Snacks for mice: small rewards, clever enrichment

For a mouse, a snack is a moment of something new: a scent to investigate, a seed to husk, an insect to run off with. Precisely because mice are so curious, snacks work well for getting them used to your hand and for making their enclosure more interesting. At the same time, mice are small. A morsel that is nothing to a rabbit is already a hefty portion for a mouse. So snacks remain a small extra alongside mouse food, never a replacement for it.

In this category you will find a large range. The snacks from Zooply, our own premium brand, come first: dried insects, millet spray, the Fields range and the Nibble Mix. Zooply focuses specifically on herbs and snacks, because that is where things most often go wrong for many animals. We use these products every day for our own animals in the shop and breeding facility.

At a glance

• ✓ Snacks are a small part of the menu; mouse food remains the foundation.
• ✓ Break large snacks into small pieces: for a mouse, a morsel of a few millimetres is enough.
• ✓ Insects such as crickets and silkworms suit mice well, because they also need animal protein.
• ✓ Use snacks for taming and as a foraging game in the bedding.
• ✓ If a mouse gains weight or leaves her food, give fewer snacks.

What will you find in the Snacks category?

Zooply dried insects

Mice are omnivores and also eat insects in the wild. Zooply Crickets, Zooply Grasshoppers and Zooply Silkworms are dried insects without additives, intended as a protein-rich snack for hamsters, gerbils, rats and mice. They are sugar-free and come in resealable packaging. According to the product information, they are suitable for taming and for hiding in an enrichment game. For mice, crickets and silkworms are the handiest size. A grasshopper is big for a mouse; break it into pieces first. The advice on the Grasshoppers and Silkworms packaging: a few at a time, a few times a week. For a small group of mice, that means one small piece per mouse.

Zooply Millet Spray Pieces

Millet spray is one of the most natural snacks there is for mice. Zooply Millet Spray Pieces are short sprigs with the seeds still attached. A mouse holds a sprig like this and nibbles the seeds off one by one. That takes time and keeps her busy. Put a piece loose in the enclosure or push it halfway into the bedding. Because it already comes in pieces, it is easy to portion. The pack contains 125 grams and has a ziplock closure.

The Zooply Fields range

Zooply Hare Field, Flower Field, Heath Field, Meadow Field, Reed Field and Dune Field are bundles of green oats and millet spray, each with its own natural eye-catcher: a bunny tail grass, a daisy, sea lavender, strawflowers, amaranth or statice. Your mice may eat the oats and millet, and the bundles immediately give the enclosure a natural look. Push them into the bedding, place them by a house or use them in a decorated enclosure. Each bundle weighs 85 grams. Alternate between the versions, so the enclosure keeps smelling and looking different.

Zooply Nibble Mix and Zooply Walnuts

The Zooply Nibble Mix is a varied mix of seeds, grains and dried vegetables. You can give it as a separate snack or mix a little into the mouse food for extra variety. It comes in 200 grams and in a large 2.5 kg pack; for a few mice, 200 grams is more than enough. Zooply Walnuts are rich in fats. For a mouse, a piece the size of a seed is enough as a treat, and not every day.

Chew sticks, rolls and edible toys

From Zolux you will find chew sticks with ingredients such as oats, carrot, vegetables, beetroot, Jerusalem artichoke, plum, peanut and orange. JR Farm supplies, among other things, the Wooden Chew Roll with Carrot, the Chew Carrot, the Double-Roll, Nibble Pieces, the Chew Bar with Strawberry, the Sniffing Forest and the Play Wheel with snacks. Trixie offers corn cob pieces and a bark wood bridge with vegetables and nuts, and Flamingo the birch wood Fruit Bowl. These products are made for rabbits and rodents alike and are often sized for larger animals. For mice, hang or place them in the enclosure as something to gnaw and explore, or break off small pieces.

Grain-free snacks

JR Farm has an extensive grain-free range: hearts, mini hearts, bonbons, lucky carrots, chew drops (also with carrot or dandelion), chew rolls with flowers and vegetables, chew sticks and the lucky quartet. Grain-free is not a requirement for mice; they naturally eat lots of seeds. They are, however, a way to vary things with flavours such as dandelion and nettle.

Small rewards and crackers

For taming, small snacks that are easy to give from your fingers are the most practical. Think of the Trixie Forest Fruit Drops, without added sugars according to the product information, the Flamingo Vegetable Biscuits with carrot, pumpkin and parsley, the Trixie Crackers with dandelion, carrot or beetroot, and the JR Farm Vegetable Rings, Fruities, Nibble Hearts, Nibble Pillows and Chew Marbles. Break them into small pieces before giving them to a mouse.

Hay, flowers and grass

The JR Farm Hay House with Carrot is an edible house made of hay; the JR Farm Hay Block with Mealworms combines mountain meadow hay with protein-rich mealworms. The Esve Pet Bouquets, such as Haverland, Knaagveld, Knabbelstruik, Tarweakker and Weidegewas, are bundles of grains, grasses and herbs to sniff through and nibble on. You will also find the Esve Timothy hay rolls with apple, marigold and rosehip among others, the Flamingo Tubez chew tunnels and the Trixie growing kit for growing your own rodent grass.

How many snacks can a mouse have?

A mouse eats only a few grams a day. Everything you give as a snack comes out of that. Too many snacks make mice overweight and fussy more quickly: they leave their mouse food and wait for something tasty. So keep it small. A few small pieces per mouse per day is enough, and even less with fatty snacks such as nuts and sunflower seeds. If you want to reward often, simply use a few pieces of their own mouse food as a reward.

Watch out for sugar too. Fruity snacks and drops are fine now and then, but do not make them a daily habit. Protein-rich insects and seeds match better with what a mouse naturally eats.

Using snacks for taming

Mice are fast and startle easily. Taming works best in small steps. Rest your hand calmly and flat in the enclosure, with a small piece of snack on your fingers. Let the mice come to you and do not move. Do this in the evening, when they are naturally awake. After a few evenings, most mice dare to take a snack from your hand. After that you can carefully let them walk over your hand. Insects such as a cricket or silkworm often work well for this, because the scent makes mice curious.

Snacks as a foraging game

Mice are true foragers. Hide small pieces of snack in the bedding, in a tube or among the nesting material. You can also push a piece of millet spray upright into the bedding or place a bundle from the Zooply Fields range. That way they do what mice do in the wild too: scurry, sniff and dig. An enclosure with lots of foraging spots makes mice more active and calmer. Do not hide too much, though, or everything will disappear into a store in the nest.

Snacks in a group of mice

Female mice live in small groups. If you give one large snack there, one mouse often claims it. It is better to give small pieces in several places at once, or to give each mouse its own piece from your hand. Several hiding places help too: a mouse that has a snack can then withdraw without being chased.

Useful combinations

Snacks work best in an enclosure where the basics are right. These categories belong with them:

• Mouse food: Zooply Mouse Food as the daily foundation, with snacks as a small extra alongside it.
• Chew wood: chewing material without extra calories, such as Zooply Apple Branches.
• Dried herbs: for hiding and sniffing, a gentle alternative to sweet snacks.
• Dried flowers & grasses: to scatter through the bedding as a natural treasure hunt.
• Toys: enrichment in which you can hide snacks.

Frequently asked questions about snacks for mice

Which snack is best for taming a mouse?

Choose something small with a distinct scent, such as a piece of Zooply cricket or silkworm, a seed from the Zooply Millet Spray Pieces or a small piece of cracker. Give one piece at a time and let the mouse come to you. It is about trust, not about filling her up. Repeat this calmly every evening, and most mice quickly learn that your hand means something good.

Can mice have dried insects every day?

A small piece of insect fits well into a mouse's menu, because mice need animal protein. According to the product information, the Zooply insects may be given daily in small amounts. The Grasshoppers and Silkworms packaging recommends a few pieces a few times a week. For mice, stick to a small piece per mouse, and skip a day if they are already getting plenty of protein from their food.

Are snacks for rabbits and rodents also suitable for mice?

Many snacks in this category are made for several species at once. For each product, check whether mice are mentioned in the product information. The size is often geared towards larger animals. So break a snack into small pieces, or use larger products such as chew sticks as something to gnaw and explore rather than as a snack that is eaten in one go.

My mice only eat snacks now. What now?

Stop all snacks for a week and give only mouse food in a fixed portion. Only top up the bowl once it is empty. After a few days, most mice eat their food normally again. Then start again very carefully with a small piece of snack, preferably as a reward or hidden in the bedding rather than in the food bowl.

Why does my mouse hide her snack?

Mice naturally build up a store. A snack they do not eat straight away gets taken to the nest or hidden under the bedding. That is normal. When cleaning, only remove perishable leftovers, such as fresh food. Dry snacks can stay in the store, so the nest is not disturbed unnecessarily.

Buying snacks for mice at Knaagplaza

At Knaagplaza, the webshop of 't Knaagplein, you will find snacks for rewarding your mice thoughtfully and keeping them busy. Zooply is our own premium brand, and we use the Zooply insects, millet spray and Fields range every day for our own animals. Give snacks small and hidden, keep mouse food as the foundation, and your mice will stay curious, active and in good condition.