Food
We use ceramic bowls for food. The ceramic bowls work well because they are heavy enough to stay upright. Food bowls that attach to the side of the cage work well too. Glass or plastic bottles can be used for water. There are pros and cons to each, but the main thing is to keep it clean!
We feed our rats lab blocks as their staple diet. Lab blocks are nutritionally balanced for your rats and should be their main source of food. Our rats eat Harlan Teklad 2014 and 2018 lab blocks and Lotus dog kibble at our rescue. Along with this, we supplement their diet with a homemade mix of grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables. ALWAYS make sure your rats have fresh water!
Our homemade Grain Grub is all organic and the recipe changes with what is available in the store that day, but it usually consists of multi grain, whole-wheat, and puffed rice cereals, organic rolled oats, organic sunflower seeds (unsalted), organic soy nuts (unsalted), pumpkin seeds (unsalted), dried pasta, healthy, low fat kibble, and dried fruit (bananas, cranberries, raisins, papaya, etc,).
As far as fresh food goes, this is what we feed our rats: Apples with the core removed, raw blackberries, ripe bananas, cooked yams, whole grain bread with a bit of olive oil on top, cooked pasta, cooked broccoli, raw carrots, raw raspberries, raw grapes, cooked brown rice, raw parsley, raw pears, raw bell peppers, cooked green and yellow peas, raw melons, and raw strawberries.
Next is a list of “caution foods”: At the rescue, we stay away from these foods altogether: Carbonated drinks (rats can’t burp), chocolate (can cause heart failure or act as a neurological poison), dark chocolate is okay in very small amounts, dried corn (it can contain fungus and cause cancer in rats), peanut butter (can cause choking), avocados (a good treat but very high in fat), spinach, lettuce, beets, celery, eggplant, and cucumber are high in nitrates and some of that food contains toxins which bind up calcium. We also keep dairy, like yogurt treats to a very strict minimum.
Foods you should NEVER feed your rat are: Blue cheese, licorice, raw dried beans, raw peanuts, rhubarb, green bananas, raw artichokes, raw sweet potato, raw red cabbage, raw Brussels sprouts, green potato skin and eyes, raw bulk tofu, and oranges or orange juice (males only). *If you would like to know why these foods are dangerous, feel free to ask us!
