# Rats won't eat certain parts of their food



## RollyRoland (Jun 1, 2010)

I've recently switched my rats to the shunamite diet using Reggie Rat as the base food. They gobble most of it up, but they always, always, always leave the seeds and some other brown bits in the Reggie Rat food. I always leave their food until it's all gone, but recently I've been leaving this stuff out for days and days, and they still won't touch it! I still give them their fresh fruit and veggies every night, but I just leave the dry food. This used to work for me -eventually-, but for some reason now they still will not touch it, and they beg terribly when I come in at night to check on them and give them fresh water. They've been like this since we first got them, it's always the same bits in reggie rat and they always take ages to eat it. They shouldn't be this difficult, should they?


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## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

My rats do *not* like reggie rat in any way, shape or form. I had to leave it in the cage for a long time to get them to eat the grains in it, and the black pellets are grass pellets which rats can't eat. If you want to stick to a commercial rat food as a base then you could try Bephar Xtra vital. My girls seemed to enjoy it, but there are still grass pellets in that mix. 

I now feed straights as I can control exactly what my rats eat.


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## RollyRoland (Jun 1, 2010)

Huh, I didn't know that about the black pellets- so I take it then I should be encouraging them NOT to eat it instead of eating it? I was going to switch them to the Xtra vital mix, but looking at the ingredients I thought it seemed pretty much the same as Reggie Rat, so didn't bother.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Reggie Rat is crap all together it's terrible for rats. Rats should be eating a high quality Subbees mix, or Lab block.


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## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

My rats seemed to eat much more of the Xtra vital then they did of the reggie rat. I don't feed either of them now as I feed my girls straights. 

Some rats will have a nibble of the pellets, but most won't as they can't really digest grasses. 

Reggie rat isn't the worst rat food in the world. This is the nutritional breakdown of reggie rat. It's got a nice level of protien for adult rats, and it isn't too high in fat. I also quite like that it doesn't have any animal products in it, as it tends to be poor quality 'meat' in these sorts of mixes.


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## RollyRoland (Jun 1, 2010)

Snippet what does your diet include? I've been experimenting with rat food a lot recently and heard that the Shunamite diet was a pretty good one, although I'm thinking of switching to a rabbit food for the base such as the Burgess Fruiti one. Never really heard of the Subbees mix, how does this compare to the Shunamite? From a brief internet search it seems like there's a lot more dog food used in the mix compared to Shunamite.

One more question, in terms of fresh fruits and veggies, what are some of the best kinds to be giving them as part of their every day diet? I've been giving them carrots, some cos lettuce, grapes, and apples for theirs just because that's what we usually buy for the humans. Anything that's more nutritious that we should be feeding them for their fresh foods?


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## leesanova (Feb 8, 2011)

My boys were rescued, and the rescuer gave me what the original owners were feeding them. She said it looked like a guinea pig mix, but it looked like bird seed to me. The rescuer had just got them a week before I picked them up and were still trying to change their food base.

I changed them over to Suebee's mix and Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health Food for Mouse, Rat & Hamster Lab Blocks. The lab blocks are the left over from what the rescuer had. I plan to get the Mizuri lab blocks when these are finished, it is a better quality food and I think there is a retailer that sells them nearby my location.

The Suebee's Mix, a US version of Shunamite diet, I got it from this website http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html and I also added dried peas, as they seem to like them. She doesn't have this breakdown on this website of how to size it down. I'll make a quarter batch at a time to fit a one gallon bag.

*Doubled As Stated	Half Quartered Ingredients*
16 oz 8 oz 4 oz 2 oz Dry Rolled Oats
10.6 oz 5.3 oz 2.6 oz 1.3 oz Puffed Wheat Cereal
12.8 oz 6.4 oz 3.2 oz 1.6 oz Puffed Rice Cereal
24 oz 12 oz 6 oz 3 oz Total Cereal
1 lb 8 oz 4 oz 2 oz Roasted, unsalted soy nuts
1 lb 8 oz 4 oz 2 oz Dried Fruits (cranberries & bananas)
1 lb 8 oz 4 oz 2 oz Dry Pasta (Mutli-color)
1 1/3 cups 2/3 cups	1/3 cup 2 1/2 tsp Sunflower Seeds


I also give fresh veggies and fruits, and left over chicken bones. I watch them with the chicken bones, as I'm nervous, but they really love them.


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## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

I'm guessing you're in the UK, RollyRoland. You can do something similar to the Suebee's mix, but you've got to supplement it in order to get the full range of nutrients rats need as we don't have the total cereal over here, and that has a lot of added vitamins and minerals.

My mix contains:
*Base Mix*
4 scoops micronized barley flakes 
2 scoops flaked maize 
3 scoops paddy rice 
½ scoop oat groats 
¼ scoop whole oats 
2 scoops mixed millet 
1½ scoops buckwheat 
½ scoop white milo 

*Human Cereals*
½ scoop pearl barley 
½ scoop white rice - 
6 broken wholegrain rice cakes 
½ scoop no added sugar muesli 
1 scoop Shredded Wheat Bitesize 
1 scoop rice spelt puffs
½ scoop white pasta 

*Protein*
1 scoop flaked peas
½ scoop split peas
¾ scoop micronized soya flakes 
½ scoop dried whole fish/ shrimp 
¾ scoop hemp seeds 
¾ scoop linseed 
¼ scoop pumpkin seeds
¼ scoop milk thistle seeds

*Vegetables and Herbs*
½ scoop flaked carrots
½ scoop dried mixed veg
1-2 packets rabbit herbs 
¼ scoop flaked kelp
¼ scoop rosehips
¼ scoop dried garlic pieces

My mix is a kidney friendly version of straights. It needs to be supplemented as it's low in calcium and vitamin D. I get most of my ingredients from Rat Rations, the supermarket and health food shops. Some of the supplements my girls get are salmon oil, dr squiggles daily essentials and chicken bones. These help provide the vitamin D and calcium they need.

My girls are mostly fed vegetables as fresh food. They mostly get leafy greens like curly kale, or things like tomatos and carrots. They usually get fruits as treats as they're quite sugary. Sometimes they will get a cooked meal instead of their dry mix for the day. This meal is usually something like cous cous, with grated veggies and some cat food mixed in.


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