hair loss, inactivity, overweight

Question
Ok, so I've had mice for about 3 years now, only had a few probs since I started my habitats, most recently, is with a relatively new adult female fancy, which I've had since mid Nov to early Dec. She has some hair loss, with a flat coat, (not shiny)and doesn't seem interested in coming out of her tower, other than to eat, drink and bathroom. She looks ok, no signs of scabbing or pests, just thinning fur and looks a bit overweight.

Was wondering about allergy to her bedding, since she is the only one of 5 to have this problem. The others had rough coats at points, but no noticeable hair loss.

Saw answers to related about high fat/protein, not disregarding that.

also, I usually buy their food at Walmart, (Cardinal sin, I know) because its cheap, but I get the hamster/gerbil diet, with Barley and rice added, which has always worked well, maybe til now.

Hoping I gave enough info for you, no pic, sorry, she won't let me see her well enough to get a good pic off my digital.

Answer
Hi Duane,

It sounds like her diet to me.  I'm not ruling out a bedding allergy, but you can switch the bedding easily and see if it makes a difference.  However, since the coat is also affected strongly by the diet, I would guess that is your first place to start.

The hamster/gerbil diet usually has higher levels of protein and different core ingredients, so the first thing I'd recommend trying is switching to anything labeled for mice.  More than just the protein and fat, their diets are significantly different enough that this might make the whole difference.  Even if it isn't the nutritional content of the diet causing the problem, mice can also get food allergies, so I would really expect to see a difference by switching the food.  For the record, Walmart's mouse mix is fine (but I know my mice hated the blocks!).  ;)

You can also try checking around at any local farm/feed stores, as some of them can special order mouse feed for you.  Mazuri is the diet I use, and while it's pretty expensive in 2 and 5 pound bags at the pet store, you can buy a 25 pound bag for around $20-30 that will last you pretty much forever (provided you keep bugs out of it, heh).  I think you'll find you wind up paying less per month than buying small bags for $3-5 bucks a pop.

If changing the diet, and possibly the bedding, doesn't show any improvement within 2-3 weeks - write me back and we'll figure it out.  It could be that something else is irritating her and we just need to figure out what it is.

Best of luck!
-Tam