Post by Katt on Sept 14, 2011 0:29:32 GMT -9
Katt (admin)
I just graduated with my Bachelor of Sciences in Biology with a heavy emphasis on health. I am currently taking a year off while I apply to Medical School for the 2012 school year. I have owned and bred both mice and hamsters - mice for about 2 years, and hamsters more recently. I have spent a LOT of time researching animal diets, and care - especially for my exotic pets. I stumbled upon the complexity of diets when I got my iguana, and then wandered into the realm of natural pet diets when I got my first ferret Koda almost 2 years ago. I strongly believe that ALL animals should get the best care we can give them, whether they be breeder, feeder or pets.
I breed, feed, and pet my rodents. I breed mice as feeders for my ferrets who are on a raw and whole prey diet. I breed and keep Syrian hamsters as pets. However, I treat all of my animals with respect and ensure that while they are under my care their needs are met to the fullest of my abilities. I have found natural diets to be not only healthier, but significantly less expensive, and much, much healthier than store-bought mixes. This goes for all animals! When I switched my mice to a natural, homemade diet I found that they became more active, healthier, and more productive - they produced healthier litters with a much better survival rate. The feeders became a more nutritious meal (if nothing else by being healthy themselves, and by "gut loading" with healthy foods) and my rodents all became much happier. Their eyes are bright, their fur is sleek, their activity is great. I'm quite pleased.
In my adventures searching for breeding and natural diet info, I became quite frustrated on many levels - and I discovered that others were experiencing the same frustrations. Most forums I found strictly discourage breeding, even going so far as to withhold information, and ban members. To me this made no sense. Complain about irresponsible breeding...then completely shut people down when they actually go looking for info so they can breed responsibly? IMO - people are going to breed anyways, so you might as well do your best to equip them with the information they need to do it safely! Then I began to ask around about natural diets - and was pointed to commercial mixes as the "best choice." Yet even the higher quality commercial foods contain corn fillers (corn is almost nutritionally worthless for most animals - even humans), sugars (molasses is in most rodent foods), preservatives, and a long list of chemicals. ...They wouldn't eat any of these in the wild...! So I decided that I wanted to try to get the information both about breeding, and natural diets out there for people to find. And hence the forum was created!
Hopefully my partner in crime in all of this, Candice will come and introduce herself soon! She's quite knowledgeable about rodents!
I just graduated with my Bachelor of Sciences in Biology with a heavy emphasis on health. I am currently taking a year off while I apply to Medical School for the 2012 school year. I have owned and bred both mice and hamsters - mice for about 2 years, and hamsters more recently. I have spent a LOT of time researching animal diets, and care - especially for my exotic pets. I stumbled upon the complexity of diets when I got my iguana, and then wandered into the realm of natural pet diets when I got my first ferret Koda almost 2 years ago. I strongly believe that ALL animals should get the best care we can give them, whether they be breeder, feeder or pets.
I breed, feed, and pet my rodents. I breed mice as feeders for my ferrets who are on a raw and whole prey diet. I breed and keep Syrian hamsters as pets. However, I treat all of my animals with respect and ensure that while they are under my care their needs are met to the fullest of my abilities. I have found natural diets to be not only healthier, but significantly less expensive, and much, much healthier than store-bought mixes. This goes for all animals! When I switched my mice to a natural, homemade diet I found that they became more active, healthier, and more productive - they produced healthier litters with a much better survival rate. The feeders became a more nutritious meal (if nothing else by being healthy themselves, and by "gut loading" with healthy foods) and my rodents all became much happier. Their eyes are bright, their fur is sleek, their activity is great. I'm quite pleased.
In my adventures searching for breeding and natural diet info, I became quite frustrated on many levels - and I discovered that others were experiencing the same frustrations. Most forums I found strictly discourage breeding, even going so far as to withhold information, and ban members. To me this made no sense. Complain about irresponsible breeding...then completely shut people down when they actually go looking for info so they can breed responsibly? IMO - people are going to breed anyways, so you might as well do your best to equip them with the information they need to do it safely! Then I began to ask around about natural diets - and was pointed to commercial mixes as the "best choice." Yet even the higher quality commercial foods contain corn fillers (corn is almost nutritionally worthless for most animals - even humans), sugars (molasses is in most rodent foods), preservatives, and a long list of chemicals. ...They wouldn't eat any of these in the wild...! So I decided that I wanted to try to get the information both about breeding, and natural diets out there for people to find. And hence the forum was created!
Hopefully my partner in crime in all of this, Candice will come and introduce herself soon! She's quite knowledgeable about rodents!