Can some-one tell me a basic feeding routine for rats?

Question

just giuve me a basic outline of when you feed them how much and what. Also if you should leave for the whole day or take away certain bits and if you should give them different food each day for a variety.
Please help!

Answer 1

Rats are omnivorous, they eat anything, like we do. They will even eat stuff that is not good for them so it's up to us to make sure they eat healthy foods.

I feed my rats a huge variety of foods with the staples being a modified Suebee Diet:
http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html
a modified Debbie D. Diet:
http://www.ratfanclub.org/diet.html
My own concoction:
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/petrats/81615/2
lab blocks
Squirrel Food
Nutro Lite dry dog food because of the low protein content.
Large dog biscuits
All of this is fed alternately and as each runs out I prepare another batch and go on to the next.

The reason that I make up my own food is because commercial (store bought) foods contain too many ingredients, preservatives, additives in them. Rats don't like some of the igredients, therefore the food goes wasted. Or the ingredients are not healthy for pet rats. Rats should not be eating alfalfa pellets and dried corn. Commericial diets are made to appeal to the pet owner, not the pet rat.

Lab blocks are nutritionally complete but they are such a boring diet for the rats that we find them stashing them more then eating them.

I have over 50 rats to care for but if you have just a couple of rats any *one* of these individual diets will be just fine. You can use your imagination and play around with any of these diets and their ingredients and it would still be perfect for your rats.

My rats eat most anything a person/I would eat. There's nothing wrong with giving your rats cooked meat (no fat) As a matter of fact the bones from beef, chicken, or pork would be a very welcome treat for rats. Rats gnaw on bones so they do not have the difficulty associated with giving bones to dogs and cats. Fish is also good for them Some rats have liked mild curries, others like sushi. But everything should be in moderation.

Most anything from the grocery store is good for rats whether it's fresh (ie Broccoli), canned (ie pears), packaged (ie cereals, tofu), or frozen (ie peas). You can feed rats most any type of rodent, bird, or dog food, treats included. Do not give rats cat food, it is way too high in protein and fat for them.

So you see, there's nothing difficult about feeding rats, with some exceptions:
http://www.petratscanada.com/forbidden_foods.htm

Rats can even eat chocolate:
http://spazrats.tripod.com/chocolate.html

Rats have very high metabolisms so there should always be something for them to eat available in their cage. For this purpose, my rats have dry mixes of seeds and grains and dog biscuits always available. For two rats in a cage I guesstimate 2 large dog biscuits and a half cup of dry mix per 24 hour period to start with and then judge for yourself how much they are eating and cut back, or add, if need be. My rats' supper is fed to them at night, when they are most active. These are their main meals of the day and consists of the wet food, moist foods like fruits and vegetables, soups, juices, breads and crackers, pastas, eggs, cottage cheese, left overs from our supper, whatever.
Next morning I take away whatever they haven't eaten of their wet food, which in my case, is nothing. Again, you will have to play around with how much each of your rats will eat. Again, just a guesstimate as to the size of a piece of fruit or veg per rat would be compared to the size of a green grape. Just remember, they have small stomachs but hearty appetites.

With such a variety of foods to choose from, you can mix it up and give different foods every day. The more variety you can get your rats to eat, the healthier they will be.

Feeding your pet rats:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=Feeding+your+pet+rats&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAnYM54NvMNPtXBeKUqFf2zcazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAs6qPmKbEGuHV570VYkOMTkazKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=Feeding+your+pet+rats

Water: Rats drink more water then other rodents. Make sure their bottles have friesh water in them every day.

spazrats
http://spazrats.tripod.com
Rat Slave at 38
Specializing in the health and care of pet rats for 10 years

Answer 2

Rats are great pets and easy to maintain. The best nutrition for them is generally pre-packaged foods that you can purchase at pet stores. Generally, a "lab block" diet is the most rounded for nutrition, but don't be afraid to give your critter treats. They'll eat pretty much anything, but they have individual likes and dislikes. Remember that rats are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and meats unlike most other pocket type pets (rabbits, guinea pigs, sugar gliders, etc) that are herbivores and eat diets consisting only of vegetation.

Frequency for feeding should be once per day and as long as the food is clean and free of debris, you can leave it in the cage until you clean the cage. Rats can become overweight, and the amount you'd feed is based solely on your individual rat. I tend to stick to 1/8 of a cup once daily and supplement with treats 4-5 times per week. Water should be changed daily (and a tip for the water bottle is to use lukewarm water to fill it instead of cold. If you use cold water, the metal ball constricts, which allows the bottle to leak and get the bedding wet.)

Common treats are:
Hard-boiled eggs
Cooked chicken or beef
Green peppers
Carrots
Bread
Cooked pasta
Dog or cat food kernels
Apples
Pears
(the list goes on and on... basically anything you'd consume, your rat can have a nibble)

Rats can be taught tricks and can learn their names as well using tasty tidbits, but they have extremely short term memories, so you need to continually use it or they'll lose their knowledge.

Remember that treats should be in moderation, not their specific diet! And if you've got further questions, talk to a local vet clnic that sees rodents - 99% of the time the technicians and vets can offer information and advice free of charge.

Answer 3

Unless you're really committed, the bulk of their diet should be lab blocks because the nutrition is specially formulated for them. The lab blocks should be supplemented with fruits and vegetables. If you don't want to give commercial food, give cereal (mine like Total Honey Clusters) and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. They shouldn't have citrus. They should have small amounts of good fat and protein, so occasionally offering cooked meat or yogurt or tofu is fine. You should remove whatever fruits, vegetables and meat they don't consume before it has a chance to spoil. Rat digestive tracts can handle more than humans in the way of spoiled food, but it's still not good for them per se. So just remove all the uneaten perishable food at the end of each day.

Answer 4

feed small animal food, cereal, fruit, veggies,chips, crackers......pretty much anything that isnt greasy. i would avoid meat. also they need to chew so buy some chew sticks or put a little piece of wood in there. i would keep a bowl of about a half cup of small animal food in the cage and fill it maybe once a week, then give other things whenever like treats. dont overdo the green vegitables or it fruit or it may get diareah. maybe a slice of apple. one potato chip, one small strawberry or cherry. whatever you have arround

Answer 5

Harlan Teklad lab blocks.

Complete and balanced to deliver optimum nutrition.

Called "the best lab block" by the Rat and Mouse Club of America.