Oxbow Regal Rat for Young Rats?

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
K

Kyn

Guest
I have three boys who are a little over 8 weeks old. Right now, I feed them the adult formula of Oxbow Regal Rat. I looked into getting them the young rat and mouse formula of Oxbow's, but wasn't too impressed with the ingredients (corn, etc.)
Since baby rats need more protein than adults, I've been supplementing their diet with a bit of scrambled egg and nuts/seeds such as pumpkin seeds.
Any suggestions? Or should I change them to something like Harlan until they are 6 months?
Thank you!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Oxbow is probably my favourite rat food brand out there my four boys love like crazy! Just avoid the oxbow treats rewards thing bc it contains alfalfa ;) once they’re older it’ll be easier as well to switch foods since there’s similar ingredients, just mix the two for a few weeks beforehand. Dried corn isn’t great for any small animal in large quantities so I try to avoid it for my hamsters but in very small amounts in oxbow it’s fine hope this helped!

I’m not sure if that brand is specifically for younger rats tho
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Oxbow is probably my favourite rat food brand out there my four boys love like crazy! Just avoid the oxbow treats rewards thing bc it contains alfalfa ;) once they’re older it’ll be easier as well to switch foods since there’s similar ingredients, just mix the two for a few weeks beforehand. Dried corn isn’t great for any small animal in large quantities so I try to avoid it for my hamsters but in very small amounts in oxbow it’s fine hope this helped!

I’m not sure if that brand is specifically for younger rats tho
I have them on the adult oxbow, I have just heard mixed reviews about the young rat formula. Harlan has 18% protein vs Oxbow which is about 15%. Maybe I'll order Harlan until they are older.
Thanks so much for your response! Good tip about the oxbow treats! I'll def avoid them.
 
Babies do fine on adult Oxbow blocks and do not need to be supplemented with extra protein
If you feel that they need to be supplemented, then I would suggest organic soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal

Research shows that rats need low protein and do best on protein from plant sources
Animal sources of protein such as dead animals, eggs or dairy cause cancer cells to grow

The type of Harlan that should be fed to rats is Harlan 2014 which has 14% protein
To read what is good to feed to rats, and an appropriate diet please see the links on the Reference Thread https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/
 
Last edited:
First of all you need to delete your post and read the rules of this forum.

This is a rescue forum and we do not support or allow discussion of feeding animals to other animals!
That includes insects!!!

Babies do fine on adult Oxbow blocks and do not need to be supplemented with extra protein
If you feel that they need to be supplemented, then I would suggest organic soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal

Research shows that rats need low protein and do best on protein from plant sources

The type of Harlan that should be fed to rats is Harlan 2014 which has 14% protein
To read what is good to feed to rats, and an appropriate diet please see the links on the Reference Thread https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/
Thank you for the heads up, I didn't realize I was breaking the rules. I will edit my post. Do eggs constitute to feeding animals to other animals? I only buy free range, organic eggs to minimize potential cruelty to the poor chickens :(
Where can the rules be found? I looked for them a few times but didn't see a specific rule page. I will definitely read it, thank you.
 
Thank you for the heads up, I didn't realize I was breaking the rules. I will edit my post. Do eggs constitute to feeding animals to other animals? I only buy free range, organic eggs to minimize potential cruelty to the poor chickens :(
Where can the rules be found? I looked for them a few times but didn't see a specific rule page. I will definitely read it, thank you.

Isn’t there meat in oxbow?
 
Yes, it is feeding rats animal protein, but that is not against the rules
live feeding (and discussion of breeding feeders) etc are topics not allowed
 
Last edited:
Obviously we have a misunderstanding, which I will not make worse
go read the forum rules re live feeding

Ok thank you, wasn’t specified as to whether the insects were live or not, definitely agree with that
 
Back
Top