Self-Selection of Diet by Hispid Cotton Rats (Sigmodon Hispidus)

Abstract

Dietary requirements of hispid cotton rats were studied by the self-selection of diet method. A subject pool of 46 animals was required to provide 10 males and 10 females which adjusted successfully to the feeding plan. Subsequently a mash devised on the basis of self-selection data fed naive subjects more efficiently than did a commercial chow. Consequently dietary self-selections by the successful selectors, while possibly nonrepresentative for the species, may provide a suitable maintenance ration for captives.