Safe foods (or not)

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Suzi13

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Aug 30, 2014
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Hey everyone :cheerful:

I am thinking of varying up my rats evening's food a little since it's been a good 3 months they more or less always get the same - potatoes, broccoli, corn, peas, carrots (which they seem to hate), cauliflower, green beans, coconut oil, with 1 or 2 other different ingredient every 2 weeks or so when I make a new batch.

They don't seem bored of it at all, they rush to it the same every night, but I am sick of making the same big batch ! :p
So i would like to change what I make but wonder about some less common ingredients I thought of including and thought I'd ask here instead of googling it for an hour, so hopefully it can help others too !

Here is my list of "is-that-safe-or-not":
- Chicory, raw or cooked
- cabbage, raw
- eggplant, raw or cooked
- mushrooms, raw
- tomatoes, raw
- pickles (not spicy)
- asparagus, cooked
- Fennel, cooked or raw
- Bean sprouts, raw (can it even be cooked?)
- Soja beans, cooked

If you don't know, don't bother googling, then I can do it, just thought some might know already !

Cheers ! :)
 
Hey!
Thanks for the link :) I see eggplant has some "special properties" then, which I assume is good, but I don't see anything on any other ingredients?
I'll make some research and post what I find:)
 
I looked around a little and in case anyone wonders about these ingredients too, here is what I found:

- Chicory, raw or cooked: OK raw and cooked
- cabbage, raw: Best not to, cooked OK
- eggplant, raw or cooked: OK
- mushrooms, raw : OK
- tomatoes, raw : OK except for the green parts that need to be removed
- pickles (not spicy): OK every now and then because it's high in salt
- asparagus, cooked: OK every now and then - pee will stink and might be not so good for the kidneys
- Fennel, cooked or raw: OK cooked or raw
- Bean sprouts, raw (can it even be cooked?): OK and apparently a favorite for some rats
- Soja beans, cooked: OK
 
Sprouts are often contaminated so not a great idea ... esp. alfalfa and bean sprouts

Since daily vegs make up only 20% of the recommended diet for pet rats, it sounds like you already are giving quite a bit of variety.
btw, mine are not too keen on raw carrots but they love cooked organic carrots (not much more expensive then regular carrots here but the taste is much much better)
mine also like 1 or 2 cooked kidney beans or a couple of cooked chick peas, cooked (organic) quinoa
and they love organic field greens from the grocery store or farmers market

I would stay away from anything with added or high salt, or sugar
 
Hey SQ ! Thanks for so many tips ! The carrots I give them are cooked, but I lost count of how many I pick every time I clean the cage :p They all seem to hate it !
I do give them a lot of different veggies, problem is it's always the same ones, so in the long run, they don't get much variety, hence why I wanted to change it a little :)

I'll defo include some chicory and fennel next time and see what they think since they both have quite a distinctive and strong taste. Sweet potato is really hard to come by where I live, but I'll try to find some to replace the regular potatoes they get if I can. I never added beans or chickpeas either (cooked obv) so I'll maybe try that too.
When it comes to sprouts, I can easily find organic ones for those varieties (aka my store delivers those): alfafa (but rats can't digest it I think?), bean, peas and sunflower. Maybe organic wouldn't contain harmful things? If anyone knows, feel free to let me know :)
 
You can also try cooking squashes (pumpkin, butternut, zucchini) for them.
Cucumbers, celery, cooked brussels sprouts, curly kale, romaine lettuce, curled parsley, etc... are also good.
My girls love red bell peppers!

For fruits you could try bananas, pears, strawberries (though in moderation), blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries (with pits removed), cranberries, plums, skinless grapes, etc...

Other things you can try: certain cheeses, sunflower seeds, chestnuts (roasted though other places say you can do water chestnuts too), cashews. Mine like the occasional bite of brownie if I have a brownie. Mine also like to steal those Veggie Straws from me.
 
Suzi13 said:
Hey everyone :cheerful:

I am thinking of varying up my rats evening's food a little since it's been a good 3 months they more or less always get the same - potatoes, broccoli, corn, peas, carrots (which they seem to hate), cauliflower, green beans, coconut oil, with 1 or 2 other different ingredient every 2 weeks or so when I make a new batch.

They don't seem bored of it at all, they rush to it the same every night, but I am sick of making the same big batch ! :p
So i would like to change what I make but wonder about some less common ingredients I thought of including and thought I'd ask here instead of googling it for an hour, so hopefully it can help others too !

Here is my list of "is-that-safe-or-not":
- Chicory, raw or cooked
- cabbage, raw
- eggplant, raw or cooked
- mushrooms, raw
- tomatoes, raw
- pickles (not spicy)
- asparagus, cooked
- Fennel, cooked or raw
- Bean sprouts, raw (can it even be cooked?)
- Soja beans, cooked

If you don't know, don't bother googling, then I can do it, just thought some might know already !

Cheers ! :)
Click to expand...

All that sounds good to me! I'm new to the rat world but figure it's not rocket science.... I feed her a balanced diet along with pasta, breads, tortillas and desserts....😜 I figure if she doesn't like it, she won't eat it. ?? Lol
 
Muffin1 said:
All that sounds good to me! I'm new to the rat world but figure it's not rocket science.... I feed her a balanced diet along with pasta, breads, tortillas and desserts....�� I figure if she doesn't like it, she won't eat it. ?? Lol
Click to expand...

Actually there are some foods that are unsafe (forbidden foods),
some parts of food that are unsafe such as apple seeds are not safe as they contain arsenic,
other foods that can be only fed with caution
others that can be fed but only if cooked

Salt, sugar and protein levels higher then 14% are very unhealthy
dairy isn`t good
GMO corn can kill etc

So, giving her what she likes is not a good way to judge what is ok to feed her
Please read the different sections on diet etc, as well as the reference section for good information
 
Thank you!! I have been reading about diets. Tonight she is acting very strange. She was normal when I got home then after we played and she ate, she's freaking out. It's almost like she's gone blind. Sweet Jesus, I hope it is t anything I gave her to eat!!! Fried rice, edamame, ginger, and she licked a little "joy sauce" off my finger. I'm seriously bawling right now because I don't know what to do and my vet is closed...��������
 
Muffin1 said:
Thank you!! I have been reading about diets. Tonight she is acting very strange. She was normal when I got home then after we played and she ate, she's freaking out. It's almost like she's gone blind. Sweet Jesus, I hope it is t anything I gave her to eat!!! Fried rice, edamame, ginger, and she licked a little "joy sauce" off my finger. I'm seriously bawling right now because I don't know what to do and my vet is closed...��������
Click to expand...

Sorry, just saw this post now.
That sounds extremely unhealthy.
Hope she is feeling better today
 

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