[luvboyrats]

Okay, I know on here we all love Mazuri lab blocks, but I've come up with two problems since I've started increasing my rat population and breeding
1-It's expensive stuff--$5.50 for 2lb bag
2-the blocks are too big for some of my babies to eat easily

So last night the petstore was out of mazuri so I just looked around and started comparing nutritional information for other things and guess what? LM Animal Farms Classic Guinea Pig food is virtually the same thing if not better. I compared it to my old bag of Mazuri when I got home. It has almost the exact protein, it has a lot more fiber, a little less fat, and when I read the ingredients I found that they were almost exactly the same except some of the less healthy ingredients for rats like corn and mollases were actually further down on the list for the Animal Farms stuff. The only really significant difference I found is that it's higher in protein, vitamin c, and folic acid. And I certainly don't see how that could hurt!

The best part of all is that it is $6.50 for a 5 lb bag!! That's a lot better! Plus it is a pellet food, not a mix, so you know they're getting the right nutrition, but the pellets are a lot smaller! I think it's really going to be a life saver for us!

 

[pinkie1205]

I would honestly be worried about the protein. Too much protein can cause horrible skin problems in rats. Does it have alfalfa in it also? Alfalfa is in a lot of cavy products and actually it's not good for rats. They can't digest it.
You just have to remember that what is good for cavys isn't good for rats and vice versa. If you check local feed stores, they sometimes carry mazuri in 25 pound bags. I pay about $14 for a 25 pound bag, and I know if the store doesn't have it in at the time it can be ordered. It's worth looking around for.

Also you can make your own mix which might be expensive at first but it'll last a long time.

 

[luvboyrats]

It's actually 1% less protein than the mazuri diet and it has all the exact ingredients as the mazuri. I compared the packages very closely. Like I said it just has different proportions of some. But there's nothing in there that's not in the mazuri or vice versa, some of the coloring etc is different, some of the amounts are different, but it's really close. There is almost the same protein, less fat, more fiber, more folic acid and vit.c. That's the only difference. I am meticulous about rat diet, but I'm not about to pay more money just because a package says rat, if the other food has all the same things. It even smells the same. There really doesn't seem to be any big difference, and what difference there is seems to be beneficial.

 

[luvboyrats]

Alfalfa is in a lot of cavy products and actually it's not good for rats. They can't digest it.

See I always wonder about this too. Everyone says corn and alfalfa will kill your rat, but try finding a food that doesn't have them. Everyone recommends mazuri. I love it. We have really healthy rats on it. Both the breeders I work with use it. It's great. But have you read the ingredients? Ingredient number 2--ground corn, ingredient number 12--dehydrated alfalfa meal.

I'm all about being meticulous. I obsess over ratties. They go to the vet over practically nothing, their cages are cleaned constantly, they all come out of the cage every day no matter what else is going on, and their diet is supplemented with lowfat dog food as well as fresh and dried fruits and veggies, but I think some of us are a little too careful. I honestly haven't found any research to say that corn and alfalfa kill. And obviously since both are present in mazuri rat and mouse diet, half of us on this forum wouldn't have live rats anymore if they were really as deadly as some say.