Caring For Pet Mice & Rats

While pet mice and rats are some of the easiest small animals to care for they do still require proper care in order to be healthy and happy. Like with most every animal the most important aspects to the overall health of these pets is proper nutrition, a clean place to live and plenty of exercise. These are all fairly easy for those who own rats of mice to accomplish.
For rats and mice nutrition is most often the most overlooked aspect of their health. This improper diet leads to most common problems within these species. Like most animals, rats and mice when provided mixes as food these pets will eat the items they like and leave the rest. When unsuspecting owners refill this mix they are only encouraging their pet to eat only the foods the like and this will result in an improper diet.
Rats and mice tend to like sweat things as well as seeds and nuts that are high in fat. Owners should try and avoid sweats at all costs since these are just not good for the animal. But there are some great rat treats and mice treats available on the market that can be used for those special times in place of sweat treats. The nuts and seeds though can be given to the animals but they need to be done on a limited basis.
For optimal health rat owners as well as those who have mice need to provide them with a balanced diet of nutritionally complete food. This means making sure the animals get plenty of roughage in the form of vegetables and fiber along with all the nutrients they need. This food should also require plenty of chewing in order to make the pets work their teeth in order to wear down those continuously growing teeth.