# Can rats live off of fruits and vegetables and human food for a few days?



## Camelle (Feb 11, 2013)

This question is from Monica for her new babies. She tried to make an account on here to ask it but it says it can't get in touch with some database.So can 2 two month old male rats live off of fruits and veggies for a few days and then she wants to mix fruits and veggies with normal food would that be okay? Would it be healthy for them?


----------



## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

It's probably not "healthy" per se because it's unlikely they'll get whole nutrition from it, but especially as they're babies have her feed them some eggs, maybe oatmeal and definitely other low-processed grains. Lots of fruits and veggies. They will definitely survive until they can get their own food, but trying to do all human food long term might cause them to have nutritional deficiencies unless she does a lot of research on rat nutrition. But yes, for a few days she should be OK as long as she's getting them plenty of protein.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

It's been scientifically proven that rats can live on McDonalds for better than a month, but they will get sick and obese.

If you really can't get healthy rat food, something resembling a normal healthy human diet will work in a pinch. Fruits and veggies are great for vitamins but you need something for protein like meat and whole grains to keep their energy level up. 

For quite a while we let our rats eat with us, we had a part wild girl... She went for whole grains first then the veggies a little meat and then sweets. Our domestic rat went strait for the sweets, then the meat, then the veggies and then the whole grains. The part wild stayed slender and trim at about 10-12 oz and she had portion control that supermodels would pay for. No matter how much tasty food you offered her she always looked malnourished. The domestic (feeder) rat was especially bred to grow fast and get big really fast got big, 16 oz when we gave her lots of exercise and up to about 23 oz after she got older and was inside for the winter. Both rats had the same food available to them, come winter when the part wild was less active she hardly ate at all and come mid winter she started losing weight for spring.

How a rat copes with a human diet, assuming you offer a wide variety of foods depends on it's genetics.

In the photo below, despite all of the healthy choices, you might notice she's got a mouth full of steak.


----------



## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

It would be fine for them. For a few weeks not long ago due to some issues my boys lived on human food for maybe almost a month. Plus last year (before I joined this forum) they were on a 100% raw food diet for a few months, I want to say almost 6.

Fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, ect. It was like their normal diet minus the lab blocks. Rats have similar nutrition needs to us, other then they do need more Vitamin K (reason for leafy greens and herbs) and you do want to watch their copper levels (Cashews). that was the main problem I was having (low copper), but once I caught it I quickly fixed it and they were fine. Sign a rat is low in copper is actually their fur turning brown/rusting btw. We never had any other problems with other nutrients the first time we did this or a few weeks ago when we did this.

So yes, for a few days they will be fine.


----------



## bbrats (Jan 21, 2013)

My rats are the pickiest eaters ever. They won't eat anything that a person wouldn't eat (they even have yogurt brand preferences, that's how bad they are. They can tell the difference between cheap bulk dark chocolate and Lindor dark chocolate, it's a huge pain in he butt haha) I have yet to find lab blocks that they will actually like. So they eat an all human diet and they are fine. Make sure there is a large variety of food from each food group. My ratties typically have no less that six different things in their cage for them to eat.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

As to lab blocks try the oxbow regal rat product. It's the only one my rats have actually liked to eat. It's nearly as expensive as human food though.

Wild type rats and rats that are more closely related to their wild cousins need to taste something first, then they will eat it the next day... be careful not to confuse this anti-poisoning instinct with being picky eaters. We thought our part wild rat was picky until we worked out that she wouldn't even eat cake of a different brand until she tried it and waited a day before digging in. Same with yogurt, each flavor and brand had to be "tested" individually. My then 5 year old daughter got her mom to buy cake for her rattie parties and always got disappointed when the rat wouldn't eat it. One time we had left overs and the next day the rat dove in and the light bulb went on. Same procedure worked with about everything.

Wilds and part wilds are strange creatures, yes they can be loving and sweet and gentle to their families. But they follow a whole set of strange rules when it comes to foods, play, nesting, smaller animals and strangers. And upset their universe and bad things can happen. Ours came from an accidental litter turned in to a pet shop and we didn't have a clue until she started acting "off label". But there are lots of wild-type genes that have gotten into the mix through wild crosses, both intentional and accidental that can resurface for several generations, even if the rats don't look wild anymore.


----------



## bbrats (Jan 21, 2013)

Ya I thought it was poison testing too. But if I switch flavours and keep the sane brand they eat it right away but if I switch to non fat yogurt they refuse haha. Some new foods they instantly love but others they will just let it sit there the whole day. It's weird. And this may be dumb and completely wrong but I thought I read on one of the posts that you have to wait til they are a certain age before feeding them oxbow? It that something ludicrous that I just randomly misread? Haha


----------



## phatdaddy (Feb 3, 2013)

rat daddy you are def an interesting person. im very much into the world of wild and cross wilds and you seem to know quite a bit about them. this leads me to beleive you have a bit of experience with them. its very cool to find other people with a love for these little beasties.
to the op, my rats are fed a good deal of fresh foods, they will be fine as long as you meet thier protein needs. just dont make it a permanent thing.


----------



## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

My rats eat ONLY human foods. Nothing branded for animal usage goes into them. Fresh, whole, human foods diets are excellent for rats on a long-term basis. If she is only doing this for a few days, she'll need some sort of grain mix in the cage to keep energy levels up between one, or ideally two, servings of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The problem with lots of fruits and vegetables, though, is that most rats are not used to that diet and will get loose bowel movements when offered large amounts. It has to be increased gradually to allow their bowels time to adjust.

For 8-week olds, she'll want to scramble an egg for them every other day as well.


----------



## drownsoda (Mar 8, 2013)

bbrats said:


> My rats are the pickiest eaters ever. They won't eat anything that a person wouldn't eat (they even have yogurt brand preferences, that's how bad they are. They can tell the difference between cheap bulk dark chocolate and Lindor dark chocolate, it's a huge pain in he butt haha) I have yet to find lab blocks that they will actually like. So they eat an all human diet and they are fine. Make sure there is a large variety of food from each food group. My ratties typically have no less that six different things in their cage for them to eat.


Whoa, whoa, whoa. Lindor is not quality chocolate. It's "dark chocolate" is not actual dark chocolate either


----------



## drownsoda (Mar 8, 2013)

bbrats said:


> Ya I thought it was poison testing too. But if I switch flavours and keep the sane brand they eat it right away but if I switch to non fat yogurt they refuse haha. Some new foods they instantly love but others they will just let it sit there the whole day. It's weird. And this may be dumb and completely wrong but I thought I read on one of the posts that you have to wait til they are a certain age before feeding them oxbow? It that something ludicrous that I just randomly misread? Haha


Also, they're likely rejecting "fat free" yoghurt because of all the chemicals and things added to it for flavour- aspartame being the main icky one. I can't see aspartame being good for rats, I'm sure it smells like poison to them since it technically is. Personally, aspartame messes my body up badly, and let me tell you, this body has taken a lot of abuse but this silly, calorie free sweetener just kills meeeeee,


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

its perfectly possible, but i would try and keep it sensible, especially for young lads. Try mixing them food based on the following;

A good half grainey stuff - rice, cous cous, healthy breakfast ceareals and the like
a decent helping of protien stuff (as there young) - egg, fish, chicken are some of the best options, soya and some vegitarian sources can be good too
Healthy veg and fruits, more veg than fruit and try and get dark green leafy, colourful and a nice general mix, berries are the best form of fruit, though a bit of bannana is nice too. Keep this low at first and build up, you can go up to 50% realistically, but it can water down other nutrients like protien so be careful. Herbs are also great, and a little dried seaweed is full of minerals for them,
Bones OIL and seeds - vital for young growing things, try and give them some bones to gnaw on at least once a week, if not more at this age. Seeds like hemp, linseed and similar are very useful too. If you can look for some salmon oil this will really help boost there vit d given 2-3 times a week max, very important for growing rats.


----------



## bbrats (Jan 21, 2013)

Didn't know lindor didn't qualify as dark chocolate haha and I always considered it to be a lot better that grocery store bulk chocolate haha. And thanks for mentioning the artificial sweetner thing Drownsoda! I don't know why that didn't occur to me before. Your very right! I just naturally assumed that foods less in fat would be better but forgot about the aspertame they put in that stuff. Thanka for telling me


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

phatdaddy said:


> rat daddy you are def an interesting person. im very much into the world of wild and cross wilds and you seem to know quite a bit about them. this leads me to beleive you have a bit of experience with them. its very cool to find other people with a love for these little beasties.
> to the op, my rats are fed a good deal of fresh foods, they will be fine as long as you meet thier protein needs. just dont make it a permanent thing.


Wilds and part wilds are very special rats... We didn't set out to get one, but once we had her we learned fast how amazing they are.... But just in case, check your health and homeowners insurance just to make sure they cover rat bites. It's very much like owning a pet wolf. If you raise if from a pup, and bond with it right it can be as loving and affectionate as any pet rat, but the first time you see it stroll right up your wall or climb a curtain string, or leap at you from 3 feet away during play or vanish into thin air, kill any small animal it sees, rub itself in something disgusting smelling or tear up your next-door neighbor who was unwise enough to try to grab it... you will quickly learn the difference.

Wild rats are not for the faint of heart and even the nice ones need to be treated as very special children. My shoulder rat has two scars one on either side of her trachea to prove it. It's an exercise in self control, you have to be it's alpha, but you never want to see it get mad or freaked out. Other than that I would recommend them to anyone with the proper insurance policies.


----------

