my little mouses update and question

Question
Janelle
I don't know if you remember me, but I had the field mouse that I rescued and I asked you several questions quite a few weeks ago when she was experiencing hair loss etc.  You said to keep you posted on the progress. Well she is doing great.  She grew all her hair back, and I've been keeping her on a diet of brown rice, carrot and apple pieces and dry oats.  This was at the recommendation of the vet incase her hairloss had been a food allergy.  The vet said now that she is better I can try a lab block again.  I'm thinking of buying the Harlan Teklad block, but am unsure what block number to use.  They have an 18% protein block that they recommend for growing babies, lactating and pregnant mice and then a 16% protein for growing and maintenence ages, and then a 14% protein for adult mice/rats over 9 months of age.  She is only 2 1/2 months old now and I don't want to give her too much or too little protein, so I'm thinking of using the 16% protein block.  Do you use a certain type of lab block?  What do you recommend?  

Thanks again for any advice and I'm so happy to report that she is doing so well.  She is hyper at night, and sleeps all day, but is SO sweet!!  We really love her :)

Thanks again,
Kim

Answer
Yay, good to hear! It must have been a food allergy then. That's absolutely bizarre, I had never heard of such a thing; and I just recently had someone contact me that had similar symptoms. I was able to offer advice based off of your situation and it turned out their rat had a nut allergy. Learn something new every day!

I don't use block anymore (my rats tended to waste it; I opted for cheaper options given the amount of animals I have); but when I did, I went with Harlan Teklad and in a pinch I used Mazuri. Given that she's about 10 weeks old now, she's still "technically" a juvenile (despite that mice usually quit growing right between 12 and 16 weeks), but I would put her on the 16% block and take the middle road. Once she reaches about 6-7 months of age, I'd start transitioning her onto the 14% diet.. despite that it's just a protein difference, some blocks can taste different and you never know if you'll have "that picky mouse" that will decide she doesn't really like the new stuff.. so it's better to do your transition somewhat slowly. (Dietary-ly speaking, it doesn't make any difference/won't hurt her to switch her quickly - it's just a safeguard against her going on food strike).

Congrats on figuring it out!