Food Do's and Dont's

[TheRatQueen]

Also, if I have to feed a rat yougurt (I noticed my rats that have sensitive stomachs with antibiotics, etc (which shouldn't have dairy and hour or two before or after meds) I would actually give them lactaid yogurt. They love it and it doesn't have lactose in it, in case they are sensitive to that as well.

Also, I see that they can have eggplant. Should this be cooked or can they actually have that raw??

 

[KirstyLauren]

I have a quick question, are Raw green beans and Raw sugarsnap peas okay? I'd never seen them on any list to say otherwise but I was browsing recently and they were one a list of what not to give and it had me a little worried since I give them to my Rats on a regular basis. Hate thinking I've been giving them something bad for them.
Not that I've seen anything to show they were doing damage but you never know what's going on inside.

 

[eagle]

I have given mine raw green beans, but they don't care for them. I gave my rats fresh peas on vacation and they seemed to like them.

 

[victoria]

I have a quick question, are Raw green beans and Raw sugarsnap peas okay? I'd never seen them on any list to say otherwise but I was browsing recently and they were one a list of what not to give and it had me a little worried since I give them to my Rats on a regular basis. Hate thinking I've been giving them something bad for them.
Not that I've seen anything to show they were doing damage but you never know what's going on inside.

Dried uncooked beans are on the 'forbidden' foods list - kidney, navy, etc. - but fresh raw beans are fine. I had one rat that adored them but most don't care for them.

 

[KirstyLauren]

Thanks you guys for clearing that up!
A few of my Rats really love them, hated the idea they could be doing harm.

 

[valaraukarsbane]

A couple quick questions -

Plums have antibiotic properties? I had never heard this before. Is there a good place to look for more details about this?

Second, garlic is listed as a food that has special benefits as well. Does anyone feed garlic, and if so, how do you do it? Raw? Roasted? Something else? (The humans around here love roasted garlic, but perhaps that's not the most rat-friendly option?)

I have to say that not all our rats are big veggie fans. With most treats, they'll grab them and take off to chow down, but with veggies, often one or more will take it, drop it, and look at me with a face that screams, 'Was that meant as a joke?'

 

[jorats]

A couple quick questions -

Plums have antibiotic properties? I had never heard this before. Is there a good place to look for more details about this?

Second, garlic is listed as a food that has special benefits as well. Does anyone feed garlic, and if so, how do you do it? Raw? Roasted? Something else? (The humans around here love roasted garlic, but perhaps that's not the most rat-friendly option?)

I have to say that not all our rats are big veggie fans. With most treats, they'll grab them and take off to chow down, but with veggies, often one or more will take it, drop it, and look at me with a face that screams, 'Was that meant as a joke?'

As for the plums, I copied from Debbie D's site the ratfanclub with permission. I assumed she had done her research. I did a quick google look and it appears the umeboshi plums have antibiotic properties.

As for the veggies, if your rats get other kinds of "junk" treats, they will not truly enjoy their veggies. Mine only get veggies daily and the occasional cheerio or trail mix. So for my guys, they love their veggie time.

I'm pretty sure garlic is ok and I would imagine roasted on something would be a better choice. I'm really not sure actually. Perhaps do a stir fry veggie, but don't steam/fry too long, keep your veggies crisp.

 

[Moon]

I read on an oldish UK fact page for rats that raw minced is best, mixed in soft food. I know garlic is supposed to have lots of good health properties but there's a bit of a split opinion about this when it gomes to dogs as there's some evidence that garlic can cause anemia.

 

[Reepicheep]

Thank you so much for this information. I'm a newbie here. I recently adopted two male rats about 7 weeks old. My friend saved their momma from becoming snake food. :? I've tried to do lots of research on how to best care for them, but it can be a bit overwhelming at first. Can you please tell me if this sounds like an adequate diet?
2x daily: fresh veggies
Free choice daily: Mazuri blocks (I'll switch to a lower protein when they are older), rolled oats*, dried whole wheat pasta, a small pinch of spirulina**
Occasionally: fruit, nuts, little bits of cooked eggs (again, I will cut that out when they are older and need less protein.)

*I've just read on this thread about the oats. I'll cut way back on those too. Should I replace them with another grain?
** How much is too much spirulina? I've given it everyday to my dogs for the last year and seen a huge improvement, but they are obviously much bigger than rats. Should I give it everyday, every other day, once a week?

Thanks again for the help. Please go easy on me, I am a newbie. :heart:

 

[jorats]

I really don't recommend spirulina. There's been some alarming studies claiming neurotoxins, muscle breakdown one most recently, liver cancer with spirulina.
Otherwise it sounds like you have a good food regime planned out.

 

[Reepicheep]

Thanks. As regards to Spirulina, does this only apply to rats or other animals as well?

 

[jorats]

Thanks. As regards to Spirulina, does this only apply to rats or other animals as well?

All, it was tested on rats of course but it's an advisory for humans as well.

 

[PeachPeach]

I haven't seen any good data on this - regarding fresh fruit/veggie portions for rats, approximately how many grams of that per kg/lb of rat and what should be the breakdown between fruit/veggies? I do lab blocks and some seed/dry mix for foraging, but I'm always wondering what a more precise measurement for fresh produce is, beyond just watching for loose stool?

 

[victoria]

Some people suggest an 80/20 split (80% blocks, 20% veggies) but I'm not too precise. Often, veggies I feed will be completely gone within 4-6 hours. I try to pay more attention to variety. I do feed 'seeds' sometimes but not commercial seed mix for rodents - that stuff is truly crap. Pumpkin seeds, squash seeds, walnuts, almonds are good as an occasional treat here.

 

[PeachPeach]

Victoria - I'm free feeding blocks but I'd say each rat eats two per day, sometimes three. Seed/cereal/pasta/grain mix is about 2 tbsp for all three, daily. Fresh produce mix is the rat salad found here: http://ratsnacksnstuff.weebly.com/recipes-n-stuff.html

The difficulty is figuring out serving size. Based on her recommendations I am feeding about 1 tbsp per rat daily, and they graze on it for a few hours. But I'd really like to nail down more specific sizes/amounts of the non-lab block portions. I'd say by volume maybe half their daily intake is lab blocks, then 25% each produce and dry mix.

 

[victoria]

I free feed blocks and give a variable amount of veggies, depending on what we have and what we eat for dinner. (They eat far more than 2 or 3 blocks each, I feed 1.5-2 cups of Regal Rat to 10 rats plus veggies and they're all gone when I clean the cage most days.) Lab blocks are grain based (especially HT) so feeding a grain mix in addition to blocks defeats the purpose of offering a uniform, balanced staple diet. I give puffed grains as a treat once in a while and if I make too much paste or other grains but I don't do so daily. I just think 2-3 blocks is too small a quantity for most rats.

 

[jorats]

I really don't think you need an exact amount. I once read a long time ago that rats should have 55 grams of blocks. And then the rest should be veggies.
But I like free feed mine. I thrown in a bunch of veggies and whatever is not eaten in a couple of hours, I remove... which has never happened. lol My rats love their veggies.
It sounds like yours are on a good diet. rule of thumb with rats, low fat, low protein, no sugar, no salt. That's a rule of thumb, not a strict rule. You can occasionally give a sugar treat or a mildly salty snack. Just keep it very occasional.

 

[PeachPeach]

That's helpful, thank you ladies . They really enjoy the seed/grain forage so I don't imagine cutting it out, but I do definitely try to balance their diets as much as possible and not emphasize any one thing too much. I'll stop worrying too much about the veggie content, since I've seen no diarrhea and they seem to eat most/all of it within an hour or two.

 

[PeachPeach]

On the lab blocks, I actually free-feed them but I noticed the ratties weren't eating much more than that, so I lowered the amount in the bowl to prevent waste/hoarding/spoilage as they peed on them, etc.

 

[eriin]

i've been waiting for someone to post about all the supplements they use and what they are used for and what;s good. thanks so much. i have most of that stuff and never really thought about it for my rats though. great post!

also i have a quick question, rice. have anyone heard of the myth where is u feed seagulls rice it expands in their stomach and kill them or something. uncooked rice of course. can this have the same effect on rats or any animals? i don't feed mine rice maybe a grain or two for a treat if i have it myself. but they were on my counter the other day and there was some spilled rice. and it made me think about the seagull thing (if that's even true.) any input anyone? i feel like you'll set me straight on this jorats. being the food guru you are lol