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Feeding Methods
Each feeding method has its peculiarities. My chosen method is pellets, for the sake of simplicity and the ability to provide a diet that is 100% geared towards breeding mice. No guesswork or adjustments necessary. The diet I feed is called RM3, and the recipe has been developed scientifically to nourish breeding does and weaned youngsters. It is available worldwide under the same name, and the recipe is strictly controlled, which makes this diet somewhat more costly than a seed-based diet. But with it being fed via hoppers, there is almost zero waste. The one drawback with it is, it is a little hard to come by. There is only one company left in the UK that makes it, and they are not equipped to deal with private buyers. It took all the doggedness I could muster to get them to deal with me, but I finally received my shipment.
About time as well since the previous shipment had gone all mouldy over the winter. For weeks, I was hand-sorting individual mouldy pellets from usable ones to make sure my mice did not ingest the spores and toxins.
What had happened was, the previous batch was the extruded variety. Same recipe, but the processing is different. Extruded pellets are actually cooked and then pressed through the pelleting mechanism while still piping hot. This makes the pellets puff up as they come out. Extruded pellets are much softer and easier to digest, but this is not a requirement with fancy mice. It’s something that delicate, transgenic varieties need because their digestive system is not as robust as that of our healthy exhibition stock. Extruded pellets retain moisture much better, which is conducive to mould growth.
If you want to switch to pellets, make sure they are not extruded!
(I will be ordering again in a month or so. If anyone needs pellets, please let me know. Happy to order some more, as it will also bring the price down a little.)