[Shayna&Liam]

OK so I am making a mix at home for my ratties.. I've already started a post asking what kinds of fresh fruits/veggies to give the girls but now I want to make sure everything in what I bought is good enough. So...

Whole Wheat Puffed Wheat
Rolled Oats
UNSALTED ******* Peanuts
UNSALTED Whole Almonds
UNSALTED Roasted Hazelnuts

And I was going to pick out the dry corn from a bag of food I got at a petstore and a few sunflower seeds but not many. In addition to the daily fresh stuff (meats, veggies, etc) is that a good staple or is there something terribly wrong?

 

[Shayna&Liam]

Alright just read peanuts are a no-go. So scratch that. Also, I was thinking of adding a few dried cranberries/bananas, but I'm not sure, should those be just treats or can they have them fairly often?

 

[breyer08]

In general, you should not give nuts too often to rats because of the fats they contain. They are fine for treats, but I wouldn't recommend them in a staple diet. The same goes for dried fruit. Cranberries are good for rats raw or cooked, but in general dried fruit is loaded with sugar in order to make it taste better, so I don't recommend feeding that to rats.

I feed my boys a homemade mix based on the British Shunamite diet. (There is an American variety called Suebee's diet.) Here is what my boys get in their daily mix:

Puffed Wheat
Puffed Rice
Corn flakes
Shredded wheat
Tri-color pasta spirals (uncooked)

This mix is supplemented with Harlan Teklad lab blocks in the same food bowl. They also get high quality rolled oats for breakfast and a small salad for dinner.

ETA: Here is a link explaining the diet principles for homemade rat food: http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=shunamite

 

[Vladina]

Hi Shayna and Liam,
Well, I just read Breyer's reply to your question and frankly, I couldn't have said it better myself! So, yes, Breyer's mix sounds great! The nuts and dried fruit thing is true..lots of fat in nuts and a lot of sugar in the dried fruits. If your ratties are already getting fresh fruit, then no need to worry about dried fruits either.

 

[Shayna&Liam]

Alright thanks.. I heard something about dried cranberries being good for the urinary tract or something. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Vladina]

Yes, I read that too, about cranberries. I am sure giving your rats some dried fruit as a once in awhile treat is fine, just not 7 days a week. What about raw or cooked cranberries though? That could be a part of their weekly fresh fruit diet?

 

[breyer08]

Yes, cranberries are good for them, but much better raw as opposed to dried because of the sugar in dried fruits. (Some brands of dry fruit do not have as much sugar, so if you have to go dry, make sure to look at the sugar content.) Raw cranberries are really cheap at the grocery store and my boys love to chew on them. I also make cranberry muffins with them, and then the boys get a little bit of the muffin as a treat.

 

[Shayna&Liam]

Sounds good. So how does this sound:

Puffed Wheat
Puffed Rice
Corn Flakes and/or Total (depending which I have in the house)
Rolled oats
Soy nuts

And of course the lab blocks. With the occasional dried cranberries/VERY occasional nuts, and then the daily snap peas, carrots, celery, egg or sandwich meat, blah blah blah?

 

[breyer08]

Yeah, that sounds good! One thing with the vegetables: try not to feed high water-content veggies too often (things like regular lettuce, celery, etc.) because it gives them loose stools really easily. Instead, kale and bok choy are excellent salad greens that keep them really healthy and aren't very watery!

 

[Shayna&Liam]

Thanks! I usually give them romaine lettuce.

 

[pastelsummer]

ok what do you think of this? "part" = 1 cup
1 part oatmeal
1 part each shell and elbow noodles
a 1/4 part ground flax seed
about 2 lbs lab blocks
i free feed my animals but this made approx. 1/2 a gallon sized ziplock bag
+
tablespoon each time i fill the bowl 0f a grain mix i make up and feed to my rabbits also
part equal s 1/2 cup
3 parts wheat
1 part flax seed (whole)
1 part whole oats

 

[breyer08]

The portions look good. If you're giving them whole oats, then you probably don't need to also give them oatmeal. Whole (or rolled) oats will be a little better for them in the long run than regular oatmeal anyway. And the dry pasta is good to include, especially for their teeth maintenance, though I'd recommend getting the spiral kind next time because it's much easier for them to hold and chew than elbow macaroni. The shells should be fine, though.