Gender biased on food

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC153606/

govt study shows that higher saturated fat seems to produce more males while high in carb produced more females in a litter but the litter stays the same. While in normal cases mice have a similar female to male ratios. Has anyone noticed the change when changing food?

Very interesting! I have a strain of mice that I got from the pet store, a very prolific albino strain that has up to 16 babies at a time. I have changed food a few times, I started out making my own mix from different feeds from the feed store (oats, corn, etc.) They seemed to do poorly on it, so I switched to Mazuri 6F. Then switched again to a generic lab block (which molded easily) then went back to Mazuri 6F. I did notice that initially I was getting mostly males, then on the cheap stuff got mostly females. Now I get about a 50:50 ratio on Mazuri. I thought it was some weird genetics that changed from generation to generation, I didn't even think about the food being the cause!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cchardwick

Very interesting! I have a strain of mice that I got from the pet store, a very prolific albino strain that has up to 16 babies at a time. I have changed food a few times, I started out making my own mix from different feeds from the feed store (oats, corn, etc.) They seemed to do poorly on it, so I switched to Mazuri 6F. Then switched again to a generic lab block (which molded easily) then went back to Mazuri 6F. I did notice that initially, I was getting mostly males, then on the cheap stuff got mostly females. Now I get about a 50:50 ratio on Mazuri. I thought it was some weird genetics that changed from generation to generation, I didn't even think about the food being the cause!

---

What was the cheap stuff were u using? Tractor Supply Doggie Bag? I forgot which forum I saw this but there are people who don't like lab block due to high corn contains that apparently give their mice tumors. I guess the cheap stuff was mostly grains and mostly carbs? For I need a lot of females until I reach my number goal. Not to mention they stink a lot less!

http://www.fancymicebreeders.com/php...hp?f=16&t=3299 they are saying lab blocks gave their mice massive tumors, for me I can't find any of these lab blocks locally and the ones online are $33 to $50 without the delivery charge. I'm in NY/NJ maybe that is why.

The cause of tumors in rodents is a bit tricky, basically its cancer. Many things can cause cancer, I think a lot of it is genetic. I go through hundreds of rats per month that I raise in my rack system, I've never seen even one with a tumor. I suppose the food can cause it if it's contaminated with a cancer causing agent, but it's very doubtful. I would suspect something in the water too, still probably unlikely.

To me it seems that animals that are very old can develop cancer, almost all of my dogs got cancer when they were near their end of life. Personally if I had tumors in my rodent colony I'd make sure to rotate the breeders and feed off the older ones to keep everyone fairly young. I'd also try a different strain of rat or mouse if you are getting tumors in younger rats, maybe go to a feed store and get a few feeders to raise up and use their babies to replace all your breeders.

I meant NY/NJ price of lab blocks, not the water quality. NY supposedly have pretty good water because it comes from upstate...

maybe once I get enough colonies going I can feed certain colonies corn feed mostly, another with cheap dog food and record the changes in litter and gender ratio and if the mice develop any tumors. My bird has a fatty tumor but he ate only millet and he was literally almost twice the weight of a normal parakeet. He was a fat boy, the vet told us to feed him less and put him on a diet. I assume fat mice will probably more likely to develop tumors.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...b?cm_vc=-10005

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...b?cm_vc=-10005

https://academic.oup.com/biolreprod/...4/1063/2666975

Anyone did certain breeding strategies?