How often can rats have sunflower seeds?

Question

We just got 2 baby girl rats.

For food we are feeding them the stuff they got fed at the pet store, its a mixture of a bunch of things. I notice the one rat always picking through everything for the sunflower seeds and that's pretty much the only part I ever see her eat besides the serving of fresh vegetables I give them every few days (usually cucumber and carrot). They love the vegetables.

So my question is, should I start picking out the sunflower seeds so she gets more of the other stuff or is she okay with eating them so much?

I love watching her take apart the sunflower seed, shes really fast at it.

Answer 1

I would advise seeing if you can change to a nugget/pellet based food as this prevents selective feeding and is better for them overall, including their teeth.

They shouldn't have sunflower seeds in their food because they're quite fatty and because you can use them as a training object, if they like them a lot. So either change to a nugget and buy some sunflower seeds from a pet shop for a treat/training aid, OR pick the sunflower seeds out of every bowlful and use them as a training aid.

Answer 2

They should be eating the rat and mice lab blocks. Those have everything in it that they need to be healthy. Sunflower seeds are very unhealthy and fattening. The reason why the mixes of food arnt good are because like you saw they will pick out and eat what they like and leave the rest to waste. They cant do that with the lab blocks. Now if they are like my girls who wont eat the lab blocks I had to go to the vet and he said that I could as long as I supplemented there diet with fruits and vegetables could feed them a low protein vegetarian dog food for older dogs. Proteins low and it has some of which they need which is why I have to substitute stuff with it. . Its pricey though. $40 a bag. But they like it so what can I do. You can give them sunflower seeds sometimes and very sparingly but not all the time.

Answer 3

You should feed your rat lab blocks instead of the mix.

You could buy the sun flower seeds seperatly to feed them to her as a treat. You can feed her the seeds once on 3-5 days.

Hope this helps!