A balanced diet for mice
Mice are opportunistic omnivores and will eat both plant and animal-based food. Wild mice eat a wide variety of seeds, grains and other plant material, as well as invertebrates, small vertebrates and carrion. A good-quality, balanced diet will help prevent nutrition-related problems in your mice.
What food to give them
- Commercial mouse food - we recommend nuggets. These will give mice a complete and balanced diet.
- Small amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables - as part of their daily allowance and not in addition.
- Portions of their daily food allowance scattered around the cage to encourage foraging behaviour. Wild mice find food by foraging and spend a large proportion of their day visiting familiar feed sites within their territory.
Food to avoid
- Don't feed them grapes/raisins and rhubarb, as these are poisonous to mice
- Don't feed them lettuce, as this can cause them to have diarrhoea
- Mice are coprophagic rodents, which means they eat their faeces from the floor of their cage to enable them to absorb essential nutrients such as vitamin B12 and folic acid.
Drinking water
Make sure your mice have constant access to clean drinking water, as they can die if they don't have water for even short periods of time.
Give your mice their water in bottles with metal sipper tubes and check them everyday for leaks and blockages. Change the water regularly and clean the bottle and nozzle properly each time.
