Godmother
Well-Known Member
I don't know much about Suebee's diet (way too lazy to make my own food for them, as long as there are lab blocks & veggies!), but I assume that it was a high-calorie and/or high-protein food.
When I have cared for babies or very young rats I've supplemented their usual food with baby cereal mixed with soy milk. I hope that was OK.
It's so hard to tease out heredity. Five of my girls, whose parents were Corrie and Byron, are full sibs to several of the ratties out in Ontario & Quebec. Corrie and Byron were both fed abysmally until they were rescued, then very well cared for since. Corrie was always a slim and active girl, never getting above 375 g. Byron is a big boy, and Linda has to work to keep his weight down. Most of Corrie and Byron's daughters are bigger than average for girls, but they aren't overweight... except for Melissa. She weighs 550g. I was convinced I was doing something wrong until I found out that Shelagh's Kyrie (who looks very much like her dad and Melissa) weighs even more.
My foster girls are still slim, but my five 11-month-old girls (three are sisters, the other two unknown) are beginning to get pudgy. We'll have to cut down on their treats and simultaneously make their play area full of places to jump and climb.
When I have cared for babies or very young rats I've supplemented their usual food with baby cereal mixed with soy milk. I hope that was OK.
It's so hard to tease out heredity. Five of my girls, whose parents were Corrie and Byron, are full sibs to several of the ratties out in Ontario & Quebec. Corrie and Byron were both fed abysmally until they were rescued, then very well cared for since. Corrie was always a slim and active girl, never getting above 375 g. Byron is a big boy, and Linda has to work to keep his weight down. Most of Corrie and Byron's daughters are bigger than average for girls, but they aren't overweight... except for Melissa. She weighs 550g. I was convinced I was doing something wrong until I found out that Shelagh's Kyrie (who looks very much like her dad and Melissa) weighs even more.
My foster girls are still slim, but my five 11-month-old girls (three are sisters, the other two unknown) are beginning to get pudgy. We'll have to cut down on their treats and simultaneously make their play area full of places to jump and climb.
