Ratty Owners

[Enna]

I used to feed our rats the Shunamite diet, its a food you make up yourself. It sounds complicated at first but is really very easy,just make it up in a big plastic container and your rats will love it. I'd make it a bit different everytime so they never got bored. Use the same scoop/container for everything to get the right proportion.

4-5 scoops of AlphaHerbal Deluxe rabbit food it can be tricky to get hold of so use Burgess Supa Rabbit Deluxe or Pets at Home Rat Nuggests as a substitute.
1 scoop of dry (uncooked) pasta spirals
half scoop of dog kibble (alpha lite,nutro choice lite or Burns chicken and brown rice are all good)
and about 4 scoops of breakfast cereals pick two or three from cornflakes, puffed rice, puffed wheat, bran flakes, weetabix, shredded wheat, multigrain flakes, oats ...anything with low sugar.

I'd also give them some fresh food each day, the list is endless, rats eat almost anything.....pasta, rice, cous-cous, noodles, potato, bread, sweetcorn, peas (they love frozen peas in a bowl of water on hot days), curly kale, broccoli, carrot, egg, chicken bones.......

Its very easy to feed rats just nuggets but its so much better for them to have a varied diet, and rewarding for you too when you see them enjoying food.

 

[VickiandKev]

I second the Shunamite and fresh foods/treats daily. Curly kale is a good all-round addition to a ratty diet if you want something to give on a daily basis as it's packed with vits, but most foods are well received

My rats have a little dinner most nights (cooked pasta with some veg/some fruit salad or other) as well. I personally feel it's better to keep your rats on the 'chunky' side as when they get ill (I say when, not if, from experience!) the weight just drops off and is the killer. If they are chunky they often survive where a slimmer rat wouldn't as they have that little bit extra to fall back on.


ETA: I have owned a hell of a lot of cages in my time of keeping ratties - I never found a perfect one so I ended up buying and selling to cater for my ratties' (and my) needs. I think my rats enjoyed always having some new quarters to explore though - a new cage always caused a big excitement and they'd run around for hours making it just as they wanted it

 

[Ryefish]

Its very easy to feed rats just nuggets but its so much better for them to have a varied diet, and rewarding for you too when you see them enjoying food.

a "varied" diet is not just feeding your rats loads of random things in a mix together. feeding shunamite how do you know every single rat is getting the right amount of nutrients they need each day? there is no possible way

 

[Floyds mum]

So would you reccommend rat nuggets?
Its been soo long since i last had a ratty

 

[Ryefish]

Personally i would/do. For a rat to get the correct nutrition with the shunamite it would have to eat a certain number of each particle within the mix, and realistically, unless that rat is housed or fed on its own, it will not happen. With seed mixes (im callin the shunamite a seed mix) the rats pick out what they like first, and then leave what they dont want for another rat to eat. Its hit and miss on what your rat actually gets out of it.
With the nuggets, it may be "boring" but to be completely honest, we don't eat it so we can't say that, and if you feed veggies and pasta, and other bits on the side then it won't be "boring". The nuggest have everything in one biscuit, and as long as a rat eats a certain number of biscuits per day (recommended 15-20g for each rat), they get everything they need.

 

[Floyds mum]

Personally i would/do. For a rat to get the correct nutrition with the shunamite it would have to eat a certain number of each particle within the mix, and realistically, unless that rat is housed or fed on its own, it will not happen. With seed mixes (im callin the shunamite a seed mix) the rats pick out what they like first, and then leave what they dont want for another rat to eat. Its hit and miss on what your rat actually gets out of it.
With the nuggets, it may be "boring" but to be completely honest, we don't eat it so we can't say that, and if you feed veggies and pasta, and other bits on the side then it won't be "boring". The nuggest have everything in one biscuit, and as long as a rat eats a certain number of biscuits per day (recommended 15-20g for each rat), they get everything they need.

Ok thanx