High raw for... mice

[Steven]

I breed and show mice as a hobby. And Im always trying to formulate and give them the healthiest diet possible to produce the biggest and healthiest animals. For the large number of mice I have(45 currently, but will probably reach 80-100 in a year or two once my lines become established) it is convenient to feed a dry mix of grains, bird seeds, and high quality dog food, which most exhibition breeders of mice use.

But Ive been thinking, would it be possible to include dehydrated sprouts that are essentially raw(dehydrated at 105 or lower) into their base mix without them spoiling? Maybe even sprouting out their bird seed/base grains and dehydrating them to increase nutrition there as well. I also plan to give more dark leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, and fresh grasses as well every few days. I have to wonder if the reason most domesticated mice only live 1-3 years, compared to wild ones who can live up to 5, is because of the lack of sprouts, dark leafy greens, and fresh insects?

The pregnant and nursing does all get a mixture of raw egg, sprouted grain bread, chia seed, ground flax, and raw hemp protein powder every other day. Which they seem to love a lot, and it has helped make really big and chubby babies.

Any input or ideas as to what I could include to give to them that would increase their diets overall raw % would be great.

And for the "aww" factor here are a few of my show mice:

[Aleesha Sattva]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. i love mice. we have some... african soft furred rats and a hamster (not to mention ferrets, tarantulas, fish, cats, dogs.... etc)

we always give our rodents greens... they loooooooove them. i never thought of ground flax, hemp etc. thanks for the ideas!

[Steven]

Ive always wanted to get a few ASF's, but I always hear of their nasty temperaments since they haven't been domesticated that long and are primarily bred for snake food. Are yours really friendly, Aleesha?

Watch out with the flax, I know a lot of show mouse breeders give it to their mice before shows to give them a nice shine to the coat. But if you give too much it can make them look a bit oily/dirty, which I can only assume would transfer over to other rodents as well.

[fastfreedom]

I've read of people here on rft that would sprout nuts/seeds then dehydrate them. I haven't done it though so I can't say one way or the other from personal experience. "I had an excalibur dehydrator, but it didn't have a timer like advertised, so I sent it back. But then I bought a vitamix. :) "

I wanted to post this link about fasting to extend life. http://www.anti-aging-guide.com/31mousestudies.php Right now that page is on the mouse studies. ;)

And I also wanted to post these excerpts.

Here's a study that caught my eyes last night. (A study was performed on earthworms that demonstrated the extension of life due to fasting. The experiment was performed in the 1930s by isolating one worm and putting it on a cycle of fasting and feeding. The isolated worm outlasted its relatives by 19 generations, while still maintaining its youthful physiological traits. The worm was able to survive on its own tissue for months. Once the size of the worm began to decrease, the scientists would resume feeding it at which point it showed great vigor and energy. "The life-span extension of these worms was the equivalent of keeping a man alive for 600 to 700 years.") from this page here. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1834

And there's a similar story about rats on this page. (One experiment done on rats showed that limiting them from overeating and systematically starving them increased their lifespan 2 ½ times! Proponents of fasting declare that aging is not commensurate with calendar years, but rather with the health of the cells. During fasting, the concentration of toxins removed from the body and appearing in the urine can increase ten-fold.) from this page http://www.naturalhealthtechniques.c...ons_to_Fasting

Ok, I didn't remember that the one was about worms. But I'm gonna leave it anyhow.

[Eva]

This makes me smile for some reason! Looking forward to hearing more about it! lol! :)

[dime]

I'd recommend you to check out the work of Dr Bass: http://drbass.com/mice.html

He has done extensive experiments with mice, in order to find the optimal diet for humans. You can get his book which lists all experiments and results in detail if you're really interested, but I think the 'ultimate diet' is listed somewhere on the site so check it out.

[Aleesha Sattva]

african soft furred rats, in our opinion get a bad rap. ours are so sweet and their fur is soooooo soft. it's just beautiful.

they really really love their wheel... usually putting everyone on it at the same time and literally standing on each others backs to hold on. it's hilarious. (and they have two wheels LOL)

i think that when you treat them with love and respect... they respond. my hubby was bitten once in the years we've had them and that was a mama who didn't want the cage cleaned with her babies there. he didn't realize she had a litter under her when he began the cleaning.

and they really love greens, celery heels (the end you can cut off the celery stalk), and any bones you toss their way. our dogs are raw so we give them the smaller bones that come from the butchers...

[Steven]

fastfreedom, thank you for that information! I already feed my mice every other day, which I bet is helping contribute to the long lives some of my retired breeders have and are still kicking and running around!

dime, I think I might look into getting his book, very interesting information there!

african soft furred rats, in our opinion get a bad rap. ours are so sweet and their fur is soooooo soft. it's just beautiful.

Maybe I will look into getting a few then from a local feeder breeder I know! I was looking for some sort of exotic mouse species to have purely as a pet, sadly though the most beautiful mouse of all - striped grass mice a.k.a zebra mice are pretty much extinct in the US pet trade and cant be imported! What I would do for a few of them..

they really really love their wheel... usually putting everyone on it at the same time and literally standing on each others backs to hold on. it's hilarious. (and they have two wheels LOL)

Ah how I miss using wheels! My show mice are WAY too big(most are 10 inches nose to tail tip) to use any kind of wheel without developing a problem called wheel-tail which makes a mouse un-showable. My mice really love to climb on branches(fruit tree- cooked in the oven to kill parasites), hide in fresh timothy hay/orchard grasses(Oxbow brand), and run in and out of cardboard boxes though!