Rat Chow
Rat Food: "A lot of new rat owners don't know much at all about what to feed their rat, and end up with a toad who only eats the sunflower seeds out of the gerbil mix they get instead of real food. (Like my first rat.)"
So here are tips on what to feed your pet rat.
The basis of my rats' diet is either some brand of rat food (Harlan Teklad or Purina Rat Chow for instance) and/or Debbie Ducommun's rat food recipe and diet. (See Debbie's Rat Fan Club web site, you can get this info in the Rat Health Care book.) The nutritional needs of a rat are quite different from other rodents, and unless you know them all and can make your own rat food, you should be feeding your rat some sort of rat chow (sometimes called lab blocks). You can usually get this in bulk at pet stores, or at least in little bags. There are several brands, my rats like Harlan Telkad the best. That is to say, they will eat them, not that they are crazy about them. There are some other brands that the rats simply shove out of their food dish and bury, as if I had mistakenly put rocks in their food dish and they wished to correct my mistake.
The basic problem with feeding your rat food designed for hamsters or gerbils is that your vastly superior rat simply has different requirements from those pitiful little animals. Your rat needs protein, but if you feed them a seed mix they eat lots of seeds, nuts, etc., whatever they can find in the mix. This stuff is really fatty too, and one day you find that when your rat sits down he/she's nearly as wide as long. And your rat may end up getting all scabby (literally, it causes skin problems) from getting way too much protein and fat. Rat chow is much lower fat, but high enough in protein for your rat. There are other good things in rat chow for your rat (vitamins and nutrients and all that) that are hard to find elsewhere, but I won't go into those, as I wouldn't really know what I was talking about. A little hamster mix once in a while won't hurt, just don't over do it, and if your rat shows any skin problems at all, do away with it entirely. (Peanuts can be particularly troublesome for some rats.)
Now, while in theory your rat could live off of lab blocks alone (many lab rats do) this does not mean that your rat will enjoy this. Think of it this way -- the part of a rat's brain devoted to smell and taste is a larger portion of his/her grey matter than the portion of your brain devoted to sight. Your rat needs some entertainment. And variety seems important -- there are many things that my rats will happily eat for a day or two, but then they become bored of it and want something new.
The most common thing to add to your rat's diet are fresh vegetables and fruits. Broccoli, peas, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, bananas, cherries, whatever. I can't think of any vegetable I've offered them that they didn't like, although there are some (like asparagus) that they will only eat for about a day. Rats love lettuce, but it doesn't offer them all that much in any sort of real food value. I occasionally give them just a little with their other food, but generally you'd be better off giving them spinach or some other vegetable. Broccoli is great, and some studies claim to show it can reduce the rate of tumors in rats. Be warned it can make your rat's cage kind of stinky if you feed them a lot for several days in a row. But if you can stand it (sure you can!) the rats love it, and it's good for them. Mine get some nearly every day.
One warning that especially goes for veggies, but to some extent with any sudden change in diet -- it can upset your little rat's digestive system. Lots of vegetables all the sudden (especially leafy vegetables) can cause diarrhea, which in turn can cause dehydration. So if you change your rats diet, take it easy. My rats get lots of fruits and vegetables, but they get them every day, and if for some reason I have to stop (like if I'm gone for a few days) I ease them off of veggies and (especially) ease them back onto them over a few days.
Like a strange mind bending experiece she kept on repeating, "What eats the monkey chow? What eats the monkey chow?" Monkeys love them, Parrots love them, Your pet Rat will love Monkey Chow too...
So here are tips on what to feed your pet rat.
The basis of my rats' diet is either some brand of rat food (Harlan Teklad or Purina Rat Chow for instance) and/or Debbie Ducommun's rat food recipe and diet. (See Debbie's Rat Fan Club web site, you can get this info in the Rat Health Care book.) The nutritional needs of a rat are quite different from other rodents, and unless you know them all and can make your own rat food, you should be feeding your rat some sort of rat chow (sometimes called lab blocks). You can usually get this in bulk at pet stores, or at least in little bags. There are several brands, my rats like Harlan Telkad the best. That is to say, they will eat them, not that they are crazy about them. There are some other brands that the rats simply shove out of their food dish and bury, as if I had mistakenly put rocks in their food dish and they wished to correct my mistake.
The basic problem with feeding your rat food designed for hamsters or gerbils is that your vastly superior rat simply has different requirements from those pitiful little animals. Your rat needs protein, but if you feed them a seed mix they eat lots of seeds, nuts, etc., whatever they can find in the mix. This stuff is really fatty too, and one day you find that when your rat sits down he/she's nearly as wide as long. And your rat may end up getting all scabby (literally, it causes skin problems) from getting way too much protein and fat. Rat chow is much lower fat, but high enough in protein for your rat. There are other good things in rat chow for your rat (vitamins and nutrients and all that) that are hard to find elsewhere, but I won't go into those, as I wouldn't really know what I was talking about. A little hamster mix once in a while won't hurt, just don't over do it, and if your rat shows any skin problems at all, do away with it entirely. (Peanuts can be particularly troublesome for some rats.)
Now, while in theory your rat could live off of lab blocks alone (many lab rats do) this does not mean that your rat will enjoy this. Think of it this way -- the part of a rat's brain devoted to smell and taste is a larger portion of his/her grey matter than the portion of your brain devoted to sight. Your rat needs some entertainment. And variety seems important -- there are many things that my rats will happily eat for a day or two, but then they become bored of it and want something new.
The most common thing to add to your rat's diet are fresh vegetables and fruits. Broccoli, peas, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, bananas, cherries, whatever. I can't think of any vegetable I've offered them that they didn't like, although there are some (like asparagus) that they will only eat for about a day. Rats love lettuce, but it doesn't offer them all that much in any sort of real food value. I occasionally give them just a little with their other food, but generally you'd be better off giving them spinach or some other vegetable. Broccoli is great, and some studies claim to show it can reduce the rate of tumors in rats. Be warned it can make your rat's cage kind of stinky if you feed them a lot for several days in a row. But if you can stand it (sure you can!) the rats love it, and it's good for them. Mine get some nearly every day.
One warning that especially goes for veggies, but to some extent with any sudden change in diet -- it can upset your little rat's digestive system. Lots of vegetables all the sudden (especially leafy vegetables) can cause diarrhea, which in turn can cause dehydration. So if you change your rats diet, take it easy. My rats get lots of fruits and vegetables, but they get them every day, and if for some reason I have to stop (like if I'm gone for a few days) I ease them off of veggies and (especially) ease them back onto them over a few days.
Like a strange mind bending experiece she kept on repeating, "What eats the monkey chow? What eats the monkey chow?" Monkeys love them, Parrots love them, Your pet Rat will love Monkey Chow too...
posted by Lee at 7:21 AM
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