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Im nearing the end of my Oxbow bag, I think Im going to order the 2014 this time..everyone keeps talking about it lol I think my girls need a break from the oxbow and they arent going as crazy over the extrusion anymore either which is weird cuz my boys went crazy for it.. so hopefully the 2014 will be a tasty change?

Thank god for Flower Town Chinchillas, that site has finally helped me get my hands on good food thats right in Ontario! lol
 
My rats have eaten every variety of HT, but OMG they love 2014! They seriously go nuts for it, and they can be pretty picky (they won't touch a lot of veggies and fruits, cereals, etc). The other day I had to break up a fight between my rats Tilley and Ember, which was over a lab block: I broke it up by pulling another block out of the bowl and giving it to Ember lol.
 
Just got in my order of HT 2014 this morning from flower town chinchillas, I gues they get them in bulk cause I got mine in a 5 lb zip lock bag. I gave them each one, maggie seemed to enjoy hers, she ate it right away.. or maybe she just likes the change, not sure so we will have to see but shes never aten a block like that..not even the extrusion. Millie I am not sure what she thinks, I dont think she was hungry.. she just stared at it and then hid it and went back to sleep lol
 
What about other Harlan Teklad blocks? All I ever hear about is 2014, 2016, and 2018. I was calling around local feed stores asking about rat food. I called this one store and asked if they had any rat food, they said yes, I asked what kind, and they said "Teklad" all confused-like. I was really excited. I asked her how much it was and she went and checked and came back and said it was $20 for 50 pounds. And she said it had 32% protein. I was really disappointed. I did some googling and couldn't find any Teklad blocks that had 32% protein so I thought perhaps she was wrong. I drove up to the store (probably close to a 40 minute drive) to find out for myself. Turns out it was Harlan Teklad 7012 and it had 19% protein.

Why is this food never mentioned? I know the protein is a little higher but surely it's better than some of the crappy rat blocks out there. Is there something else wrong with it that makes it a bad choice of rat food?
 
HT 7012 is an autoclavable block - meaning it's meant to be sterilized via an autoclave AT the lab once it gets there. It's formulated differently, with excess of some nutrients, so that when it's passed through the autoclave, it will be at the proper levels.

According to Purina Lab Diets:
NOTE: Do not feed this or any other autoclavable diet prior to autoclaving.
Click to expand...
From: http://www.labdiet.com/rodent_diet.html (I clicked on 5010, the disclaimer is at the bottom of the PDF file.)

Also, Amanda (smilez_n_hugs) contacted Harlan directly about feeding autoclavable food a few months ago. Harlan's direct response to her was:
Hi Amanda,
The high heat and steam of autoclaving may cause some vitamin loss. Diets designed for autoclaving typically have additional supplemented vitamins to assure that they would still remain nutritionally sufficient after being autoclaved. It is not considered best practice to feed an autoclavable diet without autoclaving as the animals are likely getting more vitamins than they need. The levels of vitamins are still well below levels reported to cause toxicity, but if you would be feeding this diet continuously for 6 months or more I would recommend you choose a non-autoclavable diet to feed.
Thanks for the inquiry and interest in Teklad diets,
-Jessica

Jessica B. Flowers
Nutritionist, Technical Services
Teklad Diets
Research Models and Services
Harlan Laboratories, Inc.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks xxchelle, I did some googling and didn't find really any info on the lab blocks at all. That's interesting. What I find even more interesting is that the feed store would sell that food and not any other Teklad blocks that do not require autoclaving. Shame I bought a bag of it, too. I wonder how I would go about getting it autoclaved and how much that service would cost...any ideas? Thanks again!
 
You could try steaming each portion before you feed? Putting it over a pan of boiling water would be pretty close to autoclaving.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about it if you're feeding it short-term. But if you bought the full bag and it'll last you months and months, I'd see about returning it. The fact that the feed store can carry one type of Harlan makes me think that maybe they could order in other bags for you? I'd ask them if they could order in HT 2014 for you.
 
Kibble said:
You could try steaming each portion before you feed? Putting it over a pan of boiling water would be pretty close to autoclaving.
Click to expand...

Harlan + steam = mushy lab blocks which is fine every once and a while but if you did that all the time your rats wouldn't get the teeth trimming benefits of a hard lab block.

I second what xxchelle said, it would be okay short trm.
 
Too bad the steaming trick wouldn't work out. If Harlan says it's okay for less than 6 months, then I should be fine. I bet it won't even last 3. I have 14 rats and I'm certain that six of them enjoy overeating >.> I used to order 2014 online and it was about $36/mo to feed 10 rats 20 pounds of food. Surely if 10 rats were going through 20 pounds in a month, some of them had to be eating more than they needed to. All well. I'm going to call up the feed store and see if they can order 2014. That would be so great! I'd return it but I've already opened it.
 
MomRat said:
We saw a Mouse/Rat block at WALMART today, of all places, made by 8 in 1, which I have never heard of. Didn't bother writing down the percentages, because we saw they have a website and assumed we could find it online. Only place we've been able to find it is on a cached walmart page, because eightinonepet.com no longer(or never has?) lists it as an available product. From here:

Corn, Wheat Middlings, Wheat, Ground Extruded Whole Soybean, Fish Meal, Cane Molasses, Limestone, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Salt, Vitamin D Supplement, DL-Tocopheryl Acetate, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12, Menadione Dimethylpyrimidinol Bisulfite (Source Of Vitamin K), Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Manganese Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Cupric Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Carbonate, Magnesium Oxide, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine
Click to expand...

I do recall from the store that the protein is 16% and the Fat is 5.5%, which really impressed me.

Not planning on buying this anytime soon, we have our HT, but if we ever got stuck without it, with a shipment gone bad or something, how do you think this compares as a food to say, Kaytee Fortidiet?(another easy to get one when we run out accidentally)
Click to expand...

I got stuck in a pinch and ended up buying this. it sells here for like 2.50. I honestly thought it was crap, but if its similar to the extrusion i may stick with it. Arthur really doesn't like the Regal rat, and this is obviously much easier to get a hold of ( the store I was getting Oxbow from is now having me special order it, and they never get it intime.) I ended up with this 8 and 1 because I didn't realize how close to being out of rat food I was before going out of town for almost a week. It was like midnight, and I was leaving early the next morning... I didn't want to leave my roomies to search for the right food... and I figured it would be ok.
My boys love this food, so it would be great to stick with it.
 
How much do you feed?
I use the "Kaytee Forti-Diet" and my girl's love it, and I noticed that on the bag it say's to feed 2 to 3 block's...what doe's that mean?

Last week I was so happy to have baby rat's that I just ripped the bag open and filled their bowl full, but now they emptied the bowl...and for tonight I left six block's in their bowl..3 for each rat..it also help's me to see if they eat any.

Should I continue like that or should I just fill the bowl and let them eat when they want to?
 
*Rebel_Angel* said:
How much do you feed?
I use the "Kaytee Forti-Diet" and my girl's love it, and I noticed that on the bag it say's to feed 2 to 3 block's...what doe's that mean?

Last week I was so happy to have baby rat's that I just ripped the bag open and filled their bowl full, but now they emptied the bowl...and for tonight I left six block's in their bowl..3 for each rat..it also help's me to see if they eat any.

Should I continue like that or should I just fill the bowl and let them eat when they want to?
Click to expand...

Kaytee is high in protein ..I suggest you try getting harlan, or extrusion.

Rats should be free fed which means you fill their dishes, they will stop eating when they are full!
 
Ok, I can only find the extrusion for hamster's...is it ok for rat's though?

And I still have a full bag of the Forti-Diet, can I finish the bag atleast?
 
Upload some pictures for me!
Rats stop growing at 6 months ..but they can continue to get fat after that :giggle:
 

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