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Rodentlover101

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
106
Location
Queensland Australia
Hi,

Well my rats are being fed a grain mix avalible at the supermarket. I have never really liked the mix and now my rats dont either. I have been hearing alot about LAb Block??

I have looked at Oxbow but they dont seem to sell the rat products in any stores near by.

I would like to give my ratties the best so can any people form Australia recomend a good rat mix or preferable LAB BLOCK??

I hame happy to order via the net.. The only one i have heard of is Breeders choice and they dont sell the rat and mouse blocks in the petstores or Via the net...

any help will be appreciated :joy:
 
The 2 best rat diets available on the market are Harlan Teklad and Oxbow Regal rat. Both of which can be ordered online. Oxbow is much more expensive and tons of rats dont really like the taste of it so Harlan is cheaper and a lot of rats like it.

But a lot of people dont have access to a good quality lab block so they use suebees mix. It is half high quality, low fat/protein dog food and a grain mix. You can google it. Others just say that the ingredients in lab blocks are fillers and crap so they use the dog food instead.

Dog food is NOT complete on its own!! Just wanted to say that.

Stay away from:

Kaytee products
Petstore seed mixes
and other low quality crap

I would experiment with your rats diets and do what you and your ratties think is best. Best of luck!!

Christie
 
Ratlover, there may be products available in Australia that aren't available here. I don't know that Harlan would be able to get to Australia without an OBSCENE shipping charge.
 
Hopefully someone from Australia can show you a few foods to give you a choice. We dont get oxbow or harlan over in the UK so i had to do some internet research aswell. If you do find something, maybe it would be an idea to see if your local pet store could get some in? Where i used to live, they used to order in 4kg bags of rat blocks for me. I also have another store i go to that gets me my 30L bag of paper cat litter (if there is none in store they get me some by the end of the week ^^) - nobody else seems to be able to get it in hehe
 
thanks guys.. australia sems a little bit behind in the care of small animals.. Drives me crazy we have only just been able to get Oxbow and only the stuff for Pigwees not the rats.

I have a Look at the Suebee's diet and it sounds good. I have a question about it..

the whole dog food thing i dont like the idea of... Is the dog food only used to give the rats the protien they need? If this is so could i substitute it for Lentils as a vegie option????
 
The dog food covers most of the nutritional needs of the ratties. The mix and fruits and veggies cover the rest. The mix is not complete by itself, as Suebee said. So you need a low fat/protein high quality dog food as there staple.
 
It's not an ideal diet, really. Too much chance of the rats eating only what they want, and it not being complete.

benzin.fox is in Australia... maybe try PMing her?
 
Thanks guys... I do wish australia did more the smaller critters.... I will PM her there is also a few other people.

I will be going to the local rat rescue in a few weeks..."to meet possible new family members" so they may have an idea aswell...

My rats always fish through food this is why i was looking at lab blocks.
 
hey there,

I have always had trouble with this too. I eventually gave up and give them everything else under the sun (apart from the 'forbidden' foods of course)

Lab blocks or 'rat cubes' as i called them were messy and my rats never liked them much. I was the same as you in wanting to find something that was actually good for them.

My girls haven't eaten them in over a year. I can't suggest any but most of the brands i tried seemed pretty dodgy- some didn't even mention the ingredients.. I've heard rumours about bad things being in them in Australia so that coupled with the fact that they haven't liked them well i don't trust them!

If you do stumble upon something good- please let me know! otherwise don't worry too much about it. I'd be making sure they're getting their nutrients from less boring food! -that's what i tell myself!
 
Thanks.. i have been looking and have found some good home mix stuff that looks better than the store things... And cheaper.

I will more then likely mix up my own..... i will let you know is i find anything so far i have found a whole bunch of "JUNK" food.
 
I have found a diet for rats that is used in australia ..

I was wondering if you guys think it would be a good diet to follow.



Note: I don't suggest that this is a nutritionally perfect rat diet... it's just what we feed our boys and hope it will provide ideas for some variety for your own rats.

Their dry mix:

This is available to them at all times. I also add some soy-based organic rat blocks to the bowl when I dish it out.

* 1 box of Dr Harry's (Lovatts) Pet Rat & Mouse Mix (available at most large supermarkets)
* 2 cups rolled oats (occasionally rolled triticale and/or barley)
* 1/2 box of Just Right Tropical breakfast cereal (varied occasionally to other Just Right flavours, or other low fat mixed grain cereals)
* 1/3 box of Uncle Toby's OTs Vanilla Crispy O's
* Handful of sunflower seeds

Breakfast:

One piece of fruit... watermelon, rockmelon, honeydew, banana, grapes, blueberries, pears, apple, strawberries, peaches, pretty much anything here.
A small bowl of yogurt - they love Fruche the best.
And one of the following (depending on what I'm having):
- bread or pikelet with a little omega ultra (EFA) margarine and jam on it
- weetbix in milk
- porridge

Their fresh dinner mix:

This is what they get at evening dinner time. I vary the mix each batch so the boys don't get bored.

* I/2 packet of wholewheat pasta spirals or macaroni, cooked
* 2 cups of cooked brown rice (or occasionally cooked wholewheat grains)
* 1 can of chickpeas (or occasionally lentils)
* 1 can of mixed beans (red kidney, soy, butter beans, etc)
* 1 large packet of frozen peas
* 1 small packet of frozen corn
* 1 packet of frozen broad beans (or frozen green soy beans if you can find them!)
* 1/2 packet of frozen broccoli, chopped
* 1/4 small pumpkin, chopped into small pieces and cooked
* 1 sweet potato, chopped in small pieces and cooked
* Any other vegies I have on hand that will freeze OK... like potato, carrot (if your rats will eat it, ours won't!)

This makes a large amount that I mix together and freeze in a tupperware container. Important tip: loosen the mix with a spoon repeatedly as it freezes, so it doesn't end up as a large solid block. Then it's as simple as scooping a portion into a microwave cup and cooking/defrosting for 2 minutes before serving. Although it seems like a lot of work to prepare, it only takes 30 minutes or so once a month, and 2 minutes a night to put it in a food dish. Everyone, rat and human alike, seems happy with this feeding arrangement.

I also add a special treat to the top of it each night, like a small piece of ham, chicken, oyster, fish, tofu, or something we might be having for dinner. Of course, they all eat straight off our dinner plate too. I offer them a fresh raw vegie each night too, like broccoli, kale, cauliflower, spinach, edamame, corn on the cob, etc... these are foods they prefer raw and this adds more variety to their fresh mix. It's important to offer as wide a variety of foods as possible to ensure they're getting sufficient nutrition.

General treats:

Treats to offer them occasionally:

* Uncle Toby's OTs Crunchy Squares
* Low fat muesli bars, chopped into pieces - they like the yogurt-topped ones!
* Yogurt drops - the human ones available from health food stores (Soland brand)
* Yogurt coated dried fruits
* Avocado - small cubes (avoid the area around the seed and just under the skin as it contains toxins)
* Sushi rolls - they're very fond of the avocado rolls, but also like the tuna and egg rolls.
* Creamed corn
* Cottage cheese / cream cheese (low fat Philly)
* Chocolate chips
* Anything we're eating

Chew treats:

These are offered to keep those sharp ratty teeth occupied and healthy:

* Chicken bones (cooked)
* Nuts in their shell (macadamias, pecans and hazelnuts are their favourites)
* Baby teething rusks (vegetable-flavoured)
* Dog biscuits (Eukanuba Restricted Calorie Rewards - low in protein and fat)
* Greenies (dog chew)
* Rat seed treat sticks
I found it on this web site http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#diet




Any thoughts???
 
When you've got nothing else... that sounds like an ok diet. I would give lots of dark green veggies like broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts. I don't see any vitamin K in your foods unless it's listed in the ingredients and I'm just not familiar with it.
 

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