The recommended diet for rats is:
80% of the diet is a good quality block available at all times. The recommended blocks are Oxbow Garden Select (a new block that imo looks like it may be the best), Harlan Teklad 2014, and Oxbow Essentials. If you can not get any of these, Living World hamster blocks are ok.
Rats need low protein (less then 14% of diet) so a block with 16%, 14% or lower level of protein. (Blocks are designed to meet all the nutritional needs of rats but it is best to fed them other things as well.)
20% of the diet is daily vegs, such as broccoli, baby kale, greens, cooked sweet potato, raw or cooked carrots, peas, cooked squash, cooked pumpkin, raw or cooked cauliflower (it is good cooked and mashed with cooked sweet potato), a piece of cucumber, organic fresh or frozen/thawed corn, a small amount of cooked beans or cooked chick peas (not too many because of protein but they make a good treat), etc
and healthy (whole food) treats such as a piece of fruit, berries, organic pumpkin seeds, (baked) squash seeds, cooked (by you on the stove) whole grains such as quinoa, oatmeal, groats, organic 12 grain 'cereal' (which contain no added sugar, no other added ingredients), a few cooked beans or a few cooked chick peas, etc
edit: and organic kamut puffs = has only 1 ingredient (no added sugar, etc)
Remember whole foods - and low fat, low protein and foods with no added salt, no added sugar, no added fats, no artificial sweetner, no fructose corn syrup or "natural sweetners" (one of the new names for fructose corn syrup). And no GMOs whenever possible because they cause inflammation which causes disease.
Also GMO corn is designed to kill rats, so only feed fresh or frozen organic (or nonGMO) corn.
Feed a variety of healthy unprocessed foods (whole foods).
My rats love eating my homemade veg and bean soup (no added salt etc)
Water - rats need water that does not contain chloride and does not contain fluoride. Water filters, such as beta filter, can remove chlorine. Fluoride is very dangerous and if it is in your water it can only be removed by distilling.
Rats need at least 2 sources of water, changed twice a day. At least one source needs to be a water dish that can not be upset. Baby rats may look like they are drinking but they can not get water out of water bottles because their tongues are not strong enough to more the ball bearing.
There is a forbidden foods list.
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=590
- Many people are trying to find a healthy whole food diet that will meet all a rats nutritional needs but so far, to my knowledge, no one has managed this.
- I have heard good things about Debbie Ducommun's diet but I believe that Jorats has a few concerns about it
- Suebee's rat diet is not a healthy diet for rats and dog food etc is unhealthy for rats.
- Some people feed a small amount of blocks twice a day and a large variety of whole foods - vegs and some grains daily and a small amount of fruit and seeds
- You might want to check out the posts in the reference section of this forum
Congrats on the new rats
