Rat food and treats
Despite what pet shops often tell you, the typical rat & mouse food bought at their stores is not very healthy for rats. In most of their dry food mixes, the mix is mainly bird seeds with a few additives like rabbit pellets or dried veggies. This is not healthy or tasty for your rats. When you feed this to rats you will often find that they leave half the mix behind and refuse to eat it. This is because they do not enjoy eating bird seeds and some other additions to to the mix. To ensure your rat has a healthy balanced diet you will need to make them your own home-made mix. This should be supplemented with specialised rat pellets called lab blocks which can be bought off the New Zealand Rat Rescue here.
Dry mix recipe
Pre-made bags for sale here!!
2 Weetbix, crumbled into small chunks (not crushed)
4 C Jumbo oats
1 C Cornflakes
4 C Puffed rice
1/2 C Plain sunflower seeds
1 C uncooked plain pasta
1 handful of bran flakes
1 handful of pumpkin seeds
1 small handful of banana chips broken into small pieces
1 small handful unsalted almonds
To this base mix, I also add one or two of the following (which I alter in each mix for variety):
1 handful dried fruit
1 small handful dark chocolate chips (for a treat)
1 handful roast nuts
4 C Jumbo oats
1 C Cornflakes
4 C Puffed rice
1/2 C Plain sunflower seeds
1 C uncooked plain pasta
1 handful of bran flakes
1 handful of pumpkin seeds
1 small handful of banana chips broken into small pieces
1 small handful unsalted almonds
To this base mix, I also add one or two of the following (which I alter in each mix for variety):
1 handful dried fruit
1 small handful dark chocolate chips (for a treat)
1 handful roast nuts
Additional food
In addition to the dry mix above, rats should also be fed supplement foods. I would recommend giving your rats lab blocks daily or mixing them in with your dry mix. Rats should also be given fresh fruit and vegetables daily to stay healthy and maintain a balanced diet. Preference in fruit and veggies vary between each rat as they all have different tastes however some common favourites are cooked peas, cooked pasta, pumpkin, carrot, fresh corn, cauliflower and banana. You can also give them foods such as tinned baby food, farex or porridge every couple of days. I usually make my rats a mix of farex, rolled oats and mushed up weetbix which they all love. Cooked chicken is another favourite among rats. You can also give them any healthy leftovers you have from dinner as long as they don't include any harmful foods (check further down the page).
If your rat needs to put on weight you can give them fattier foods such as avocado. Avocado is loved by almost every rat but is high in fat so only give it occasionally if your rat does not need to put on weight.
Olive oil on bread or pasta helps to keep your rat's coat smooth and shiny. It is especially useful for reducing the amount of buck grease that males produce.
If your rat needs to put on weight you can give them fattier foods such as avocado. Avocado is loved by almost every rat but is high in fat so only give it occasionally if your rat does not need to put on weight.
Olive oil on bread or pasta helps to keep your rat's coat smooth and shiny. It is especially useful for reducing the amount of buck grease that males produce.
Harmful foods
--Credit to RatClub--
Foods to avoid:
- Blue Cheese
- Green Bananas
- Green Potato Skin and Eyes
- Licorice
- Orange Juice
- Mango
- Raw Artichokes
- Raw Bulk Tofu or Meat
- Raw Dry Beans or Peanuts
- Raw Red Cabbage and Brussel Sprouts (cooked is fine)
- Raw Sweet Potato (cooked if fine)
- Avocado skin and pit (the flesh is fine)
- Rhubarb
- Sticky foods such as Peanut Butter, Candy, and some Dried Fruits
- Seaweed
- Wild Insects
- Dried corn (cooked is fine)
Treats
It is fine to give occasional treats to your pet rat. They work well for training rats, reinforcing good behaviour, getting them to trust you or simply just for their enjoyment. Treats suitable for rats include yoghurt drops, chocolate chips (chocolate isn't poisonous to rats), frozen peas or corn, unsalted popcorn and pumpkin seeds. I make my own treats by mixing peanut butter, flour, yoghurt and honey and cooking them on trays into biscuits. I then cook the biscuits until they are still soft so that I can rip them into smaller pieces for feeding to the rats. You can also use foods that your rats particularly love for treats. Farex or porridge works as a treat for some rats when you dip your finger in it and let your rat lick it off.
Echinacea and Honey drink
--Credit to RW whose recipes can be found here--
If your rats are exhibiting respiratory problems, mix around 0.75 mL (~20 drops) of liquid echinacea/goldenseal into a mug. Add to this 1 teaspoon of honey, and mix with enough hot water to dissolve the honey. Pour this mixture into a 200mL rat drink bottle and top up with cold water. Put this in the rats cage, and continue to supply the mixture for 3 weeks. Echinacea seems to be more effective when not given continously, so after 3 weeks we advise that you stop giving it to your rats for a week before recommensing treatment.
If your rats do not currently have any respiratory problems, then giving them a echinacea mix is still encouraged, but use a lower dosage of around 0.2 - 0.3 mL.
If your rats do not currently have any respiratory problems, then giving them a echinacea mix is still encouraged, but use a lower dosage of around 0.2 - 0.3 mL.