Can Pet Mice Eat Strawberries? 5 Things to Consider
There is a wide range of fruits and vegetables that mice can eat. While most of them are healthy, the fact that there are too many to choose from can be confusing. If you have some strawberries at home, should you give some to your pet mouse?
It turns out that feeding your mouse strawberries is not a bad idea at all. Of course, you can’t feed it to them every day as it is not ideal for them either. You need to consider strawberries as an occasional treat for pet mice.
It is without doubt that mice need variety in their diet. After all, you can’t feed them the mouse food you bought at the pet store all the time. Now, let’s get into the most important questions when it comes to feeding strawberries to your pet.
Are Strawberries Good for Pet Mice?
Out in nature, wild mice eat all the strawberries they can find. If you have some in your yard and mice happen to find it, there is a high chance that they are going to chew away most of it. But are strawberries any good or those mice are just too hungry?
First off, this fruit contains a lot of sugar, which is also why you should not feed it to your pet in big amounts. Although mice enjoy eating sugar, it is not quite a healthy source of nutrition for them. Since pet mice have the luxury of you taking care of them, it is better to wash those strawberries and remove the stalk.
Then you can either cut it into tiny pieces or just leave a whole strawberry in the cage and let your mice eat it. Fresh fruit is good for mice in general and strawberries don’t contain anything harmful. It is a pretty good fruit option as long as you feed them other foods that contain protein, minerals, carbohydrates and vitamins.
Are Strawberry Seeds Toxic to Mice?
Strawberries are just as safe for mice as they are for us. Wild mice literally eat all the parts of the strawberry, including its roots. Nor the seeds nor the leaves contain anything harmful. But this is not the case with all the other fruits.
Many fruit seeds contain cyan and other toxic substances that can cause digestive and health problems. These include bloating, stomach aches and diarrhea. Grapes and raisins can even cause kidney failure. This is why it is so important to know what your pet mouse can eat and which are the foods that he cannot.
You can’t really experiment with this because then you would probably need to take your pet to the veterinarian a few times. If you are not sure whether you can feed a particular fruit or vegetable to your pet mouse, then you can call your veterinarian and ask if it is safe.
Can Strawberries Cause Diarrhea in Mice?
When it comes to hydration, mice can either drink water or eat vegetables and fruit which also contain water. The thing about pet mice is that they don’t need much water throughout the day. They are maybe going to drink 5-8 milliliters of it and it is more than enough.
A lot of water can cause diarrhea to your pet and strawberries also contain water. This is why you should not feed them too much of it. Moreover, strawberries also contain a lot of fiber which further increases the risk of diarrhea.
It would mainly cause digestive problems that either lead to diarrhea, gas or bloating.
Do Wild Mice Eat Strawberries?
Wild mice are constantly on the go and they are prepared to eat whatever they can find. For them, being opportunistic omnivores is a matter of survival. Whether they find seeds, vegetables, fruits or some meat, they are going to eat it without a second thought.
As we mentioned, wild mice are going to chew on all the parts of the strawberry if they find it outside. They mainly like it because of the sugar content but it is not their particular preference to eat it. The list of foods they eat out in nature is incredibly long and there are a lot of other fruits they can eat as well.
Wrapping Up
Mice can definitely eat strawberries and you can freely include it in their everyday diet. Just make sure not to feed too much of it to your pet. It is healthy in small amounts but can cause problems if they eat a lot of it.
All the parts of the strawberry are safe but still, you need to wash them and to remove the stalk before feeding. If you have the choice, it is important to give the best parts of any food to your mouse. After all, you want to keep them at their best health if possible.
