Is this a good healthy homemade Rat food?

Question

I've been feeding this mixture to all my rats for years already, but I'm just curious if its actually nutritionally complete and healthy.

Everyday in the evening, I feed them a mixture of:

- Lab blocks

- raw quick oatmeal

- almonds

- crunched up soda crackers

- raw rice

- regualr cheerios( the tastelss one, not the honey one)

- All Bran flake cereal

And in a separate dish, I give them:

- home grown vegetables leaves

- mushed up picked blueberries ( I mush it with the veggies )

- apple bits ( thought they dont like it much)

- And whatever other fruits I have in the fridge

I feel that its healthy...

Thak you.

Answer 1

yeah the fruits and veggies. but it depends on the lab block. the only store bought lab block i would ever touch is oxbow regal rat.. store bought lab blocks like LM and others are full of fillers.. like ground peanut husks.. and corn. corn is horrible for rats and hard for them to digest. For a lab block, harland teklad is the way to go, but if you can't get it i suggest oxbow regal rat or a dog food. Rats eat anything, but they need protein more than the other things and dog food has it. here's the web site with all the information

http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

follow closely to that.. they know what they're talking about. Insead of raw rice [that puffs up in their stomach and can burst their stomachs if they eat too much] use rainbow rotini, the pasta spirals with yellow, green and orange. they are flavored spinach, tomato and regular, my rats love that. crunched up soda crackers won't hurt, but they are empty calories. when you say raw oatmeal, do you mean dry rolled oats? thats great for them. cheerios are awesome for them if they are whole grain. I add it to my mix. i dont know about all bran but i use total, because i know it has lots of vitamins. for veggies, blueberries are phenominal, with all their antioxidants. i put in my mix,  cranberries [good for the urinary tract] as said on the website and banana chips [potassium] and dried strawberry chips from the organic section of my grocery store because they love them and they do no harm as a favorite treat in the mix. it sounds like you are doing a good job, just maybe tweak a few things! it sounds like your rats have a great home

Answer 2

To the person who said lab blocks have a ton of protein is really stupid. It depends on what kind of lab block you feed. Everything saounds good but I would cut out the almond. Buts are not good for rats at all. What kind of lab blocks do you feed?

Answer 3

Actually rats can eat anything just dont feed it iceburg lettece, cause it could make your rat sick or kill it,

Answer 4

lab blocks have a TONNN of protien which is 100% bad for ANY small animal. I'd definately cut that out of their diet cause it's pretty bad for them.

Fruits, veggies (I stay away from lettace with my guys though), pasta, yogurt, nuts....all that stuff is healthy for rats.

Seeds, dog food, treats....should be given in moderation since they are high in protien and in fat.

Since rats are prone to cancer and tumors, stay away from food high in protien and fat. 12% protien is the abolsutely HIGHEST I go with my rats.

I feed my rats OxBow Regal Rat which has 11% protien (I believe) real meat protien (not soy which can be bad for them), and it's just an all around good food. Then they get some fruits and veggies every other day.

Answer 5

well, it seem mostly okay, but ll tell you a couple things i noticed that i read not to do, although if your rats are healthy, then it won't matter. i read that the only yogurt rats should eat is plain, people yogurt, and it shouldn't be given too often because too much can be fattening.  though things like this are healthy for s, they aren't always good for rats, except occasionally as a treat. sometimes fruit, dried or fresh if they have too much can cause diareea. i don't know what lab blocks are, but i've heard too much at once, or a steady diet of it can be harmful, but by all means continue if your rats have no problems, but ou might want to call a vet or someone and ask this question, just to make sure the experts think it is okay.

Answer 6

yup, thats sounds really healthy to me.

just make sure that you also give them their kind of food to, like the lab blocks, but instead of giving them just in the evening, give them 3 in the morning and 2 ir 3 in the evening. also,I dont think i would give them this EVERY day. it sounds like a BIG meal for them to be having every night 7 days a week. I would say maybe every 4 or 5 days out of the week would be great.

Don't get me wrong though, If you have been doing this 7 days a week for a LONG time, and they have no problem with it, then keep doing what you are doing.