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.
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