Rodent Food

[ThyTempest]

Hey everyone,

I had some questions about feeding feeder rodents. I followed the sticky guide for Satanic's rodent mix. The mice really seem to like it, but they eat or spill a ton. We have a fairly big tub of the mixture made, and I was thinking it was going to last at least last a couple of months. They have been eating it like crazy. We have one tub with 3 mamas with pinkies less than about 2 days old, 1 tub with 7 females, 2 of which are pregnant that we will be pulling out soon, and 1 hamster-ish set-up with our one male. The male doesnt seem to eat, drink or spill much, which is good. The feeder tub with 7 mice eats and drinks a ton. We are going through probably 12oz of water a day, which iI guess is not that much considering there are 7 mice, but also, 2, usually 3 dishes of food. Along with that the feeding mothers also eat about 2 dishes a day, with not as much water.

Anyway, I am starting to consider whether or not this food mixture is actually cheaper than the rodent mixes or pellets from the petstore. I know it is probably healthier, but at 79 cents a pound for the petstore food, the price is hard to beat.

With all of that said, are there any pre-made foods available at the pet stores that are cost effective and actually healthy for the rodents? The 79 cent food is rodent blocks in bulk from PetSupplies Plus.

[Jenn]

Have you looked under the substrate? They like to store food for later. I just go with the lab block and offer treats like sunflower seeds from time to time.

[littleindiangirl]

Ditto, we feed Mazuri/Harlan 24/7 and give other foods and things as treats periodically.

[ThyTempest]

They spill it all over, but they dont seem to be stock piling it.

[Jenn]

Oh well, still cheaper than a trip to the pet store every week for mice!!!!

[ThyTempest]

I looked into some other, maybe healthier pellets and making a hopper, offering the "good mix" only to the nursing mothers or as a treat. I found a feed store near me that carries what they say is Purina, but I know Purina makes Mazuri and Harlan, so it could be one of those anyway. Either way, it is less than 25 dollars for a 50 pound back, and they also sell it in lower poundage, but I didnt get a price check on that. Anyway, they told me it was 23% protein, 5% fat, less than 6% fiber and less than 8% ash. Compared to Mazuri nd Harlan, this seems about the same, and since it is by the same company, it could very well be the same feed at different levels of quality testing.

Anyway, does this sound like an ok full-time feed? I would be using a hopper to cut down on wasted food, and offer the stickied mix as treats and for pregos and nursing moms.

[SatanicIntention]

I've been feeding a mixture of non-medicated hog grower feed, cheerios, black-oil sunflower seeds, a tiny bit of 18% protein dog food(good brand), puffed wheat, puffed rice, and a few other sugarless cereals. They seem to actually do better on this than on the lab blocks(I used Mazuri 9F; 16% protein, 9% fat). I've noticed less infanticide, and the adults maintain their weight better.

[Skittles46]

The only hog feed I could find was way low on fat content compared to the lab blocks, and I looked at quite a few. Are you using enough sunflower seeds to compensate for that, or does it work at the low level well enough with other things added in?

[atp151415]

i buy lab blocks
its a 40 lb bag for 25 bucks, its called labdiet 5008 i think, or ratdiet 5008

[SatanicIntention]

I'll find the nutritional %'s later today. I have the bag in my closet. The grower feed I think has a higher fat content. My mice sure aren't lacking in the "chub" area, hehe.