swollen mouse testies???!!!

Question
Dear Jana,
My name is Grace and I'm from Australia.
About two weeks ago I rescued two mice, Russell and Wilson, from a horrible prank which was played at my school. I've bought them a huge cage, nests, wheel ect. And I have been feeding them small amounts of bird seed, larger amounts of fresh vegetable: beans, carrots, broccoli and asparagus, and giving them a small piece of apple each once a week.
In this last week I've noticed that they have both developed really large, what look to be, testicles at the bases of their tails. However I'm not sure they are. They seem to be getting larger each day. There is minimal hair growth around them, however they do not appear to be painful to the poor guys. Could you please shed some light on this interesting issue!
Thank you very much,
Grace

Answer
It sounds like they are both males and be glad!- otherwise you would be overrun with mice in three weeks. Males have very large testicles and they are in the area you mentioned- so I am guessing that is what they are.

While the diet you are giving them sounds pretty balanced, you might want to buy some mice food at a pet store to be sure they are getting the correct amount of nutrients and minerals. However, it sounds as if they are doing great on what you are feeding them.

Whole grains of some sort should be their main diet- bird seed might suffice but get them some wheat berries or whole oats now and then too.

We fed our mice dog food and mice chow so I am not that 'savvy' on mice nutrition!!