This article is from the WSSF 2014 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Karen Robbins

Keith Malavase, Facebook
QWhere can I buy the Wire Mesh food dispenser?

AWire food dispensers for lab blocks can be easily made. We have the article Fat Mice that tells about them as well as plans that were in the 2011 newsletter you can follow to make your own. If you wanted to buy a feeder, Lixit makes a plastic food hopper for lab blocks that looks similar to a water bottle.

The Lixit lab block food hopper. Photo ©2011 Karen Robbins.

Wire feeder basket made for rats from the plans Making Rat Lab Block Wire Feeders. Photo ©2009 Karen Robbins.

Steven Cowan, Hemlock Stud, WA, e-mail
QIs it possible for a line(s) to adapt to a certain diet and not thrive if fed otherwise (a certain formula of lab block)? If diet adaptation is why some of the recent imported lines had troubles breeding at first.

AHard to say. Most breeders I know of in England don’t feed lab blocks. We never had problems with any of the imported mice or rats we brought in over the years. They went from their food to our food with no transition period. It is more likely the bacteria/viruses they had vs. what the stock here had that was the problem. Also, you have to consider the change of environment and supplies used (cages, bedding, water, air) that may cause problems. When we brought in the English mice in 2004, I tried to make their environment as close as possible to what they were used to by using hay and giving oats. Unfortunately, you can’t use the same water so using filtered/bottled water will help. However, mice do well at adapting to their environments, that is why they are such a problem in the wild.

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