love them never tried them with the seed heads, I reckon they would make a mess


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I used to feed these every day.Just can;t find the time to go out picking now.They like the sappy bit close to the roots ,you can put the hole plant in.


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## Govanbill (Mar 16, 2011)

I bought a bag of dried ones from the pet shop


SarahC said:


> I used to feed these every day.Just can;t find the time to go out picking now.They like the sappy bit close to the roots ,you can put the hole plant in.


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

SarahC said:


> They like the sappy bit close to the roots ,you can put the hole plant in.


I feed the leaves to my nursing mommas and also to my guinea pigs and they love 'em but I had often wondered if the flowers wound be safe to give too. I assume the answer is yes from your comment SarahC?

xx


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

yes I agree put the whole lot in Rabbit like the milky sap in the stems dont they, some people have to be carefull mind as they can be allergic to the milky sap people used to make tea from dandelion yuk :| it has some medicinal properties which help the gut in humans and contains potassium and calcium.To be honest I dont think any Animal would be really interested in any flower just the roots and stems/ leaves of a plant.Mice like Common Chickweed Stellaria media not the Mouse eared chickweed Cerastium fontanum it has a tougher leaf they eat the seed heads and the small leaves at work there was an area overgrown with chickweed and I found a colony of field mice living in it, you could see they had fed on the chickweed and had some tubby little pups too  .


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## Roland (Aug 17, 2009)

Dandelion leaves are a very good source for calcium andseveral vitamins and they induce milk in pregnant and nursing females. I use them for all preganant the last days before giving birth and some days longer until the babies start to develope fur, but not later. Sometimes it happens that the growing babies develope diarrhoe, if you continue feeding dandelion leaves to the mothers too long.
The right food at the right time!

Best regards, Roland
Chilloutarea Mousery - Tricolor , Splashed , Merle , Recessive Red
The place where science meets fun!


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## morning-star (Apr 9, 2011)

tratallen said:


> SarahC said:
> 
> 
> > They like the sappy bit close to the roots ,you can put the hole plant in.
> ...


I was told its not safe for hamsters to eat the flowers so I assume this would apply to other pets.


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## Matt Haslam (Mar 13, 2010)

isn't the 'safety' issue down to the fact they can cause diahorrea in some animals or if fed too much.


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

Apparently there is alot of Phosphorous in the Dandelion flower in Guineapigs it can cause them to be bloated and gassy I dont know about mice but the mouse wouldnt eat it if it thought it was harmfull to it.Wild mice and Rats no what natural foods are safe and what to avoid they have to.


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