How much veggies and fruit per day

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Jems71

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Messages
497
Location
New Brunswick, Canada
I have switched to the extrusion blocks mostly, and they get fresh veggies and fruit morning and evening.
But I am wondering now that I have a cpl of twitch's grown up girls, what should an adult rat eat for fruit and veggies.
I am looking for average mesurements, like a cup each a day or something like this.
they always finsh what we give them especially th evening stuff by morning its all gone...and I have found very little stashed, so they gotta be eating it. The blocks seem to be going slowly too...not as many stashed as I thought would be.

The main veggies are Peas (of course they love these), brocoli, steamed carrots(won't eat raw?) corn, zuccini, cook brussle sprouts, tomatoes, apples, raspberries, straw berries, ripe banana and greens > baby spinach, turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens.

I guess I am not worried about giving them too much veggies, but maybe I should be...their poos are not mushy or too smelly... I am more worried that its not enough, cause they clean their plate and I cannot get up at 3am and see if they need more...and night time is when they eat the most.

So is there a guide line like the Canada food guide that tells you how many servings and what size an adult rat serving is? I have been looking but have not found anything...yet.

Thanks,
T
 
When giving veggies and fruit, especially in cage, the main thing to keep in mind is to not give enough for them to stash so it goes bad. At least a thumbnail sized hunk of veggie would suffice for a rat of average appetite, and some rats will eat quite a bit more at one sitting with no mushy poos if their systems get enough time to adjust.
 
WOW...I give them a small plate of veggies...not piled high but...more than a thumbnail sized piece...
so is this thumbnail sized piece a serving? and they should have a few servings a day.
People need what like 5-10 servings of fruit and veggies a day...so rats need multiple servings as well.

Again WOW...maybe I am feeding them too much veggies...I know these are not reptiles but my reptiles can have as much veggies as they will eat (not so much fruit 'cause of the sugar) and I have to monitor their protein.

I know the rats need a lot of complex carbs which I assume they will get from the blocks.
But maybe I need to watch the veggie intake.
 
It is said that about 20% of their diet should be fruit/veg, and the other 80% is their blocks. You can do the math from there, LOL
 
Well, we do have a tendency for some chubby ratties here :wink2: . But here's what we feed:

Blocks/dry mix are always available. We also do a variation of Suebee's mix, though that's about 1/2 mix/1/2 blocks.

For "dinner" each night, we give them one starch (like cooked whole wheat pasta, cooked sweet potato, canned kidney, red or black beans) one fruit (grapes, bananas, melon, blueberries) and a few veggies (frozen/thawed peas and corn, fresh kale or spring mix or broccoli or cucumber etc), and soy yogurt. A couple days a week, they get oat or soy milk, and Ensure for the oldies.

For two rats, we probably give about the equivalent of about 1/4 cup. Our rats always polish off the whole bowl...but definitely check in stashing areas for any leftovers the next morning, and pull them. One of our girls loves to stash everything up in her hammock. :sick2:
 
I like this post :D
I always worry about not giving my rats enough fruits or veggies, but i must give them too much per serving because i have to dismantle the cage a few hours later to find the stashes because it starts to smell bad really quickly.

And hmm.. i dont think any of my rats will pay much attention to raw carrots either. My parrot demolishes them (keeps him quiet for some time ^^ ) but the rats dont seem to bother too much
 
OK soooo about 1/4cup/rat of fresh veggies and fruits per day plus their blocks / mix (I still have a bit of mix left so it gets in there a bit) and starch like cooked brown rice (what they are getting this week) or potato/w or multi grain pasta/sweet potato/canned beans...can you get canned beans without salt or at least reduced salt? or could I cook some from dry?

This helps alot... easier with the dogs and cats you buy a good quality kibble and follow feeding guide for size and age, and adjust according to if your dog or cat is fat or old and lazy, or young fit and active... then there is always room for occasional treats!

Thanks a bunch!
 
I've got slim rats and I free feed blocks.
I also feed lots of veggies. I give a plateful to a colony of 12. They finish it within 10 minutes. There shouldn't be any left to stash.
 
I have read a teaspoon of vegs/fruit per rat each day.
As others have said, free feed blocks as 80% of their diet.

If you give a plate of vegs, you could remove the vegs after 10 minutes (including vegs stashed).
 
jorats said:
I've got slim rats and I free feed blocks.
I also feed lots of veggies. I give a plateful to a colony of 12. They finish it within 10 minutes. There shouldn't be any left to stash.

that is where i am going wrong. i give 3 rats a plate of veggies and there is always some left and they always stash some. must cut down
 
I have been giving a small side plate about half veggies (greens and other things as mentioned before) and other half steamed brown rice or multi grain pasta or a bit of mashed potato (no salt and before milk and butter added), this plate is not piled high or anything...the rice/pasta/potato goes never much found stashed...and most of the veggies go too. I put it in after supper in the evening and leave it there...they eat it through the night.
Every morning I raid their stashes remove anything food related Blocks go back to bowl and old veggies and what not gets tossed...but never really much left. And this was for he babies...now I have 2 adults and 2 babies(9wks old) the adults don't seem to eat as much as fast...but most of their food is gone as well. And I give them about the same amount as babies...well maybe a bit more...do babies eat more cause they are growing? or is it because they are Dbl Rex? or both?
I figure as long as I am watching the protien, sugar and salt...and I don't leave veggies to rot...I should be ok?
and they are eating the blocks...the babies might eat one a day between them...I think the adults are eating one or two...we will figure it out I just don't want them to be unhealthy...
 
i can't believe how well behaved my boys are...they only ever stash blocks. they don't always eat all their fruit/veg, but they'll just leave what they don't want in their food dish.
 
I feed half a cup to four girls and a lil more than 1/2 cup for 5 boys.
Try shredding baby carrots, mine don't like regular or non shredded. Cooked vegtables don't have much nutrients.
 
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