Washing veggies/fruits?

[creative animal lover]

As mentioned in my previous thread I am looking to get rats. I have been debating to get them as I think I would personally have trouble keeping up with their diet and saving up for vet bills. Some people have recommended kind of buying in bulk and freezing some mixed vegetables in a bowl, I think if I were able to do this then I could keep up with their dietary needs.
My question is: can I just put it all in one bowl and put Saran Wrap on top and set it in the freezer? Now to address my topic title. I was wondering what types of food to buy? I know some foods have pesticides on it specifically meant for rats, does organic mean food is 100% safe?
How would I throughly wash food? Also would I have to wash say a water melon slice? Or how would I make sure that pesticides etc. have not been absorbed deep into the food? I think this is the main reason why I am having diet problems as I am super paranoid.
Also how do I know what items need to be cooked? Also I have heard that most nuts need to be roasted and unsalted, why do they need to be cooked? Also is arrowhead mills and good place to get stuff? I have seen many rat treats for sale on there such as organic puffed rice and organic puffed kamut.

Sorry for so many questions! Thanks so so much for your time reading this and response!

 

[SQ]

saran wrap is not good enough for the freezer, it is ok for a fridge

You would need covered dishes designed for use in the freezer or zip lock freezer bags

But if you do not think you can create and maintain a large bank account for vet and medication bills (or a credit card) or do not have parents who will commit to paying for the expenses of your pets, including medical expenses, then you should wait until you can afford to have pets. Because rats do get ill and when they are ill, they require immediate medical care or they will die horribly.

It is commendable that you are doing so much research and considering everything before getting any pets

 

[creative animal lover]

saran wrap is not good enough for the freezer, it is ok for a fridge

You would need covered dishes designed for use in the freezer or zip lock freezer bags

But if you do not think you can create and maintain a large bank account for vet and medication bills (or a credit card) or do not have parents who will commit to paying for the expenses of your pets, including medical expenses, then you should wat until you can afford to have pets. Because rats do get ill and when they are ill, they require immediate medical care or they will die horribly.

It is commendable that you are doing so much research and considering everything before getting any pets

Yes I already have a ton of money saved just for pet vet. Just vet bills concern me as you never know how much it will cost.

 

[Olympia✨]

Yes I already have a ton of money saved just for pet vet. Just vet bills concern me as you never know how much it will cost.

Vet bills are different all over the world for exotic pets. I’m in the U.K. (living in an area where I thankfully have lots of vets that specialise in rats) and just going for a health check up will cost me about £30. To get my boys neutered would cost somewhere around £150-£200. And even in the worst case scenario to put them down would cost up to £100 easy.

That’s why it’s so so so important to give them the best diet, cage, exercise and emotional care as possible.

And with the washing fruits, just make sure to always peel the skin off any fruits and veggies and just give them the middle. For example only give the inside of a melon, apple, banana...and not the skin. As SQ mentioned, you can’t Saran Wrap them to keep in the fridge, it won’t keep bacteria and frost out.

 

[jorats]

I would buy organic. If you are going to put them in the freezer from fresh, most vegetables need to be blanched first and then put in a air tight container. But it's not hard to blanch vegetables. Usually for most, it's 3 minutes boiling and 3 minutes in ice cold water and completely dry before freezing.

 

[creative animal lover]

Would blanching also help wash off pesticides/ clean the food? And so if I just peeled/cut off the outer layers of fruits and vegetables would that be good? And then after would it be ok if I blanched it? Would that be good enough? Even for things that may have lots of pesticides? I will try to buy organic when possible, how much would I need to clean organic food? And what is a pet safe food cleaner I can use? Also if I buy frozen fruits/veg do I have to do any cleaning process? Or can I just put it in a bowl with water and warm it in the microwave? Sorry for all the questions like mentioned I just don’t want something bad to happen

 

[Luna&Ralph]

You don’t need to wash frozen food, that’s already been done and most things that might be harmful to a rat would be killed in the freezing process anyway. If you buy organic, you don’t need to wash the fruits and vegetables that much, just soap and water will be fine. You also might not want to peel organic fruits and vegetables because the peel and the part just under it hold a lot of nutrition. When I was produce, organic or not, I soak it in a sink of cold water, a squirt of dish soap, and a cup or so of white vinegar for half an hour to an hour and then scrub with a dish brush.
If you do blanch vegetables before freezing them, wash them first but don’t peel them unless the peel is tough like a butternut squash peel because they will break down more easily and become mushy.
For a pet-safe airtight container, go to a store like Walmart and look in their container section. Look for a container that is somewhat shallow so that the food freezes faster and says that it is airtight and BPA free.
I also buy my rats containers of pre-washed organic mixed greens, and I don’t wash them again before they get them. It’s great that you’re doing so much research before getting rats, but you don’t need to go overboard and know everthing at once. Even if you know everything and are completely prepared, you will still feel like you know nothing once you actually get rats. It’s ok, we all learn as we go.

 

[jorats]

I too bought my rats those $5 containers of organic mixed greens. You don't want to blanch fruits. To wash vegetables and fruits properly you'll need a vinegar solution 1 part vinegar, 3 parts water. Use a spay bottle and spray your fruits and veggies, rub with your hands and do a thorough rinse. Rats don't eat that much. You won't need loads of foods stored for them. For a couple of rats, a cup of blueberries for the week, a banana, a cup of mixed veggies and their good quality rat blocks is all you'll need. Oxbow is the best food. You can also offer them whole grains like oats, farro, bulgur, corn, quinoa.

 

[creative animal lover]

Ok thank you all! If I bought like a regular banana would that be fine? As it has a peel and I don’t think you can really clean a banana. As a repsponse to Jorats I think that could work well as we do have tons of comman foods like berries and bananas and when ever needed I can easily get a veggie tray/mixed greens container and we do have random stuff throughout the week like eggs and cucumber and stuff. And I plan to supply oxbow 24/7.
Again thanks for the replies I am a bit overwhelmed as you can tell.

 

[Luna&Ralph]

Yes, just peeling the banana is fine. If you’re super concerned about something with a peel, just wash it with soap and water first to be sure. I also think that organic bananas are cheaper than regular, but I think that depends on where they’re from.