Rats are getting too fat.?

Question

I feed them nothing but veggies and regular rat food, but they seem to be gaining too much weight. They have a large enough cage to run around in(3 stories). I'm not sure what to do about it, because I don't want them to be unhealthy. They are too long to fit in any exercise wheels sold in the stores near us, and the only ones that are big enough, are TOO big and owuldn't even fit in the cage. Is there anyting else I can do besides letting them run around on the bathroom floor for more room?

Their food is mostly pellets, with a small ammount of pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Although i've never seen them eating the seeds and there's alot of seeds left when I refill their food.
I do have a harness for them, but they absolutely hate it and squirm right out. I'm considering a the small fences sold for rodents to run around in, but i'm not quite sure.

The size of my cage is fine -_-
I've had rats most of my life, so this isn't a matter of what size their cage is and what i'm doing wrong. I was looking for advice on exercise and diet, i'd prefer you kept your answers strictly concerning those matters, not shove all of your knowledge of what you think I could do to be more like you.

I appreciate all the helpful tips, some of you are posting confusing answers that show you didin't even read all of the information in the main post which worries me. Anyway...all I can do now is give them more wandering time.

Answer 1

To limit the intake of your rats and get them to lose weight, what you need to do is only give them a lab block (rodent pellet) two to three times a day and do not free feed. Three blocks is plenty even for the biggest rats. Free feed dark veggies like Broccoli and Kale and other things like peas (frozen kind...canned has too much salt) and carrots. They will soon realize that they must eat the lab block as soon as you give it to them and will start to act like it's the best treat ever. It is not cruel, many people in the Florida Chapter of the Rat and Mouse Club of America have been doing this and our rats have lost weight, become more active and have less obesity related health problems.

Do NOT feed them cat food, that is one of the worst things ever to feed anything besides a cat. You want to find a lab block that is fairly low in protein, in the 14-16% range...but if that is difficult, you can get Mazuri Rodent Block from PetSmart. Seeds are horribly fattening.

Get a small digital scale and keep track of your rats weights, you will be surprised at the results.

Good luck and they may hate you in the beginning, but doesn't everyone when they start a diet?

Answer 2

Regular rat food could mean anything unfortunately. The majority of rat foods on the market are not actually all that suitable for rats. Many contain alfalfa which is just bulk and has no nutritional benefit for rats, artifical colours, and too much fat and seeds which are very bad for rats.

Try feeding the Shunamite diet instead (see link). If you can get also hold of a copy of The Scuttling Gourmet this is a book ful of great information of rats nutritional needs.

Rats need a lot of exercise to keep them trim but not all rats are very kean. Make sure you replace any naughty treats like yoggies and processed biscuits with fresh fruit and veg pieces and encourage them to play when out of the cage by bribery.

Free-ranging is very useful and the more time out the better. Encourage your rats to climb up and down stairs and teach them tricks like jumping between furniture. Buy a feather wand cat toy and encourage your rats to chase and attack the end. Teach them to come when called and get them to run across the room when they are out.

Rats do enjoy running in wheels but they have to be suitbale ones. The large silent spineres are best. If your cage isn't big enough for this wheel then it may not be big enough for rats. The minimum recommended size is 60cm wide, 50cm deep and 40cm high and bigger is better. See the lower link for a cage calculator to check that your cage is big enough.

You can also make the cage harder for them to get around by reducing the number of levels included so that they have to climb and jump. Place their food in the furthest place from where they tend to sleep so that they have to make an effort to get to it and use toys like veg holders and kabobs to feed them curly kale and carrot and other healthy treats so that they have to work for their food.

Answer 3

Big question......what's your opinion of regular rat food? Is it the pellets, or the seed based diet? If it's the seed based diet, then that probably explains everything, as they mostly contain fatty seeds (such as the sunflower seed).

My rats get visits to the Petsmart. The girls get to run around on the shopping basket (of course, this only works because they haven't figured out they can jump!)

They also have harnesses (lizard harnesses from Petco) that allow them to have safe supervised time outside to explore the grass.

My own rats personally eat cat food, instead of rat food. They're 2 yrs old now and deemed 100% healthy by the local vet (minus an corneal ulcer on one, but that's in the process of being healed).

Answer 4

I let my rats out of their cage with close supervision, as long as your rats "love" you and run to you all the time, they will always come back to you, they are very much like small dogs, so keeping this in mind, you can let them out anywhere to run around for abit, just aslong as you keep an eye on them.

The food your feeding them is fine, just make sure they get exercise.

Oh and if your rats get to be too much hassle, put them back in their cage and 2 hours later, start again, giving them a break will calm them down.

=] hope this helps.

Answer 5

take them out and let them run around on the bed
watch them
they will run and jump and play in the bedding (if you don't want it chewed you can put some old towels or sheets on the bed when you do this and maybe some other old towels or something for them to play hide and seek in)
just hang out and watch them play and play with them for at least 30 minutes a day
this will give them exercise and they will have a lot of fun and get tired too
also they will totally love it!
this should make them not get so fat if they are getting more exercise.
i have only had one rat in my whole life that would run on a wheel and i have had many rats.
all of them loved this play- exercise time
male rats tend to get fatter than females...
hope this helps - at least they will get exercise and also they will bond with you during this special time
just watch to see that they don't get off of the bed...

Answer 6

well first ur rat food might have a lot of fat in it. not saying it does, but i don't know. I think u should another seprate cage and and it have the big wheel and just put them in there when u want them to excersize. and maybe cut down a little on how much u feed them.
hope i helped
=-B
horselover99

Answer 7

don't give them to much food
have plenty of room and toys to exercise them on.
take them out for a walk

Answer 8

I don't know what "regular rat food" is?
I feed mine grain cereal and veggies. they are fine. As they age they all have a tendancy to get bigger (fat).