# Brussels sprouts?!



## TanithHH

Can you feed mice Brussels sprouts? had some left over, but gave them all to my hens instead as wasn't sure if they were ok for mice!  (They were cooked)


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## ThatCertainGlow

I would think a tiny amount of cooked would be OK, if you agree with the occasional treat of cabbage. I've seen places like ASPCA and say you can't feed cabbage to mice, yet the wild ones would go after my cabbage plants. They've done a number of studies on mice fed various quantities of cabbage.

http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/34796 ... Bdrq6GfQ.2
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3567889
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1 ... 8909514010

I don't/didn't feed any of my domestic mice cabbage family vegetables, but that's mostly because they didn't like them, unless the flavor was covered up. In my experience and understanding mice aren't really that big on common human vegetables/fruits, unless they seem to be lacking something they can get in the vegetable/fruit.

-Zanne


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## MojoMouse

That's interesting, TCG. I read about people giving their mice fruit and vegetables, but mine just don't go for them much. They eat popped corn as a treat, and love a bit of cucumber peel, but not much else.


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## ThatCertainGlow

I noticed this back when the store I got my lab blocks from changed to a different supplier. My mice went from nibbling on a few veggies and fruits, to flat out mobbing those. I offered things they had all previously disdained, and they usually gobbled those too. Made me think more about what went into the food, and what wasn't. None of the other feeds worked as well as those first lab block, and I didn't like the changes in coat, vigor, etc.

When I got this handful I have now, I had come up with a whole grain and seed mix from reading this forum, lab studies, rat forums, etc., then researching each item. These mice are pretty much flat no on veggies/fruits. They might take one or two bites each of carrot, kale, and apple, but that's it. Every other item is treated like I left trash in there. Including banana, spinach, cucumber, etc, that my prior mice liked a lot. :lol: It could be because I soak/sprout the mix, but I can't really tell, as they are now spoiled and have refused to eat it dry. :? (That could pose a problem for my being away.) Can't really draw much conclusions from a small number of mice, but I did kind of think the veggie/fruit disdain might happen if I got the mix close to right.

They do get really excited about scrambled egg, yogurt, and mealworms... So perhaps the mix only lacks calcium and/or fat, or some other thing found in those, in their opinion? It's approx. 12% protein, and 5% fat. They also get 2 kinds of a non-grain dog food with simple ingredients (comparatively) every other day, to up that protein level. They are sometimes pleased, and sometimes ho hum about it. They get kelp (granulated) and anchovy oil on the yogurt days, then either eat it all, or just some of it, as they please. Their favorite things are the buckwheat, and the oats, they go right for those.

Popped corn is a whole different thing from regular veggies.  It's grain, after all. Not met too many mice, or people, who don't like it. Although, my current batch comes pretty close to feeling 'meh' about it. (My popping corn is supposed to be from GMO free crops.)

-Zanne


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