What do mice eat and what do they eat at home?

General characteristics of mice

These are the smallest representatives of the rodent genus. They are capable of growing up to 15 – 20 cm in height and weighing about 30 – 60 grams. They come in different colors, but only gray, white or brown. There are up to 50 shades of rodent fur. By the age of 6–8 weeks, the female becomes capable of childbearing. Capable of giving birth to 5 to 10 mice at a time.

For copulation, the female and male should be kept apart until the very moment of copulation. The lifespan of mice is 2 – 3 years. They are primarily herbivores, but are essentially omnivores. A small mouse sometimes eats meat, the corpses of relatives, and is capable of gnawing the tail of its neighbor out of hunger. Unlike guinea pigs, mice do not need fortified food at home.

What to feed rodents? A detailed guide to feeding rats, mice, hamsters and guinea pigs

Domestic rodents include rats and mice, guinea pigs and hamsters, degus, squirrels and chinchillas, and much more exotic animals: for example, capybaras. Rabbits and ferrets are sometimes classified as rodents, although this is incorrect. Rabbits are lagomorphs, and ferrets are predators from the mustelidae family that have nothing to do with rodents.

Each rodent has its own characteristics and needs. Everyone requires a special diet that would provide them with all the necessary microelements, nutrients and vitamins.

We will briefly talk about the most popular pet rodents, food for rodents, needs and a competent menu for every day.

Rats

Rats are omnivorous and unpretentious by nature. They eat almost everything with great pleasure, so the owner must carefully monitor the diet of his pet.

The rat should be fed twice a day - morning and evening, preferably at the same time; rat pups, pregnant and lactating females can be fed three or four times. Every day a healthy adult rat consumes about 80% of its body weight.

What to feed a rat:

The basis of the diet is cereals. Cereals can be bought ready-made at a pet store, you can cook unsalted porridge without oil, cook pasta, give boiled corn and bread. Buckwheat, millet, barley, and wheat are especially useful for animals.
Fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs - also daily. This is not only cabbage and carrots, but also tomatoes, pumpkin, cucumbers, apples, bananas, plums, dates, berries - cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries.
Additional vitamin treats in the form of “lollipops”, “candies”, “sticks”. All this is sold in pet stores.
Protein in the form of unsalted meat, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, seafood . Rats do not need a lot of protein, in fact, protein diets for rats are harmful and can lead to premature aging. Protein treats can be fed to your pet every few days.
Rats are very fond of seeds, especially weedy herbs - for example, dandelions; sometimes you can feed your pet sunflower or pumpkin seeds. Treat your rat to meadow herbs: plantain, chicory, shepherd's purse, dandelion, parsley and dill.

What not to feed your rat: chocolate and other confectionery products, smoked sausage, salty and moldy cheeses. You should not give your pet red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, artichokes, legumes, or licorice. Be careful with herbs - mistletoe, tomato leaves, lilies of the valley, tulips, azalea, fern, ivy and begonia are deadly poisonous to rats.

Mice

Like rats, mice are omnivores with a bias towards herbivory. The easiest way is to buy industrial food for your pet at a pet store - the ingredients there are balanced, they provide the pet with all the necessary nutrients, vitamins and minerals.

Mice need to be fed twice a day, preferably at the same time. Mice, pregnant and lactating females - 3-4 times a day.

What to feed mice:

Grain mixtures - oilseed grains, legumes, walnuts, almonds, peas, soybeans, beans, lentils, oatmeal, bran, bread or wholemeal flour. Mice readily eat hay, and in winter they need to be given sprouted oats.
Juicy food - fruits, vegetables and greens, which include green salad, spinach, corn, pumpkin, bananas, parsley, potatoes, cabbage, sorrel, cucumbers, carrots, apples, green peas, celery.
Proteins - cottage cheese, milk (pasteurized and boiled, not sour), you can give pieces of unsalted lard, egg whites.
Just like rats, mice need to buy extra vitamin treats . The mouse grinds down its growing teeth on them.

What not to feed your mouse: onions, chocolate and garlic, which contain toxic theobromine, peanuts, citrus fruits, poisonous herbs.

Guinea pigs

Guinea pigs are fed two to three times a day, pregnant and lactating females three to four times. It is advisable to feed at the same time so that the animal develops a certain diet. On average, a healthy adult pig eats about 8% of its weight, that is, approximately 80 g for a kilogram. This is one or two spoons of dry specialized food per feeding.

Unlike rats and mice, pigs are herbivores, and the basis of their diet is hay. Hay should be kept in the cage at all times: the pet receives useful substances from it, and constant chewing helps to wear down the teeth.

Habitat of a small rodent

The distribution range of mice in natural conditions covers most climatic zones, continents and zones. Representatives of the family can be seen in deciduous and coniferous forests, in tropical thickets, in deserts and steppes, in swampy areas or on mountain slopes. But the most comfortable habitat is human dwellings.

Mice often make nests using grass stems, settle in burrows abandoned by other animals, or dig complex communications under the thickness of the earth. Mountain, forest and steppe varieties of rodents, unlike swamp ones, float rather poorly on water.

Why overeating and obesity are bad for mice

Rodents have a good appetite and are able to eat significantly more food than required. Overeating combined with a sedentary lifestyle often leads to obesity. Excess weight can be easily determined by the mouse's rounded abdomen and hard-to-palpate ribs.

Obesity negatively affects the health of the animal and leads to pathologies:

diseases of the liver and bile ducts;
disorders of the gastrointestinal tract;
diseases of the heart and blood vessels, accompanied by shortness of breath;
elevation of the diaphragm causes pulmonary failure;
metabolic disorders lead to alopecia (baldness).

The pet becomes lethargic, drowsy, and deteriorating immunity makes the rodent defenseless to the manifestations of various infectious diseases. Obesity should be combated by observing food consumption standards, feeding regimens, and installing devices in cages that increase the animal’s mobility.

Attention! Despite the fact that mice love cheese very much, the product should be given rarely, in small quantities. Cheese is high in calories and causes fatty liver.

Cheese is a favorite treat

Owners of decorative rodents should know what to feed the mouse and correctly prepare a varied diet for the animal. Adequate nutrition of an animal is the key to its health and attractive appearance.

Features of behavior

It is interesting to observe the behavior of these rodents. They are smart, active, inquisitive, and capable of playing pranks. In the wild, each animal occupies its own territory. Males require more space. Sometimes they give the females a little space in their area. Males tend to defend their own territory from the encroachments of strangers. Females, if necessary, also rush into battle for a place to live.

Females are more friendly and sociable in captivity. They will not fight if there are several individuals living in a cage. If offspring appear at the same time, they raise them together, helping each other.

Sometimes female mice prefer to place newborn mice separately. Males should not be kept together - just like in the wild, everyone wants to have their own territory. Under natural conditions, they do not help mothers raise their offspring. While in captivity, the male is able to warm the babies with his body while the female rests or eats.

Nutritional characteristics of mice depending on breed

What do rats eat at home and in the wild?

The diet of rodent species is similar, but there are some nuances in feeding different breeds of mice. Large animals need 7-15 g of food per day, small species need 5-10 g per day.

Japanese dwarf mouse

Japanese mouse

The size of a small decorative rodent does not exceed 4-6 cm. Animals are fed once a day, the amount of food is 1 tsp. The diet of the Japanese mouse is based on grains, vegetables, fruits, and greens. Animals love to chew on banana chips. For proper development of the skeletal system, be sure to add chalk to your food.

Wood mouse

The size of the animal is 7-10 cm. What wood mice like to eat: whole grain cereals, root vegetables, berries, fruits, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, nuts, mushrooms. In the summer, the animal willingly eats grass; in the winter, the animal is given hay.

Little mouse

The miniature animal measures 5-7 cm. The animal is fed 2 times a day, the volume of food should be 1-1.5 tsp. What mice like to eat: cereals, legumes, insects, pumpkin and flax seeds, egg whites.

Harvest mouse

An adult of this species reaches 10-13 cm. The rodent feeds on plant and animal foods. Mice should be given a variety of grains, roots, fruits, greens and regular vegetables. Pieces of chicken fillet, cottage cheese, and eggs are added to the diet. Pieces of bread are dried and given in the form of crackers.

Harvest mouse

Important! All breeds of mice consume at least 25 ml of water per day. The settled liquid should be kept in the drinking bowl around the clock.

Diet of mice in the wild

Remembering children's cartoons, many are sure that more than anything else, all mice love cheese. This is not entirely true, and in the wild their diet is completely different than in captivity. In their stashes it is possible to find such agricultural crops as wheat, rye, oats, grain, corn, barley, oats, sorghum, millet, and the fruits of various plants. Small mice feed on them in large quantities, causing irreparable damage to agriculture.

Since they reproduce quickly (each female gives birth 4 times a year), rodent control is quite difficult. Voles, steppe and meadow inhabitants happily feed on seeds of deciduous trees, nuts, mushrooms, and tops. If the reserves made in the autumn and spring are not enough to last the whole winter, mice find plant roots, nuts, mushrooms, and so on underground. In winter, without hibernating and being in a panic from lack of food, the mouse often even eats beetles, spiders, and worms.

Feeding rules

A mouse needs to eat enough food per day so that its weight is approximately one-fifth of the rodent’s live weight.

On average, an adult animal needs one teaspoon of grain mixture per day. There is a small “but”: food should always be in the cage. The fact is that mice eat every two to three hours due to their rapid metabolism. If the rule is ignored, the pet may develop health problems.

Be sure to put branches of fruit or wild trees and shrubs in the cage so that the rodents have the opportunity to grind down their teeth.

The food pyramid for mice looks something like this:

proteins 14%;
fats 10%;
fiber 9%.

With any type of feeding, protein foods of animal origin must be offered once a week. This can be a boiled egg, boiled white chicken meat, freshwater crustaceans, fermented milk products, insects, etc.

Weakened animals, pregnant females, and babies can and should be given baby food. It will be especially useful if you are intolerant to natural milk.

Don't forget about vitamins and minerals. The first ones are given with food or dissolved in water.

Mineral supplements are sold in the form of figurines - mice love to chew on them.

You should never feed mice table scraps: any salty, sweet, smoked, fried, hot, spicy food is deadly for your pet. Even if human food does not destroy the tiny animal instantly, it will certainly lead to a faster death than is measured by nature.

Other harmful products:

milk - many pets are intolerant;
potatoes and their peelings;
food for cats and dogs, although some owners note that mice love it;
beet;
tomatoes;
cabbage;
citruses;
You should also not eat the green parts of potent medicinal herbs, especially those that are bitter: celandine, wormwood, gentian, etc.

Fresh water should always be in the cage.

It is better to use nipple drinkers, so the liquid will always remain clean. During transportation, you can use ordinary wet cotton wool as drinking bowls - the animals will suck water from it and will definitely not die of thirst during the journey.

What do rodents eat in captivity?

Living near humans, rodents eat any food. Most often these are fruits and vegetables, hard cheeses, milk, sugar, sausage, dried fish, bread. Among vegetables, the mouse willingly eats raw potatoes, carrots, and beets. House mice give birth to offspring up to 6 times a year. The litter contains about 10 mice, which by the age of 2 months are fully mature individuals. When rodents are hungry, they even feed on wood and paper, crushing them with their strong teeth.

If a mouse is kept in the house as a pet, it eats not only human food, but also the imported food offered to it. Such food does not contain husks or coarse grasses. They include nuts and seeds in a small percentage. Owners can provide their pets with a natural diet through seeds, cereals, protein products, vegetables and fruits, herbs, bread and cheese.

Ready-made feed

The simplest and least burdensome option for organizing the nutrition of any pets was and remains industrially produced food. There is one for mice too.

When choosing the right one, you always pay attention to both the manufacturer and the ingredients. Foreign products are still considered the best food for mice.

In any case, it is always necessary to carefully study the composition on the packaging and/or, if possible, try to visually determine the percentage of ingredients.

You should not purchase the following mixtures:

with a high content of oats or grass granules,
containing dyes,
with a predominance of sunflower seeds, cumin or peanuts - these products should undoubtedly be included in the diet, but too much of them will lead to obesity,
universal food for all types of rodents - nevertheless, the nutritional needs of all organisms, and even more so of representatives of different species, differ, and in some cases the difference is colossal.