starting up breeding mice again..What do you feed your breeders?

[Miranda2]

In the past I kept the mice in our shed and fed them a mix of dog food and chicken layer pellets(its high calcium and I think helped with any cannibalism), anyway they were baby making machines.
I also threw in fresh veggies once a week(carrots,greens, whatever).

I cant get lab block unless I order online. Im just curious what everyone else feeds?

[angllady2]

Lots of people have success with many different foods.

Me personally, I feed Mazuri 6F. It simply works the best for me of all the things I have tried. I also feed a custom grain mix of my own making every other day. I get lots of big, healthy babies and rarely have problems with cannibalism or moms not producing enough milk. My babies grow quickly and wean easily.

Gale

[Rhasputin]

Custom mixes are one of the best options, as is pre-made lab quality rodent block.

I feed Purina brand sow and piglet food, and supplement with grains and treats when I have them. I have no problems with it, other than they bury a lot of it, but I think that happens with most foods.

[Jay_Bunny]

Rhasputin, where do you get your feed? I used to feed Harlan brand food but I can only get it from reptile shows. Due to my busy work schedule I haven't been able to go and get more food from shows so I've been feeding vegetarian dog food (Nature's Recipe Vegetarian). It has a protein content of 21%. I've tried homemade mixes in the past but the mice would just bury most of it and I was wasting a lot of food (They would eat what they liked and buried the rest and I threw tons of it away when I cleaned the cages). I only have a few mice right now as I'm trying to get into breeding them for feeders again.

[Darkbird]

Not mice, but my rats and asf's get the mazuri 6f. They also get some grains and greens as treats but I won't do a lot of anything that won't stay in a wire feed container of some sort. Way to much waste when they start hoarding it.

[Miranda2]

I might try the hog feed. We have a pretty nice farm and ranch store here and they are super reasonable on the prices.
I looked up mazuri distributors and there are none within 50 miles here.
I seem to remember supplementing with sunflower seeds in winter too,seemed helped to keep them breeding when the temps dropped.

[Rhasputin]

The sow and piglet food comes from tractor supply store, it comes in a big green 40-50lb bag. Make sure you get the sow and piglet food, because the protein levels are higher than the regular hog food, and it's mush closer to a mouse diet than the normal stuff.

[Jay_Bunny]

Thanks! I'll go look for it this weekend. :-)

[Rhasputin]

Most places will also be able to order in mouse and rat food. Tractor supply won't do it, but any other feed store will (literally every other store, lol).

[Running Elk]

Custom mixes are one of the best options, as is pre-made lab quality rodent block.

I feed Purina brand sow and piglet food, and supplement with grains and treats when I have them. I have no problems with it, other than they bury a lot of it, but I think that happens with most foods.

Hi, KC!

I second using pig food, I use the same brand.

I also find my mice enjoy some millet spray, dried or rolled oats, and sometimes rice or whole grain pasta as treats.