What to feed 5 week rat babies?

Question

I'm getting them next week, and they're are feeding on peaches. So should I feed them peaches or something else? Do they still need milk?

Answer 1

At five weeks old, baby rats should be fully weaned.  They can still benefit from a weaning diet though.  They can probably start eating lab blocks for 50% of their diet and fresh foods as the other 50%.

"Rat kittens are normally fully weaned between 4 and 5 weeks, but continue to benefit from having some 'weaning diet' for some weeks after this. Weaning foods tend to be soft, moist and initially mimic the milky diet the kittens are used to.

From 6 weeks to around 8 weeks – feed about 50% dry mix and 50% fresh food from above list. Daily greens.

From 8 weeks to around 3 months – gradually decrease the amount of fresh food given and the amount of protein. Daily greens.

From 3 months onwards – feed about 80-90% dry mix and 10-20% fresh food. At this point cut out the protein foods and feed mainly carbohydrates, legumes (peas, chick peas, beans etc), and the daily greens plus other vegetables and fruit."

Fresh foods this site recommends are:

    * Daily (large) portion of curly kale, clover or young dandelion leaves.

    * Broccoli.

    * Carrot.

    * Chicken (whole wings and drumsticks provide the higher protein flesh and the benefits of mineral rich bones to chew on).

    * Egg (scrambled, boiled and chopped, mixed into porridge or soaked into wholemeal bread and cooked in a touch of olive oil).

    * Fish – especially oily varieties (cooked and tinned [lowest salt] acceptable). Also shellfish.

    * Lactol (bottled or made into porridge or over wholemeal bread).

    * Dr Squiggles Insectivorous feast (a high quality high protein egg food).

    * Nature Diet moist puppy food.

    * High Life chicken and turkey cat food sachets.

    * Banana and avocado pear.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

peaches are far too sweet and not good for a food for rats! babies of this age should be fully weaned but shouldn't be being sold :(

lactol is good for keeping the babies health up my rats babies at 5 weeks although fully weaned still went to their mum for milk.  

Answer 3

They shouldn't still need milk if somebody is giving them to you. Rats can be weaned anywhere from 4-6 weeks old. Why are they being fed peaches? A peach is a very sweet fruit and sounds like a bad idea to me personally. When you get them try weaning them off the peaches and getting them to eat high quality lab blocks.

Answer 4

peaches i suppose. if they were already eating peaches then they are probably already weaned off milk, so no milk. try giving them a rich and nutricous food, something like alfa hay to guinea pigs. only for the next month though, then give them normal rat food. the rats still need to grow i think (not a rat expert here) so give them something that helps them grow

Answer 5

Since they're already feeding on peaches, they're weaned from milk, so no milk. You can feed them peaches, but I would suggest that you also give them rat food and other fruits and veggies. Hay would also be good (timothy, orchard, and alfalfa are all fine). We got ours at 6 and 9 weeks and fed them that. They will definitely need some sort of regular nutrition though, like rat food. Oats would also be good for now, while they are still growing, but gradually decrease the amounts because oats will make them fat if they have them when they are over a year old. But yes, peaches are fine, maybe a piece of dry bread to nibble on (to keep the teeth trimmed), apple slices, baby carrots, small amounts of rat food, peanuts, hay, and other fruits and veggies would all be good things to give them. NO dog or cat food though, because giving rats meat usually results in them getting mean at some point.