Can I still feed this mouse?

Hey so I got a feeder mouse from Petco today (I haven’t yet found a local breeder especially since ideally I want to be feeding rats) but anyways... once I got home and got a thing or two settled and went to start feeding I opened the box and the mouse poop was this green? Can I still feed this mouse or what does that mean? I’ve gotten mice there before and their poop had looked completely normal. Thanks!!

Link to the photo:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...hp?i=58216&c=3

I can answer this and yes it is safe to feed. They feed kaytee blocks to them. They have green blocks in the food. They usually eat the green blocks first resulting in the green poop. Completely normal. There is nothing wrong with the mice.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

I can answer this and yes it is safe to feed. They feed kaytee blocks to them. They have green blocks in the food. They usually eat the green blocks first resulting in the green poop. Completely normal. There is nothing wrong with the mice.

---

She beat me to it! :D I concur, I've seen that exact mouse chow (Kaytee) with added food colors. :( I personally don't feed that to my rodents but it should be harmless,
especially when it's only one mouse. (I avoid feeding any pet foods with added colors, some aren't as innocuous as others.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

I can answer this and yes it is safe to feed. They feed kaytee blocks to them. They have green blocks in the food. They usually eat the green blocks first resulting in the green poop. Completely normal. There is nothing wrong with the mice.

---

Thanks so much for the prompt response :)

Haha that's good to know! I would have been worried too.

green poop ?:rofl:
this is why i feed F/T.. only my baby boy gets live mouse / rat hoppers and they last all of 5 seconds, so i dont get to see much poop lol

Thanks for the clearity sunnieskys & Boger :gj:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

... There is nothing wrong with the mice.

---

There's maybe something wrong with Kaytee though...? ;)

A while back I bought a bag of this without checking too closely when my order of lab chow from my feed store was late...that's
how I know about it. I found the idea of putting in SO MUCH artificial color to do nothing other than impress the humans feeding
it was bizarre & uncalled for...I also gave it a negative review so others would know. As already mentioned, many such food dyes
are not harmless...I cannot say for sure about this one, but rodents do NOT care what color their food it, so why add it? The same
reason they put colors in dog food, it's to impress people. (dogs don't see much color)

Mouse poop is not supposed to look like that. I agree that it's probably fine to feed the mouse to your snake, but if my mice did that I'd be worried. Their poop is supposed to be hard and brown, not green and soft. The poor thing has a case of the runs. Whatever it's eating must be really awful.

The green is not the same as a block it is suppose to be a treat in the food with multi vitamins. So all the mice go after the green first. It is totally normal. Mine poop green too if I have just fed them.

I don't think he will eat if you feed him.... :rolleyes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

The green is not the same as a block it is suppose to be a treat in the food with multi vitamins. So all the mice go after the green first. It is totally normal. Mine poop green too if I have just fed them.

---

...and that's the main reason blocks are better than mixes. Rodents will always pick out the treats first and eat the nutritious stuff last. My rodents don't have stools that loose unless they are sick and it's never that color because there are no added dyes in their food.

I know that a lot of these animals are bred as feeders and that pets stores don't particularly care about the health of their animals, but I still think they deserve adequate nutrition. AFRMA (the American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association) recommends lab lock or high quality dog food as a staple for a reason. It's better for them. Poop like that is only normal if they're eating food that contains a lot of unnecessary supplements (to make up for the nutrition it lacks) and food coloring (to make it look nice for the humans who will buy it). It's not good for the animals.

Kaytee in particular is known in fancy rat/mouse circles for making awful food.

And Petco feeds rat blocks with the green treats mixed in. And I do care about my animals. Even the mice. Grrrrrrrr

let me clarify. We don't use mixes with nuts, or seeds. We use rat blocks. But maybe I should take out the green pieces since it is such a huge issue apparently.

I apologize if I upset you. I didn't mean to insinuate that you personally don't care for the mice. It's just that the stores have certain policies in regards to animal care and sometimes they try to get away with doing the bare minimum.


It does sound like the green pieces are the problem. Diarrhea can happen even in rodents that are fed a completely natural diet, but usually it's a sign they've had too much fruit or vegetables. A little bit of fresh produce is fine and won't change their poop at all, but too much and they poop liquid. Whatever is in the green pieces seems to have a similar effect.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

... But maybe I should take out the green pieces since it is such a huge issue apparently.

---

But if that's where they put much of the supplemental nutrients...? They do that with some dog foods too, I don't like it when the chow (or pellets) aren't all the same-
maybe it's cheaper for them to manufacture that way (?) but the nutrients aren't evenly distributed then & the smaller bits tend to congregate.