micro farming mice

im looking for ways to have a micro farm with mice that will work. it seems i come across this and folks are mostly feeding them dog food. or there cages look so bare. It's not something i want to do but there has to be a better way to have a mice colony setup. Also can mice eat bamboo leaves?

I was thinking of starting my mice out on
- oats, millet seed, corn, sunflower seeds, (random on property nut we have to much of) [-Peanuts]
- fruits (-citrus)
- vegetables
bugs
- black soldier flies (if they will eat em)
- bee larve
- compost worms




i also would like to keep them in straw chopped bedding / since i grow a small amount of wheat (nothing wonderful but i grow it every other year)

i have 5 aquariums (swap meet clean out with hot water left to sit in sun then clean out again with soap and hot water)
- in a stack shelf setup ready to go with a large water can on top drip water (small bowl under)
- 5 running wheels
- terra cotta tubes (dishwasher safe)
- some sticks --- chew on can be thrown out and replace with new ones from black berry bush)
- old terra cotta pots to sleep under)


i was wonder if anyone tried this with mice.. before or has information i kinda don't want to test this out and kill em.

One of my daughters did a school science project years ago to determine the eating habits of mice.

They mostly were fed our left-overs. Mice are not picky eaters.
Of the 100's of things that we fed them, there was only one thing that they would not eat. I said "Don't give them anything else, and they will eat it." After a few days, they were looking weak and hungry, and the food still had zero tooth marks, or other sign of eating/gnawing. We broke down, and gave them some real food to eat. The thing that they refused to eat: Tofu. (They must be smarter than the people who think tofu is food.)

One of their favorites was potatoes. They loved them baked, boiled, mashed, and even French fries. However, I don't recall if we ever tried them raw.

We intentionally bought 2 of the same sex, as they have a well deserved reputation as breeders. Unfortunately, one of them was already pregnant. We went through multiple generations before we finally found them a new home. I would imagine that one could quickly increase the colony size to overpopulation with sufficient food supply.

Besides their use as chicken feed, people with pet snakes will eagerly pay for the babies ("pinks"). Since they eat almost anything, they could become a great source for protein at a cost of nothing.

John Polk wrote:One of my daughters did a school science project years ago to determine the eating habits of mice.

They mostly were fed our left-overs. Mice are not picky eaters.
Of the 100's of things that we fed them, there was only one thing that they would not eat. I said "Don't give them anything else, and they will eat it." After a few days, they were looking weak and hungry, and the food still had zero tooth marks, or other sign of eating/gnawing. We broke down, and gave them some real food to eat. The thing that they refused to eat: Tofu. (They must be smarter than the people who think tofu is food.)

One of their favorites was potatoes. They loved them baked, boiled, mashed, and even French fries. However, I don't recall if we ever tried them raw.

We intentionally bought 2 of the same sex, as they have a well deserved reputation as breeders. Unfortunately, one of them was already pregnant. We went through multiple generations before we finally found them a new home. I would imagine that one could quickly increase the colony size to overpopulation with sufficient food supply.

Besides their use as chicken feed, people with pet snakes will eagerly pay for the babies ("pinks"). Since they eat almost anything, they could become a great source for protein at a cost of nothing.

thanks for getting back to me .. yea i was thinking the same thing.. but i couldnt get over the fact that everyone kept going on and on about feeding them dog food.. i wouldnt feed a dog .. dog food it's so suspect these days.. the rice they use has high level of arsenic not to mention why are they putting rice in dog food.. anyways.. i was just wondering if anyone did it.. it's good to know.. as for the tofu i wouldnt eat most of it.. either.. soy has become so suspect with all the short cuts they have been pulling with it lately. it's supposed to be fermented