Decided to make my own grain mix

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OrangishPinkishBlue

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
194
Location
United States
Howdy!

I want to make my own rat mix from now on. I was going to go with Oxbow, but shipping went up recently and now to ship 10 pounds of food it would cost 13 dollars. Fantastic, right?!

So, instead of getting 20 dollars worth of rat food and getting maybe two months out of it, I want to start a project and see if I cant make my own and get enough to freeze back!

So, I've been looking at prices for the things I'm considering and I need to know if these are alright: (also know we'll be giving them veggies too but until I can get a dehydrator these will be in the MAIN mix)

- Rolled oats

-Non-Sweetened Puff cereal

-Pumpkin seeds

-Non flavored/Salted Sunflower seeds

-Cheerios

-Banana and/or Apple chips

-Walnuts (With shells so they have a project)

- And, of course, macaroni noodles.


I'm wanting to keep my budget of 20 dollars. So I may add/subtract things

But is there anything else I need to give them in their diet?
 
That looks dangerously high in proteins and fat.
The cheerios and white pasta is a bad idea, it's junk food really. Make sure your banana and apple chips have no sugar added.
It's very lacking in a lot of nutrients and you really need to balance your proteins and fat levels. You'll have to do a lot of calculations and research.
A good place to start is here: http://nom-ology.blogspot.ca
 
If you make a grain mix, it will not be a balanced diet. You will have to add plenty of fruits and veggies, a source of essential fatty acids and a complete protein source. There's some info on this blog if you're interested: http://nom-ology.blogspot.ca/2011/01/so ... -diet.html

It's unlikely a homemade diet will be cheaper than blocks if you make it balanced. If you find Oxbow too expensive, perhaps you can look into buying HT or Living World Extrusion.

Jo beat me to it.
 
It is better to buy the rat food than to make your own. It is already specially made for rats the stuff you make well look at society and see if people food is better.
 
Sorry it wasn't oxbow, it was HT. And paying 23 dollars for 10 pounds of food seemed ridiculous.

Also I got the recipe thing from this website:
http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

And it says with veggies and such that everything would be fine for them, so that's why I'm confused?

and isn't HT and Oxbow labblocks essentially crushed grains made into a block?

sorry, I'm confused lol
 
You should really stick to lab blocks. Plus that's cheap. Here you get a 3 lb bag of food for 11-13 dollars (Oxbow). The items you are wanting will not give your rat a balanced diet that it needs.
 
I understand that a Lab Block may offer all of the important diet staples (vitamins/minerals) but it's got to be boring to just eat that? In the wild rats eat hundreds of things with different tastes and textures. It keeps them entertained and healthy just the same. So that's why I'm wondering. I want something that will equal what they should have, and also provide them different tastes. Plus 23 dollars for 10 pounds of food is far from cheap lol. I don't even know how quickly 2 rats would go through 10 pounds of lab blocks.
 
My two boys go trough 3 lbs of food in about 2.5 months. 10 lbs would last a long time here. And no, lab blocks are not boring, just like dog kibble is not boring to dogs. My boys even eat their blocks over fresh veggies all the time.
 
OrangishPinkishBlue said:
I understand that a Lab Block may offer all of the important diet staples (vitamins/minerals) but it's got to be boring to just eat that? In the wild rats eat hundreds of things with different tastes and textures. It keeps them entertained and healthy just the same. So that's why I'm wondering. I want something that will equal what they should have, and also provide them different tastes. Plus 23 dollars for 10 pounds of food is far from cheap lol. I don't even know how quickly 2 rats would go through 10 pounds of lab blocks.
Click to expand...

Adult rats typically eat 1 lb of food/month/ea.

There are nutrition calculators out there, you should plug in the grain mix you listed and see how it compares to the recommended daily intake of nutrients for rats.

The grain mix you linked is much more complex than what you listed (and requires you include Total Cereal) and it is only part of the recipe - the other part consists of quality lab blocks or quality low protein dog food. If you follow that recipe, it will be more expensive than what you're paying now. I've seen posts by several people over the years that fed Suebee's and/or Debbie D's diet and then switched to blocks and found their rats were healthier, so I do not think even if followed, the recipe is equivalent to lab blocks.

You had 17 rats last time you discussed diet on the forum, if I'm not mistaken. It's completely unrealistic to expect to be able to provide 17 or even 6 rats with a healthy balanced diet with your budget. Even in the US where everything is much cheaper. If that's really all you can afford, you should really reconsider keeping rats, they are not cheap pets (although they are cheap to feed - yes, blocks ARE cheap) and if you're feeding them a poor diet you're more likely to experience health issues.

If you want to give them variety, give them veggies.
 
Victoria:

I heard total cereal wasn't good for rats, so that's why I left it out. This, of course, came from a facebook group and might be the bane of every ones existence lol.

We decided we're going to order a small bag of Labblocks and see how long it lasts them (I believe its called a Sampler size?) to know how much we'll need to get.

And yes, I had 15 rats when I came here. I recently posted on another forum on why that is no longer the case. I was going to do the same thing here, but decided that making the depressing topic on two different forums might be seen as 'attention bawing' or annoying.

However, if you'd like to read it and find out what happened: http://www.goosemoose.com/rfc/index.php?topic=4103265.0

And this is why I'm confused on portion sizes and how much only two rats eat- because I'm use to feeding 15 rats... Not 2.
 
OrangishPinkishBlue said:
Sorry it wasn't oxbow, it was HT. And paying 23 dollars for 10 pounds of food seemed ridiculous.

Also I got the recipe thing from this website:
http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

And it says with veggies and such that everything would be fine for them, so that's why I'm confused?

and isn't HT and Oxbow labblocks essentially crushed grains made into a block?

sorry, I'm confused lol
Click to expand...


Yes essentially it is but it is a specific mixture of it.

http://www.amazon.com/Native-Earth-Prot ... tive+earth

You can get a 40lb bag of this which is HT and it will be fine. That would last you a long time and be cheaper in the long run.

I could make a website suggesting pizza and cheetos as the best diet but it does not mean it is true. The mixes are missing main ingredients and nutrients. Cereals are not good as a staple diet they are treats to be limited. The difference is they will pick and only eat what they like or want from that mix the labblock they eat all parts they need and the parts they may not like.

Sadly HT has done the study to make the best diet for small animals.

Native Earth 18% Protein 4018 Rodent Diet 40-lbs - Pet360
Find out if this product is right for your pet

Ground wheat, ground corn, wheat middlings, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, soybean oil, calcium carbonate, dried brewers yeast, dicalcium phosphate, iodized salt, L-lysine, DL-methionine, choline chloride, niacin, vitamin A acetate, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride,thiamine mononitrate, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), vitamin E supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, calcium pantothenate, ferrous sulfate, magnesium oxide, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, chromium potassium sulfate.

Crude Fiber (maximum)5.00%
Calcium1.01%
Phosphorus0.61%
Crude Protein (minimum)18.90%
Crude Fat (minimum)5.00%
Manufacturer
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just want to point out that wild rats have an average lifespan of 9 months. So really, we don't know if their scavenging skills are getting them much nutrition.
Dietary fulfilment can be met with blocks and by the wide variety of healthy veggies and fruits.
In fact, most animals eat to live, only humans and pets live to eat. We need to stop thinking about food as a source of entertainment. It must be nutritious above all.
 
OrangishPinkishBlue said:
Victoria:

I heard total cereal wasn't good for rats, so that's why I left it out. This, of course, came from a facebook group and might be the bane of every ones existence lol.

We decided we're going to order a small bag of Labblocks and see how long it lasts them (I believe its called a Sampler size?) to know how much we'll need to get.

And yes, I had 15 rats when I came here. I recently posted on another forum on why that is no longer the case. I was going to do the same thing here, but decided that making the depressing topic on two different forums might be seen as 'attention bawing' or annoying.

However, if you'd like to read it and find out what happened: http://www.goosemoose.com/rfc/index.php?topic=4103265.0

And this is why I'm confused on portion sizes and how much only two rats eat- because I'm use to feeding 15 rats... Not 2.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it isn't good for rats but Total is essentially a meal replacement, without it, Suebee's is seriously deficient. I wouldn't feed Suebee's to my rats (although I'm not opposed to a well researched homemade diet) but if you choose to feed it, you have to follow the recipe.
 
A few years ago, I showed my vet the Suebee's diet and she then asked her colleagues, one is an animal nutritionist and they all agreed it was severely lacking in proper nutrients for the pet rat.
 
Processed food contains GMOs which research shows will cause many health issues. Plus as mentioned by Jorats some processed foods you have mentioned have little or no nutritional value

If you decide to make your own diet for your rats you will need to do a great deal of research, and use whole foods, not cereals etc., figure out amounts and design a balanced, nutritionally complete diet .... not an easy task.
It will be much more expensive and time consuming to make your own.

The recommended diet (because there isn't a better, affordable option, imo) is
80% of diet - good quality lab block available at all times
20% of diet - daily vegs and occasional healthy treats such as a piece of fruit, cooked grains or cooked cereal, organic cereal-like "cheerios" (cheerios contain GMOs so not a good idea)

Lab blocks will start to go stale after 3 months.
You can buy large bags of blocks and freeze them.
Lab blocks can be repackaged, double bagged, and frozen. I believe they are good for up to 6 or 9 months in the freezer.
 
Did you see the part where the suebee mix says it is a supplement to lab blocks or well selected dog food? It is not a complete diet alone.

I miss how $36 for 10lb which will last them about 5 months is bad? it's far less than a $20 a month budget. Where are you located? Maybe someone knows a better place to order blocks from.
 
$23 for 10lb's of rat food is not that expensive. I pay $15 for 3lb's of Oxbow here.

Rat blocks are not boring when you give them different veggies everyday and the a few healthy treats a day.
 

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