[zany_toon]

There is a website I came across called Rat rations (http://www.ratrations.com/) which sells straights and mixes for rodents and I was wondering if anyone would recommend their mix or would advise to stick to the straights the sell?
At the minute I use: rat muesli - 5 parts , muesli base mix - 3 parts (contains oats, barley and rye), wild bird seed (2 parts), dog biscuits (chicken and rice Frolic and [email protected] own puppy bone marrow biccies - 1 part), walnuts/pumpkin seeds - 1 part and also one part of [email protected] Rodent Garnish (because my mice love the little pillows and the pea flakes!) It's costing me £3 just for 1kg of the rat muesli and I don't think it's the nicest thing for my mice so I was wondering what other people thought and would recommend in the mix?

Thanks!

 

[moustress]

I don't even know what some of that stuff is, but I know you'll save money and have a healthy diet mixing your own mousechow.

 

[Jemma]

I wish I'd known about their base mixes before I bought about a million tons of different grains! Mine get a grain mix quite similar to the first base mix (sans wheat, plus maize), plus seeds (hemp, pumpkin, flax) and other bits and bobs like kelp, drived veg, millet, lentils, tvp, broken up ryvita, rice cakes and shredded wheat and some dog kibble.

Maybe I'm going overboard with the variety but the mice love it and it they're all in good condition so I'm happy to. If you decide to go for a more straights-based food, it's worth being mindful of potential vitamin D deficiencies.

 

[Rhasputin]

Ughhhhhh. What a nice site. I had a bunch of stuff picked out, went to go check out and shipping to the US was $57!!!!! D:

I need to find a site like that in the US.

 

[Rhasputin]

If someone finds a similar site, that is based in the US, I'd be very happy. :>

 

[The Boggit keeper]

Hi, thanks everso for posting the link to this feeds site. I have been trying to find somewhere local to me that sells loose mix with no success. At the moment I'm sitting there in the evenings picking all of the corn/maize, peanuts and sunflower seeds out of a pet shop complete rat and also hamster mix, It takes ages, is expensive and I end up wasting half the food! :x
I dont know if this will be the correct feed for mice but I'm trying to do my best for them, so I've ordered from ratRations; as a base mix; flakes & grains no1 (and then to be added in smaller amounts) seed mixture, safflower seeds and Brazil nut kernels(v-small amount).Luckily the postage is reasonable for me in uk. I think I need to add some dog biscuit to the mix. I will also add James wellbeing turkey&rice puppy kibble a few times a week.
Hopefully my mousies will be happy and so will I (and my son who is getting tired of being roped in to pick bits out of mouse food-it doesn't have the same appeal as the Playstation!)

 

[Cait]

Maybe I should start selling mouse food I buy big sacks and could easily mix a load up and send it out

 

[zany_toon]

Glad the link is of use! I haven't tried it myself yet but it was recommended by a mouse keeper on a pet site I'm on. I just wondered what other people thought of the mixes etc before I give them a bash - I usually end up doing the same as you Boggit Keeper (although I must be a little mental because I find sorting through the peanuts quite therapeutic! I usually leave the sunflower seeds and maize in though as my mice rather enjoy them - don't know if that causes any issues?)

IF you were to start seling mouse food Mousebreeder, you would definitely have me as a customer!!! I can't get good quality stuff around here unless I go to holland and barrett so it costs me a small fortune!! It's costing me about £5 a batch (although given that the batch does about 2 weeks for almost 40 mice I didn't think that was too bad )

 

[Cait]

Maybe I'll work out how much it would be. I guess the postage cost is the worst part, unless I can find a cheap courier.

 

[moustress]

You could do a web search for feed miles and farm & garden stores. You have to be careful when buying from feed mills, not all of them have the best storage, and the quality of the grain can vary depending on that and the time of the year you. around here, when one gets near the end of winter and through the end of summer, the quality can vary quite a bit. From now on, I'm going to try to stock up in the fall so I don't have buy after the grain has been sitting for half a year. And I always open one of the 50 lb. sacks to get a whiff to make sure it's not gone skunky, and scoop up and tip out some to see what it looks like. Some feed mills also sell from bulk bins for smaller quantities. It would still be cheaper than using the pre-mixed junk.

 

[zany_toon]

I'll give that a bash moustress. Failing that I am going to try our farmers market. Due to work arrangements I've never been able to go but this has changed and I'm hoping to be able to try that soon

 

[The Boggit keeper]

Hi, just to update, I took delivery of my order from "ratRations" yesterday. Super quick delivery and the grains all looked to be a good quality. Having to add the delivery charge onto the feed bill puts the price up but personally I'm hoping it'll all even out a bit as I've been throwing alot of the "ready mix" mouse feed that I used away ,to get the mix that I wanted. Anyhow, so far so good, happy me, happy mousies

 

[zany_toon]

Thanks for the update Boggit Keeper! I'm glad that it was so quick and of such a good quality because i was a little worried about taking a chance with it! And I'm glad it's made you and your mice happy

 

[Rhasputin]

I dunno if anyone on here would be interested, but I grow A LOT of vegetables in the summer, and I'll be dehydrating a lot of them too so that they don't go to waste. And maybe if I get a really good harvest, I could sell some on here for like $1 for a bag full or something. xP

I know my mice LOVE dehydrated squash and zucchini chips. :B

 

[Jammy]

Maybe I should start selling mouse food I buy big sacks and could easily mix a load up and send it out

Excellent Idea i for one would very happily buy it

 

[Cait]

I'll have to get to work costing it then, and seeing if the postage would be prohibitive.