Petstore Seed Mixes - Okay in some cases?

[Christie]

So I was looking at the seed mixes at my petstore the other day and I know a lot of people, sometimes including myself, say that they are really bad. That can be true but what if they ate everything in the bowl instead of someone just filling it up everyday? Would it be nutritionaly complete or maybe close to that if they ate everything in the bowl? Are there any half decent ones in petstores? I'm just curious because thats the only thing my friend is feeding right now and I'm trying to get her to switch but it made me really think about them once I took a look in the petstore. Thanks for the info guys and your opinions!

 

[jorats]

At one time, when there were no HT or Oxbow in my area, I fed Extrusion and a few seed mixes, Reggie Rat being one of them. It all depends which one she feeds, what are the protein and fat content. Seed mix alone is not complete, there must be a nugget/block in there that holds all the nutrition for the rat. It's the same concept as to why the Suebee's mix is not a good idea, you can't be sure they eat everything to be nutritionally complete. But suebee's mix along with a block is an acceptable diet.

 

[Christie]

Ok thanks Jo!

 

[ratsr4life]

just make sure there are no bits of corn in the mix, its full of toxic moulds. Most mixes are dried so they need sugar to keep them preserved, not a good diet to give to a rat that can become diabetic. I feed the 'rat ladys' homemade diet mix, she is no vet but has dedicated her time to research and working along vets to help find a healthy diet for rats. I too work with vets and is studying the physiology of the mammal for two years. I absolutly love the diet, it is complete, moist so they cant pick through it and costs $3 a month once all other ingrediants have been purchased. I also feed beef liver to them twice a week, since they are onmivors like us, they need the copper from red meat to maintain excellent health. And now i feed them tiny cream cheese balls for thier daily dose of Chromium (known to ward off cancers and increase longivity in a rat) i mix the crushed chromium in the cream cheese.