Feeding ferrets mice is little different then the zoos feeding their small
exotic cats mice.  The reasoning behind the feeding of mice, rats or other
feeder animals is to provide a complete carnivore diet and to avoid some
of the by-products that are found in processed carnivore diets.  Here is a
breakdown:
 
Commercial ferret diets contain a base of 'chicken meal'.  What is chicken
meal?  Its not whole chickens, that's for sure.  Its all the heads, feet
and other parts of the chicken that humans won't eat, cooked, ground up and
dried, then added to your ferret's diet.  The rest of the dried ferret food
is corn meal and a whole batch of chemicals added in an attempt to make it
a complete diet.
 
Mice are a complete meal in themselves.  Meat, bone, internal organs and
their contents are what animals in the wild, both carnivores and omnivores,
eat.  No by-products or additives.  A natural diet.
 
However, while a zoo has the resources to feed feeder mice to their
carnivores and omnivores, most people would find this expensive and unless
you've been raised on a farm or as a herpetologist, people might find
themselves too squeamish to consider the use of rodents as a diet item.
Then there are animal rights activists, who are simply failing to
understand that carnivores and omnivores need meat in their diet and that
forcing such an animal onto a vegetarian diet is often more cruel then
half the things they protesting...
 
The reason mice breed so prolifically is because the wild mouse has so
many animals trying to eat it.  Birds of prey, reptiles, felines, canines,
raccoons, skunks, all members of the weasel family, opossums, etc.  all
rate the mouse as their #1 favorite prey item.
 
I raise rats as pets, but I also raise reptiles.  I have pets and I have
'feeders' and the fact they are the same species makes no more difference
then if I kept pet chickens and ate chicken meat.  You cannot label one
species a pet and change the purpose it is used for and rodents, being not
on the top of the food chain, will always be feeder animals first and pets
second, no matter how many are kept as pets.
 
My ferrets are fed a commercial diet and only once in a while get a pinkie
mouse as a treat.  This is usually when my mice are breeding a lot and I
have a female who has too many babies and I need to cull a few for the good
of the whole litter.  Mice are not that good at being foster mothers and
tend to eat their own babies a lot.  Mice often kill each other for no
visible reason.  With the vicious nature of mice, I don't feel bad about
feeding them to the snakes and such.  The rats I raise are rarely used for
feeders by myself as I don't have snakes that large and the rats have far
more pleasing temperaments as far as being pets.  While the ferrets are
delighted to get a pinkie mouse as a snack, the rats are never on their
menu.
 
I research diets for animals far more exotic then ferrets.  So if you must
flame, do it privately to me... Animal rights rantings will be deleted and
not answered since I feel I don't have to justify myself to them.
[Posted in FML issue 2753]