8 month old rat throwing tantrums?

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xsaturn

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Hi!
I have a 8 month old female rat, Zelda, and ever since we switched her food mix she’s been throwing tantrums (ie spilling her food bowl, making a mess with her bedding, etc). She had been eating a seed/fruit/dry kibble food mix by the brand Versele-Laga and we switched to Oxbow’s dry adult food and she’s been rowdy ever since. Is this just normal rat behavior or is she actually mad that we changed her food?

Thanks!
 
Yup, she might be mad at you, lol! When you switch, you should gradually change the mix from old to new by adding more & more new, phasing out the old anyway, to avoid any dietary upset ;)
 
Switch gradually

Also feed a variety of daily vegs
and healthy treats such as cooked grains, berries, fruit, organic pumpkin seeds, etc
 
SQ said:
Switch gradually

Also feed a variety of daily vegs
and healthy treats such as cooked grains, berries, fruit, organic pumpkin seeds, etc
Click to expand...
We’ve been feeding her fruit and veggies every day as snacks but she only seems to want to eat that
 
Oxbow seems to really be a hit or miss kind of thing. Our rats have never liked it. We had a couple of boys who lost weight while on it (they didn’t need to) and would refuse to eat it until they were utterly ravenous. When we switched to Harlan Teklad blocks, that problem stopped and they regained the lost weight, becoming their normal healthy selves.

Have you tried Harlan Teklad blocks yet? If she doesn’t adapt to the Oxbow, you might want to give it a try. Not sure which part of Canada you’re in, but you can order HT blocks from Flower Town Chinchillas. We usually get 10 lbs. of the 14% protein blocks. There are higher-protein blocks for young rats and nursing mothers if you want to start with that, given Zelda’s age.
 
If you were hungry you wouldn't pick a fight with your feeder.
I don't talk about food specifically because the expert I follow isn't the same as most here. Those who do know about the blocks gave you great tips, but since you posted this under Behavior ....
Hunger isn't anger.
In other words, it's not that she's trying to make you feel bad, she's letting you know you need to refill dish with something different from that, & making a mess in searching, because she assumes you don't intend to cause her pain/suffering.
In the guesses we make about what they feel, we try to hear and respect them, cooperate with them and evolve our methods.
 
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Rats have specific nutritional needs and it meet these needs is pretty complicated and can be expensive, which is why people feed blocks
You can try Harlan Teklad 2014 blocks as previously suggested. That is what i feed my rats too.

Some people feed a diet by Debbie D - there are a few problems with it and I believe Jorats can make some suggestions on what you can do. The diet can be found at http://www.ratfanclub.org/diet.html
 
Since Suebees diet is horrible for rats, I was wondering why she leaves it up even after saying when talking about diets "I know mine is not complete."
 
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SqueakingJellybean said:
Oxbow seems to really be a hit or miss kind of thing. Our rats have never liked it. We had a couple of boys who lost weight while on it (they didn’t need to) and would refuse to eat it until they were utterly ravenous. When we switched to Harlan Teklad blocks, that problem stopped and they regained the lost weight, becoming their normal healthy selves.

Have you tried Harlan Teklad blocks yet? If she doesn’t adapt to the Oxbow, you might want to give it a try. Not sure which part of Canada you’re in, but you can order HT blocks from Flower Town Chinchillas. We usually get 10 lbs. of the 14% protein blocks. There are higher-protein blocks for young rats and nursing mothers if you want to start with that, given Zelda’s age.
Click to expand...
I’ve never tried, but thanks for the suggestion! If I see that she doesnt adapt in the next few weeks I’ll look into switching her food again, this time gradually, as suggested.
The thing is we couldn’t gradully introduce her to the new food since we had just finished the bag of the old food the day we bought the oxbow. We couldn’t go ahead and buy another bag of the old food since the shops were closed so we just figured we should give her a bit of the new food. She seemed to like it so we put a complete portion in the dish.
 
xsaturn said:
I’ve never tried, but thanks for the suggestion! If I see that she doesnt adapt in the next few weeks I’ll look into switching her food again, this time gradually, as suggested.
The thing is we couldn’t gradully introduce her to the new food since we had just finished the bag of the old food the day we bought the oxbow. We couldn’t go ahead and buy another bag of the old food since the shops were closed so we just figured we should give her a bit of the new food. She seemed to like it so we put a complete portion in the dish.
Click to expand...

I'm a new ratty mom. I got my guy Oxbow Garden (something). He wouldn't eat it so I bought Oxbow Essentials and he eats that. I don't think he loves it but at least I know he's getting fed. He gets fruits and veggies too of course. Frozen Baby Peas are a huge hit. (but he skins each tiny pea. weirdo) Maybe just a different style of food might help.
 
She always devours her entire frozen No Salt Woodstock Organic Petite Peas. One day I'll try full size and see if she finds those skins less tender.
 
She sounds like a typical happy active playful girl to me. I dont "see" tantrums as such. For me girls more than boys overall are the happy troublemakers and are the ones you need to try to think ahead of. Don't want her tiling the food bowl, give her a heavier bowl, stashing is a normal ratty behavior, digging through food and dumping half of it while searching for the good bits is normal too. If you are concerned go back to mixing your old food with the Oxbow and then gradually decrease it. It's like eating chocolate and candy every day then someone giving you bread and that's it. :)
 

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