Pet Mouse Feeding

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

05 Jul 2007 05:22 PM

Your pet mice need a balanced diet in order to be healthy, playful, and happy. In fact, their diet needs much of the same basics a human diet needs!

• Your mice need carbohydrates: this is basically the main portion of the mouse diet. Whole or rolled oats, hay, stale whole wheat bread, cooked whole wheat pasta.
• Your mice need vegetables: vitamins and minerals come from fresh vegetables like greens, carrots, peas, and more. Some veggies (or too much of a single veggie) can upset the stomach and leave you with a very messy cage.
• Your mice need protein: this can come from nuts and seeds, or even commercial dog biscuits! Hard nuts (like acorns and walnuts) also have another benefit for your mice -- the gnawing helps keep their teeth from growing too quickly.

If you want to make things really easy for the mouse caretaker, you can feed your mice a commercially prepared diet. Look for a pellet made for rodents in general, or mice or hamsters specifically. The problem with pellets, though, is that it's a boring diet. The same thing every day for your whole life? Ick. Your mousies need variety!

The mice may enjoy a grain based or seed based loose mix -- this will be more interesting for sure. However, your mice may end up picking out and eating only the things they like. This can create dietary deficiencies. If you do offer a loose mix, only put out a small amount and make sure it's all gone before offering more.

And what's a diet without treats? Your mice will love treats -- just don't go overboard. Try to avoid junk food like candy and potato chips, and never give your mouse chocolate because it's toxic! Save the chocolate for yourself and give your mice treats like:

• Apple slices
• Millet spray
• Crackers with a bit of peanut butter
• Crackers with a bit of fruit jelly or jam
• Fruit and grain snack bars
• Yellow dandelion flowers
• Boiled rice

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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