Feeder mice and rat feed? Please help

[ogdentrece]

This is probably in the wrong forum but I need responses pretty quickly.. So a little background, I keep my own mice and rats, since I'm not allowed to use the freezer at all. I feed prekilled. I want to give my Balls the best diet I can, thus want the most healthy mice and rats as possible. However for some stupid reason lab blocks is not sold in my country, it needs to be ordered half a year in advance. The next shipment in is in December.

I hate using seed mixes for them, they make a mess and dont eat most of it, becoming malnutritioned. I have this rabbit pellet food, its decent in nutritional value (a little on the low side for protein and fat) but its amazingly high in crude fibre. its like, 15%. How would this affect my rodents' health? Its vitakraft life dream, nutritional values found here. If this is alright I would use it as their staple everyday food.
http://www.petloverscentre.com/produ...&action=detail

Of course since I do breed them if I can, I do supplement with more protein and fat. I have some dog biscuits (the wheat flour biscuit) with protein of 18% and fat 7% minimum, fibre no more than 3%. And i give treats of dried or fresh crunchy fruits and nuts. Would this kind of diet be alright? Or can dog biscuits become their staple food? It looks severely lacking in any proper ingredients so i'm not sure, but they definitely love to eat it.

Thanks all.

[llovelace]

Alot of people feed dog food to their rats (including myself when I forget to pick up the 16% hog feed I usually feed). I also give table scraps to them.

[Simple Man]

I use Mazuri lab block and some fresh food here and there. I've always read it is a great balanced diet. Maybe some experts will chime in. I just started a mouse colony and will be starting rats pretty soon.

Regards,

B

[ogdentrece]

Yeahh I was looking for Mazuri lab blocks and apparently only 1 shop here has mazuri products, and anything for rodents has to be ordered very early. but thanks for your quick responses

[ogdentrece]

So.. no one knows much on mice nutrition? Or anywhere I could find help

[Bellabob]

For my rats, I use dog food. The company name is O'le Roy. I use this dog food because I got these rats at the zoo I volenteer at, and they ate the same exact kind. Plus they seem to like it. When I run out of dog food I throw in some hotdog buns, granola bars, and other things.

[Amon Ra Reptiles]

Mazuri works great. We use to feed dog food and it worked for the rats but for ASF n mice it wasn't cutting it. We now feed rodent block and we have an overflow of all 3. Omg it's crazy we cant feed them off fast enough!

[Clint Bundy]

I use the lab rat food also. It has the highest percentage of protien that I can find and I just figure it makes healthier food for my snakes to eat. I am not really sure if that matters though. I mainly use it because it helps the lactatiing mother rats and mice that I have. I breed all my own food and I haven't had any problems with my rodents. I seem to get more babies from the rodents since I switched to the block food also.

[Simple Man]

For my rats, I use dog food. The company name is O'le Roy. I use this dog food because I got these rats at the zoo I volenteer at, and they ate the same exact kind. Plus they seem to like it. When I run out of dog food I throw in some hotdog buns, granola bars, and other things.

Ol'Roy is a step above poison. Not a very high one. I wouldn't recommend that for any animal. Please consider finding another source for your animals sake.

Regards,

B

[AK907]

Ol'Roy is a step above poison. Not a very high one. I wouldn't recommend that for any animal. Please consider finding another source for your animals sake.

Regards,

B

+2!

Ol' Roy is the bottom of the barrel as far as dog food is concerned. Nothing but corn and other fillers. Spring for something a little better, at least Iams. It is not that expensive. Science Diet and Nutro are better. Blue Buffalo is even better still!

Rats will eat pretty much anything, so if you ever have leftovers or table scaps, give it to them. I wouldn't make this thier main diet, though. Its more of a filler/treat.