We are currently working on a project that requires we make our own mouse food (the company we were ordering through, Envigo, heated the food too much, denaturing the nutrient we were aiming for). We have tried shaping pellets by hand, but this is fairly arduous and time consuming, and the pellets are not dense enough. Has anyone had this problem before? Did you find a solution?
Sometimes heat sensitive feed components are sprayed at the pellets after pelleting in oil or even water. Having a lot of fat in your diet reduces the shearing and heat production during pelleting. This might also be a way to follow.
First, do you really need to pellet the diet? Mice will eat food presented as a powder or a wet mash. It can be presented in a metal cup or glass jar. The mice may spill some but that isn't always a problem.
Second, diets can be pelleted without heating them if a binding agent such as dextrin is included in the recipe. I suggest you phone or e-mail one of the smaller animal diet preparation companies, such as Dyets, Inc., and ask them for advice.
Dear Dr Holman
You can check this machine. I think it is cheap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pp0JqgQFbw
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