healthy mice?

[AztecPrince]

The pet store near me has feeder mice but they are feed what looks to be bird food. Is this suffuciant nutrition for a mouse that will become snake food? should i keep it a couple of days and feed it some carrots or some good dog food mixed with vitamin suppliments for more nutrition?

[Chip]

Obviously, a healthy mouse is a more nutritional (and probably safer) meal. Raising your own mice isn't that hard, or you could order some frozen. Either way is much cheaper than buying single pet store mice.

[13mur 6]

Bird food is real fatty. Mice enjoy it, but it makes them obese. A dogfood fed or carrot fed mouse will probably be less healthy than a birdseed fed mouse, since one, too much protein is bad for mice, and two, too much carrots give mice the runs.

I feed my breeding colony 25% kitten chow (them females need their protein if they're constantly giving birth to 12 a litter), 50% seed and grain, like sunflower seeds, millet spray, wild rice, oats, barley, grass seeds, corn, etc, and 25% miscellaneous, small pieces of fruit, veggies, yogurt drops, cereal, milk, bread, mealworms, peanut butter, table scraps. I also give them full spectrum lighting since it gives em Vit D (which gives my snakes nice healthy bones and gosh those teeth). Tons of excersize too, 2 wheels, a couple ropes for climbing, logs, tubes, random stuff. I also play with them alot, the non-pregnant ones. And you wonder why they all have 12 pups per litter...

-Lemur 6

[CowBoyWay]

A seed only diet would lack vital amino acids and a calcium source.
Fat and protein levels could fluctuate wildly, depending on the particular seeds in the mixture.

Captive pet bird breeders have learned to overcome this dietary issue with problem "seed junkie birds" by supplementing with products such as Superpreen, Hagens prime and calcium D3 products that address such deficiencies.


A quality calcium source in the diet is very important in feeder mice as to provide a premium quality calcium source down the food chain road when being digested by ones pet corn.

Appropriate protein and fat levels in feeder mice...lots of opinions out there...
My beliefs are based on a local herp club presidents research of and
development of an optimized feeder rodent diet/ block that he has since begun to manufacture and distribute locally here in Arizona . http://www.fowlersfood.com/food.html

A 16 - 20% protein level with <5 to 6% fat ideally, to as much as 9% overall fat (with snacks) in the diet for rodent breeding colonies will result in a premium quality, properly fed, feeder mouse.
Higher protein levels can damage the rodents kidneys and/or liver...(resulting in a sick, toxin built up mice).
Anything higher than these number's are wasteful and will affect the health of both the Rodent & Snake feeding on the rodent. imho.
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5492&highlight=food+protein:)

Lemur 6, sounds like you have a virtual mousey utopia going on there, except the part where the giant snakes eats there little mousee butt...oh well, so much for utopia. hehe ;)

[13mur 6]

Haha, yep, and they like me so much their hoppin' up the side of the glass tank with their hands in the air begging for a ride while I scoop some pups out and they don't even seem to mind.

-Lemur 6

[snakeladyamy]

Cowboyway, in the link you provided, elrojo had asked what frozen rodent breeder you think fed the best rodent chow (produced the healthiest rodents) Do you have an opinion on that? I have heard that 'Big Cheese Rodents' is pretty good, but i hadn't considered the diets of the mice either....Anyone?