Would this make a good rat diet?

Question

Every night they would get a small mix consisting of:

Oats

Sunflower seeds

wholewheat pasta

Rolled barley

Split green peas

Split yellow peas

Dried cranberries

Other dried fruit

Then they would get a daily supply of either Mazuri Lab Blocks OR Pro Plan weight management. Which do you suggest and why? Dont tell me that Pro Plan is a bad brand because its not. If you wanna know why then I'll tell you. Just ask but anyways....ya. What do you think of this diet? If its a NO then what do you recommend OTHER than Harlen. My rats dont like them.

Answer 1

Sounds great! I find that just a standard Rat Muesli does the trick, when you give healthy snackas and treats aswell :)

Also get some strawberry or rose petal chewing blocks (the ones that hook onto the top of the cage...Delilah (the rat!) loves them!!

:D

Answer 2

Why is ProPlan dogfood not a bad brand? It has nothing but fillers.

I would go with the lab blocks to make sure your rats are getting all their vitamins. They're rats, not dogs- you don't want a diet based around another species food.

I give my rats a high quality seed mix [more fun for them, and they eat it all] with some Blue dogfood and lots of fresh veggies, fruits, and the ocasional small piece of meat.

EDIT: My friends dog lived to be fifteen, and she ate the crappiest dog food out there. Didn't die of natural causes either. Dogfood has little to do with longevity, and rats and dogs are two very specialized species. You don't feed the Cheetah's in the zoo Gerber baby food, do you?

Sweetie, you're on the right track, just make sure your rats are getting high quality nutrients. Good for you for caring.

Answer 3

Go with Mazuri if you can't get Harlan.  If you feed your rats Pro Plan they'll probably start losing hair and look awful.  I used to have mine on Mazuri, and they did fine but started to get a bit tubby.  On Harlan, they have a good build, and really nice coats.  

If your rats absolutely won't eat it, try Oxbow regal rat.  Though, rats typically dislike the taste of that even more.  If you feed your rats less of the mix, they'll eat the lab blocks, though.  They may try waiting for you to give them more mix, (and I'm not saying withold food from them) but if you try to be patient and feed them less mix, more lab blocks, they'll start eating the blocks more.

Answer 4

One problem- rats aren't herbivores.  Where's the protein/animals sources?  You need some meat, eggs, insects, etc. if you're going to balance that out.

Answer 5

That sound like a good diet. You can control the fat intake and keep the protein levels down without the extra seeds like store-bought mixes have. Don't add too many sunflower seeds, they tend to make the boys fat.

I would add some fresh veggies (anything but onions and cabbage), some good dry dog food once in a while and whatever healthy food you eat...nothing a rattie likes more then sharing your food...

I should know I have 17 boys and girls here at my rescue and have had rats live to 4 years old on a similar diet.

Answer 6

Yes, it looks like a well balanced diet and you have included some variety.

Sunflower seeds are quite high in protein so it is best not to feed to many.

Oxbow regal rat is an excellent! I have never personally fed it to my rats as it is not available where I live but I would highlyrecommendd it. It may even be better than Harlan Tekland blocks, so I would give it a try.

Here is the website for this product, if you want to look into it:

http://www.oxbowhay.com/Shop/showProduct...

It is good that you are feeding fruits and vegetables daily, so keep feeding them that. You can if you want, feed them other stuff like tofu, wholemeal bread, milk (soy is the best), baby food and nuts.

I would try and not feed it too much dog food and probably stick to rat blocks as you provide quite a variety and dog food is not always nutritionally balanced for rats and some may contain too much protein and/or fat, but if you are having a hard time trying to feed lab blocks, you can.

Cereals are good to add to the dry rat mix, a brand that I would reccomend would be Total Cereal as it contains lost of vitamins and is healthy (it is only avaliable in America, though) or any non - sugary cereal is great. Things like puffed wheat and rice are great to.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Answer 7

Have u called Jenny yet? O_O

Answer 8

if ya wanna spoil them :D

Answer 9

yea thats a well balanced diet. dont give them orange skins tho cos they can apparently get tumors from them. wierd huh

Answer 10

Rats eat anything. But I don't see any meat. Do they eat that?