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Development of a Semipurified Diet for the Adult Pocket Mouse (Perognathus)¹

Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California

A semipurified diet was developed for the pocket mouse (Perognathus longimembris and P. penicillatus), small desert rodents that do not drink water. The key difference between this diet and a standard semipurified mouse diet is the mineral composition. The ratio of K/Na and Mg/Ca is high and the inorganic phosphates are replaced by the calcium, magnesium and sodium salts of glycerophosphates. The adequacy of this diet has been shown by the maintenance of over 100 pocket mice for 6 months without weight loss, with a normal behavioral pattern and in apparent good health. Carcass composition and the size and microscopic appearance of organs were the same for animals fed this diet as compared with animals fed their customary mixed seed diet.

Manuscript received 18 September 1967.