Rat Food Brands

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

TheRatFamily

Guest
So my rats have always denied certain pet store rat foods. I found a food they like though. I was just wondering if this was a good food for them, because I know some store bought foods don't supply what they need. I feed them Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat Food, And they love it, I feed them chopped carrots, Occasionally Slices of cucumber, and apples. Is this a good diet for them? Or should they be having more then this.
 
If your rats like and eat the Oxbow, awesome. We have not had that luck. A couple of our boys refused to eat it unless they were utterly ravenous, and lost weight while on it. We switched to Harlan Teklad blocks, and they regained the lost weight. Even folks who’ve refused other blocks have liked the HT stuff.

A variety of fresh fruits and vegetables is an important part of their diet. There should be a thread kicking around with a list of what’s safe for rats, what should be fed with caution, and what to avoid. There are a lot of things they can have. Ours enjoy broccoli, cooked peas and corn, cucumber, avocado, strawberries, blueberries, banana, noodles (cooked or dry), raw unsalted pumpkin seeds, puffed grain (kamut is a favourite), cooked sweet potato, boiled egg, and the occasional bit of chicken or turkey at holidays. Rats are opportunistic omnivores; not everyone chooses to give their fuzzies animal products, and not all rats will like them equally, but you can give them some on occasion if that’s how you roll.

It’s a good idea to avoid highly-processed human food, or snacks with added sugar and salt. A little bit of cracker or potato chip once in a great while is probably fine (provided it doesn’t contain anything else that might be unsafe for them) but shouldn’t become a habit. My mother once knew a guy with a rat named Spiffy Horace, and he allowed Horace to share his beer. The wee guy seemed to suffer no ill effects, but it’s not something I’d recommend. Same goes for sharing carbonated beverages with them. Rats can’t burp, but their farts can peel paint.
 
Oxbow is an excellent food. Mine get that, as well as Mix 1 -puffed wheat, low-sugar cheerio type, corn flakes & rice krispies, and Mix 2 - a variety of seeds & grains from the bulk section (ground flax is very important & dry macaroni good for keeping teeth worn down), and a supper of fresh food at dinnertime. For their supper I give them a variety - whatever I'm eating (I cook low-salt and wash sauces off their portion) and always some pasta, rice or potato & fresh vegetables & fruit. Portion size is important, not too much fruit cause of sugar, for meat or other things you should limit I don't put in dish, but give each a little piece by hand for their pleasure while making sure nobody has too much. And of course if your kids are too chubby you limit calories...
 
So my rats have always denied certain pet store rat foods. I found a food they like though. I was just wondering if this was a good food for them, because I know some store bought foods don't supply what they need. I feed them Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat Food, And they love it, I feed them chopped carrots, Occasionally Slices of cucumber, and apples. Is this a good diet for them? Or should they be having more then this.

Hiya,

My rats live on 70% fresh food diet, I plan them weekly meals to make sure they’re receiving all their nutrients. My boys aren’t big fans of lab blocks, I spent over £150 at this point trying out different brands and I only had luck with Science Selective which is a Vegetarian brand. They like it the most out of everything I tried and eat about a shared handful of that food within 3-4 days before I have to add more. If your rats are as picky as mine, try giving them a fresh food diet. Just make sure they’re getting all their nutrients!

My boys usually daily get a bowl of mixed greens like kale and whatever other leafy greens I have available, they then get another bowl of one egg and a small can of tuna once a week (they’re pescatarians.) They also get about 1/3 a cup of steamed veggies daily. Then over the week I give them other things like rice, quinoa, loads of fruit (just nothing like mango, oranges and pineapple because it’s bad for their kidneys,) soya yoghurt (Soya is great as a cancer preventing food,) baby food, porridge (with ground flax, hemp and lin seed,) cooked pasta/sweet potatoes and whatever else I can find that week xx
 
Last edited:
1. Oxbow is one of the 2 best rat blocks

2. in addition to the blocks feed a variety of vegs daily (such as baby kale, broccoli, mixed greens, cooked sweet potato, cooked squash, organic carrots, frozen/thawed peas, a piece of cucumber, etc)

3. and healthy treats such as berries, a piece of fruit, cooked whole grains (oatmeal, quinoa, buckwheat, organic 12 grain cereal, etc), a few organic pumpkin seeds, a few cooked beans, a few cooked chick peas, etc
 
Back
Top