What should be the main ingredient in my rats' diets?

[Lourice]

how much chicken is too much chicken?

same with how many seeds or nuts are too much?

I usually fill their food bowls with a mix of: chicken (boiled/grilled, low or no sodium), seeds, nuts, frozen (thawed) broccolli and/or cauliflower, and any other veggies i can find that they like which include canned (no sodium) corn which they love, some celery, and I've recently found out they like frozen blueberries so I give that as a treat.

should I be giving them some chicken every day? what about nuts? i don't want to feed them too much fat or protein. should i feed them mainly vegetables and/or whole grains?

 

[hopefloats]

You could start with a lab block such as Native earth, oxbow, harlan teklad. It is a complete diet for rats. You can give them fruits and veggies as treats or daily. It is best to stay away from nuts or to many nuts. Most never feed their rats meat.

 

[trihkal]

It's great you are coming here and asking about your rats diet. Chicken or other lean meat should be given very very occasionally. Nuts and seeds should be limited as well and mostly given as a special treat. I give my rats vegetables every day and fruits a few times a week. There are two options for their main diet.

1) Many people feed lab blocks. The best brands are Harlan Teklad (Also known as Native Earth). If you let us know the ages and gender of your rats we can let you know which type is best. If they are 3 months or older Oxbow is another great brand. Some people even mix Harlan and Oxbow together.

2)A biologist who has put a lot of research into rat nutrition has recommends a diet that is mostly composed of fruits and vegetables. The key being variety with a ratio of 3 vegetables to one fruit). She also uses a grain/seed mix offered on an extremely limited basis just to provide some energy. Here is the link if you would like to read more. It's on page two at the very bottom.

 

[jorats]

Your diet of every day chicken and nuts is way too packed with protein. Rats need very little protein and very little fat.
If you want to make a homemade diet as opposed to a rat block which contains full of nutrients specifically for the rat, you will need to do a ton of research on what the rat requires daily for nutrition. For example, vitamin k is very important to the rat and that must be incorporated somewhere in your diet in the amount required for a healthy rat. Same goes for all the other vitamins, minerals, microminerals... etc..

 

[Lourice]

Well, I've decided to stop giving them chicken and nuts every day, and I've started feeding them just veggies and fruit, along with some pellet food i bought for them yesterday. it's some complete menu of all the nutrients they need, and it has low protein and low fat

chicken or and nuts shall remain a rare treat.

thank you for all of your help!

 

[Kate476]

What's the pellet food called? Sadly most pellets/food mixes say they're nutritious but they're really total junk & do NOT give the rat the nutrition they need :wallbang:

 

[jorats]

In Canada, the best blocks are Oxbow and Harlan but another one I also like is Living World Extrusion for Hamsters.

 

[Lourice]

What's the pellet food called? Sadly most pellets/food mixes say they're nutritious but they're really total junk & do NOT give the rat the nutrition they need :wallbang:

It's by the CareFresh brand, it's just called Complete Menu for rat and mouse.

 

[jorats]

This is the first I've heard of it. I looked it up and it seems pretty decent.
It's a pellet with a bit of a mix, I be the rats enjoy it.

Ingredients: ground corn, soybean meal, wheat mill run, alfalfa hay sun cured, ground barley, whole corn, oat groats, whole wheat, soybean roasted, sunflower seed, whole kamut, cane molasses dried, apple dried, flaxseed (source of omega-3 fatty acids), yeast culture, cranberry dehydrated, salt, sodium bentonite, sodium phosphate, lignin sulfonate, soybean oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E), choline chloride, calcium carbonate, L-lysine, DL-methionine, yucca schidigera extract, vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, iron sulfate, zinc proteinate, niacin, selenium yeast, copper sulfate, biotin, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, sodium selenite, vitamin B2 riboflavin, vitamin B1 thiamin mononitrate, magnesium sulfate, manganous oxide, vitamin B6, pyridoxine HCL, folic acid, cobalt carbonate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, calcium iodate and ethylenediamine dihydroiodide (source of iodine)
Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein (min) 18.0%, Crude Fat (min) 4.0%, Crude Fiber (min) 5.0%, Crude Fiber (max) 9.0%, Moisture 12.0%, Calcium (min) 0.5%, Calcium (max) 1.0%, Phosphorus (min) 0.4%, Salt (min) 0.25%, Salt (max) 0.75%,, Vitamin A (min) 5,000 IU/lb., Vitamin D (min) 180 IU/lb., Vitamin E (min) 80 IU/lb., Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.15%, Omega-6 Fatty Acids 1.0%

 

[SQ]

the crude protien is higher then you really want for rats.

The recommended diet for rats is:
80% a good quality lab block. Recommended blocks are Oxbow Regal Rat, Harlan Tech 2014 (http://www.chinchilla.ca/), and Living World Extrusion hamsters blocks.
20% daily vegs (fresh or frozen/thawed), and occassional healthy treats such as a piece of fruit, cooked oatmeal, cheerio, etc

 

[jorats]

It's true that the lower the protein, the better so you can balance that out by giving more fresh foods low in protein along with that mix.

 

[crumbilina]

It's by the CareFresh brand, it's just called Complete Menu for rat and mouse.

I tried this a while ago when I didn't have access to or knowledge of the other foods available. My rats seemed to really like it, but the reason I stopped using it is that one day I opened a brand new bag and it was full of mould. So, if you continue to use it, make sure you smell it before giving it to them.

 

[Lourice]

It's true that the lower the protein, the better so you can balance that out by giving more fresh foods low in protein along with that mix.

i didn't want to give them just plain dry food so i've been giving them half pellet and half veggies.