Custom Rat Mix Ingredients

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rattypatty

Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2019
Messages
5
Location
Texas
Hello! Foster rat parent here. I currently have in my care three very sweet boy rats. I have bought online mixes before, but I decided that doing it myself would be cheaper. After doing some research, I got all my indredients at Winco. This is the list plus the amount I ended up buying (in lbs) of each item.

Thistle .32
Groat .62
White quinoa .60
Pumpkin seed .22
Penne pasta .36
Brown basmati rice .35
Fennel seed .08
Wheat flakes .35
Hemp hearts .60
Bulgar wheat .44
Flax seed .27
Pearl barely .57
Plain Cheerios .05
Dried banana chip .15

I wanted 5 lbs of mix, somehow miraculously eyeballed it, and everything ended up totaling to 4.98 lbs (not bad if I do say so myself)

I will mix all of the above into a 5 lbs bag of Oxbow pellets for a diversified diet. For treats, I give strawberry yogies and mealworms for animal protein. For fresh veggies, I feed whatever I feed my uromastyx in the morning, which includes endive, escarole, dandelion greens, collard greens, shredded carrots, and sprouted lentils.

What all would you experts suggest I add/take away to make this mix even better? I would love to hear suggestions!
 
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Mixes are not good for rats because they will only eat the bits they like.

Please read the nutrition section of our Reference Thread for information on diet, supplements, forbidden foods, rat nutrition, tools such as chronometer etc. https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/

Rats need low protein levels and research has found that it is best if it comes from plant sources
Feeding a variety of daily vegs in addition to a good block such as the oxbow you are giving is good :)

A lot of the ingredients you mention look good and would likely be good to give occasionally as a supplement to their diet. Some of them might be better cooked, and some would be better if organic or nonGMO. A few I personally would not feed … for example, rice has arsenic, dried fruit contains a lot of sugar, processed foods are unhealthy and some, such as cheerios contain high levels of pesticides.

Sugar feeds cancer and yogies are basically sugar so you might consider healthy treats such as organic pumpkin seeds, organic kumut puffs (a cereal that has no additives), a piece of fruit such as ripe banana, organic berries, cooked organic grains such as many you mention (ie cooked oatmeal, cooked 12 grain cereal, cooked buckwheat) with blueberries, etc. I make my rats homemade soup from time to time with barley and a varierty of vegas and a few chick peas or beans.

This is a rescue forum and we do not support live feeding of animals or the discussion of it …. that includes mealworms (see forum rules)

Hope this helps
Welcome to the forum :)
 
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I actually totally recommend using mixes! I totally recommend watching emiology on YouTube she has a video about how she makes her rat food! I absolutely love the mix she makes if you live in the us like I do she says she uses the banana brunch mix but it is impossible to find in us so I use the tiny friends farm remmie the rat food as the base! I love mixes I use 1/8 cup per rat. I also follow with treats and veggies 3 times a week which consists of a base: spring mix, romaine, spinach. Fruits: banana, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and veggies: tomato, bell pepper, cucumber and much more I also like to add pasta, eggs, oatmeal and other things! My rats are very healthy and are doing great on this diet! It’s important to stay away from seed they are very fattening and messy! Also try to stay away from a lot of sugary items the banana chips might have a little to much sugar in them!
 
Mixes are very bad for rats which is why it is recommended to feed a good quality block (Oxbow, Tecklad2014, or Science Select) plus a variety of daily vegs, and occasional fruit, and whole grains ...... and healthy treats such as organic pumpkin seeds, organic kumut puffs etc

Some of the things you are feeding are very unhealthy, and if you are feeding a homemade diet then you need to be aware of the dietary requirements of rats and use a tool such as chronometer to track the nutrients, level of protein etc so you know you are meeting their needs. .... There is information on this in our Reference Thread. Also rats need low levels of protein as higher levels will cause disease such as cancer REFERENCE Thread - Read Only | The Rat Shack (ratshackforum.com)
 
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