Hello Everyone..... Mice?

Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:33 am

hi all. yesterday my sister went to the petshop to buy argot (her snake) some food, sadly in the box, among the 2 other mice, was a baby mouse, probably not much older then 5 weeks? still has baby furry fuz. well anyway, everyone fell in love with it couse its so sweet, it loves people climbing all over and exploring and stuff, so sweet, well anyway, now we only have 2 mice Icky and another older female. they seem to like the company alot, couse whenever im holding just one the other ones jumping chittering, and they like to cuddle in the food dish and there little mouse hut. k, all that to say, should i try to keep the older mouse? she isnt very nice to humans, and she is almost full grown so im afraid if they start play fighting, she could really hurt Icky. we are keeping them in a 10 gallon, is that big enough??? my sis is going to soon get a tripple floored cage for Icky im pretty sure. also, right now im just feeding them Hamster food, that i feed my rats. is that ok? they seem to be able to eat it and everything. well i will soon have a pic of Icky hopefully that i can put on here =) thanks for any reply's sorry bout the long post, see yah Ikle Icky

Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:35 am

oops i forgot to add, if sadly her cage mate gets fed Puppy Dog Eyes

should i get her a new cage mate? of her relitively same age?

Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:57 am

Others can help but generally girls live together more easily than males - and do, please, encourage your sister to look into prekilled prey for the good of the mice and the snake.

Hamster food isn't suitable either for rats or mice - do take a look through the previous threads on the mouse forum, along with the nutrition sticky for advice on a suitable diet for your rats.

Welcome to Ratpalace.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Fri Dec 02, 2005 5:38 am

thanks so much for replying, i went to the nutrition sticky, and was intreaged by Suebee's diet. would that be a healthy diet for both a mouse and a rat? i think we have most of the ingredients around here. and on the subject on the snake, we've tried so many times. he wont have anything to do with pre-killed foods. my sister would be all to happy to feed him pre-killed food Puppy Dog Eyes

. thanks for all your help. you have no idea how much your post helped ^_^. bye Ikle Icky (oh and i think we may be able to save her cagemate, if my mom says yes! well just wanted to share that peice of good news, bye)

Fri Dec 02, 2005 8:43 am

I'm sure a few snake owners on this forum can give you a good protocol for making the switch to pre-killed. From what I understand, it's the pretty rare snake that won't come around.

As for suebee's, it is appropriate for both rats and mice, though you'd have to ask the mousie owners if dog food is appropriate for mice or if they require lab blocks (or simply the grain mix).

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Fri Dec 02, 2005 10:30 am

My mice will eat the dog food in the suebee's, but to a much lesser extent than my rats. I've started giving them only the grain mix free choice and then a small amount of dog food -only a piece or two per mouse, as that's all they'll eat- every night.

I have only met *one* snake in my entire life that absolutely would not take pre-killed. If you'd like more info on how to switch a snake to prekilled, I can PM you a few methods that have worked for me. I won't post them here, as some of them are really graphic...so just let me know if you'd like me to PM it to you.

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--Brittany

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom."

Tue Dec 06, 2005 4:33 am

I feed my rats and mice Suebee's, none of them get the dogfood. I dropped a piece on some paper once accidentally and it left a huge nasty grease stain. They all get blocks and mix (I switch them up at every other feeding) as well as fresh goodies at least once a day.

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Rats~Janine, Madeleine, Cooper, Basil, Dolly, Kitty, Ilori, Theo, Elliot, Vladimir, Freya, Devi, Yoshimi, Nigel, Rosshalde, Faust, Tolkien, Caleb, Mira, Ivy, Nemo, Willow, Nikolas, Lucian & Linus
Mice~Molly, James & Will
Beardie~Cleo

Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:23 am

Oh that’s so sad... I am against keeping snakes as pets because I feel bad for the snake and their food I know it's natural but in the wild at least the mouse has a chance to get away... so its far. Instead of having no chance to get away at all, I just thought I would like to share that. Confused

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2 rats ~Pheona~Clover~
4 Bunnies~Twinkletoes~Honeybee~Honeybunny~Marlo
2 Mice~Bovine~Roo~
2 Ducks~Hara~Bazil~

www.freewebs.com/ratsitter

Tue Dec 06, 2005 8:00 am

Feeding snakes rodents is no different than feeding your other animals dog food, the only difference being that a snake takes the food in a whole, unprocessed form. Responsible reptile owners feed their snakes prekilled rodents that were kept in good, clean conditions, fed a wholesome diet, and euthanised humanely.

On the other hand, the meat that goes into dog food is mainly the by-products of meat killed for human consumption- and THOSE animals were mutilated at birth, kept in crowded, filthy conditions, forced to cannibalise each other, and then killed brutaly.

People tend to be more squeamish about feeding reptiles because the food is given whole...but when you come down to it, the way responsible reptile owners feed their pets is actually MORE humane than the way most dog/cat etc. owners feed their animals.

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--Brittany

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom."

Wed Dec 07, 2005 6:09 am

	Quote:
	On the other hand, the meat that goes into dog food is mainly the by-products of meat killed for human consumption- and THOSE animals were mutilated at birth, kept in crowded, filthy conditions, forced to cannibalise each other, and then killed brutaly.

Exactly why im a vegetarian

. And ratsicles she doesn’t feed her snake pre killed mice she feeds it live mice. And for the cat and dog food it’s really hard because it’s very unhealthy for cats to be vegetarians because they are carnivore, but dogs can be because they are omnivores.

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2 rats ~Pheona~Clover~
4 Bunnies~Twinkletoes~Honeybee~Honeybunny~Marlo
2 Mice~Bovine~Roo~
2 Ducks~Hara~Bazil~

www.freewebs.com/ratsitter

Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:17 am

The original poster has had issues with switching their snake to prekilled food, and I offered my advice for that person should she want it. You claimed that you felt keeping snakes was wrong because of their diet, and I explained why that was a hypocritical view. I don't see what vegetarianism has to do with it, seeing as how the decision to eat meat was not the issue being discussed, but the WAY that the meat is killed and the form in which it is eaten.

That said, we can agree to disagree on this issue.

If you'd like to discuss it further, PM me.

_________________
--Brittany

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom."

Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:19 am

What issue? And I said that I thought keeping snakes is wrong becuase of their diet AND that I feel sorry for the snakes being kept in a a tank. I never wanted to fight. Confused

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2 rats ~Pheona~Clover~
4 Bunnies~Twinkletoes~Honeybee~Honeybunny~Marlo
2 Mice~Bovine~Roo~
2 Ducks~Hara~Bazil~

www.freewebs.com/ratsitter

Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:41 am

Ratsicles, please PM me your methods of switching to pre-killed food. I have tried with a few different snakes who had only been fed live... and couldn't get anything to work. Its like they can't smell that it is still a rodent. My friend use to get me to break the live mice's necks (ick but it had to be done) so that her snake would eat, but there would be less pain for the mouse and less chance of the snake being injured.

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Lise...

& Molly, Nora, and Tevy

Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:06 am

Sent. Let me know if those things don't work, since there are a couple of other things you could still try. Usually that isn't necessary though...the things I sent you have almost always worked for me.

_________________
--Brittany

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom."