# Dangers of overfeeding?



## rlstine (Mar 2, 2016)

Hi everyone. I just brought home 2 6-week old patchwork hairless boys. I've been feeding them oxbow young rat blocks and they have been eating/pooping basically nonstop. I don't know if the breeder fed them on a schedule or what, but I've always had blocks out for my rats. Should I be concerned that they are overeating, or is this behavior normal for baby rats and they'll stop when they're full?


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Baby rats eat, poop and grow like weeds... That's pretty much what they do... 

I've never heard of overfeeding your growing rats....


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## Ratloved (Oct 4, 2015)

Rats will usually not overeat on block food such as oxbow. They will eat what they need. Young rats grow fast and have a very high metabolism which requires quite a bit of food. They can and do become almost gluttonous when it comes to sugary treats, pasta, etc. All the things that make us fat, will make a rat fat. While they enjoy variety, and should get healthy staples added to their diet, you need to be cautious of an excess of sugars and fats.


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## TheRatAttack (Mar 29, 2016)

Baby rats eat, A LOT. I just brought home two little patchwork hairless boys, and they eat as much as my adult rats do.


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## rlstine (Mar 2, 2016)

Okay, great. Thank you all for your replies. I've just been feeding the blocks so far, so I won't worry about the amount they're eating. I do have one more question that I'm hoping you all can answer instead of spamming the forum with another thread. I have 2 brothers, both from the same litter and both from a highly reputable breeder. I think one has a case of the "new home sneezes" I've heard some rats get. I've had them less than 24 hours so I'm not too concerned that it might be something else but I still want to keep an eye. How long should that last, and is there any home remedy stuff I can do/feed him to make him more comfortable?


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I've talked about the new home sneezes on your other thread, but as far as feeding pups only blocks goes, I'm not big on that idea... Mizzuri, makes a block that's particularly good for growing pups, but likely not good for much else. It was developed for and is used by commercial rat breeders who raise fast growing bred for meat rat strains. Still I would supplement pups with some egg, fish, meat and veggies and whole grain type products. 

The strain of rats I keep now grow relatively slowly, but they still grow fast as compared to most mammals, the bred for meat rats we have raised in the past literally grew right before your eyes... My daughter would take them out of the cage in the morning and by the end of the day they would be noticeably larger when I put them to bed and bigger again by the next morning.

This kind of scary growth requires lots of protein to maintain. And that protein should be part of a somewhat balanced meal.

Once your rats get older, and if they aren't pregnant or lactating, they won't need all of that protein or calories. Common sense suggests you switch their diets to something more realistic for relatively inactive adult rats.

Wild rats most likely would keep eating the same high calorie, high protein foods as pups do, but they may literally scurry around a couple of miles a day to find food and water, if they are female they are possibly pregnant and in either case they burn lots of calories every day just to stay alive.... while your rats are lounging around the cage. 

Don't confuse the correct diet for sedentary adult pet rats with the nutritional needs of growing pups. I might add that lots of activity and exercise helps pups to grow healthy and strong and lots of environmental enrichment will sharpen their minds.. Of course if you keep your pups active, they are going to eat even more... Eat play and poop... and grow, grow, grow.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

If you are concerned, weigh them, it will give you a benchmark to compare their growth. After 6 months of age most rats are done growing so any extra weight is probably fat. Over feeding rats lead to all sorts of diseases but they are so young they most likely need the calories to grow right now.


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## rlstine (Mar 2, 2016)

That's a very good idea Gribouilli. I'll have to find a little scale somewhere.

Rat Daddy, thanks for the food advice. I've been branching out with them gradually to include blueberries, carrots, peas, etc. I currently use the young rat Oxbow food (which is probably similar to Mizzuri). I've read that hairless rats have higher metabolisms and eat/poop more than standard rats, and that some people keep them on the young rat formula as a staple for the extra protein. What do you think? Should I buy the standard block when they become adult rats or go with the extra protein?


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## Ratloved (Oct 4, 2015)

I have to go into a little more detail from what posted earlier in the thread. I didn't mean to imply that you should only feed block style food and nothing else. Just attempting to say that rats won't usually become overweight eating only block food. My rats get variety of foods at least every third day and usually every other. I have a dry mix of my own concoction that has about the same ingredients but can vary some. Oats being the main ingredient then add a variety of things including some but not all at once: dried blueberries, dried cranberries, dried bananas, dried apples, non salted peanuts, non salted sunflower seeds, fresh coconut shavings, non salted pumpkin seeds, pressed barley, Cheerios, tri colored dry pasta spirals, Rice Krispie. About nice or twice a week, eggs: scrambled or hard boiled. Especially for the young rats. I give them a variety of fresh veggies and some fresh fruit but if they get fresh fruit then they don't get dried. And if that isn't enough variety, they also get an occasional treat of something from my plate at dinner ( usually because they came and stole it,lol) I weigh my rats a minimum of every two weeks and if they have a big increase, I just cut back some. Most of my rats are within a healthy range, however, I do have A couple that are overweight and no matter what I do, they stay that way. I honestly believe this has more to do with them being neurtered than over eating. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify my thoughts on feeding. I think a rat being fed a variety of foods is going to be a much happier and overall, healthier rattie.


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## Ratloved (Oct 4, 2015)

Oh and to answer your question about block food, once a rat is over 6 months, their protein requirements drop, so I would feed a block around 15-16 %, like oxbow adult block.


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## rlstine (Mar 2, 2016)

Hi everyone, I just learned from another thread that may rats are in fact not six weeks old... the breeder I got them from gave them to me at 3.5-4 weeks old and having never adopted from a breeder before I believed her when she said they were ready (aged, sized, etc.) Do you all have any tips for supplementing food for babies so young?


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I answered on your other thread. If you wanted to introduce them to veggies, do it slowly if all they ever had was lab blocks. Maybe a couple different veggies cut in tiny pieces, about one tablespoon- cook them for a few minutes in a little water and add a beaten egg when the water is gone. I often do that for my new babies, they are 10 weeks now. Here it was carrot, tomato, zucchini, yellow pepper, and a little wheat germ and flax seeds on top


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## rlstine (Mar 2, 2016)

Hey that looks pretty good! I bet they love that. I've been feeding my boys peas (which they LOVE) and I'm working on carrots, which they are a little more hesitant about. I'm planning to feed them a little scrambled egg today, and maybe some garlic to give their little systems a boost.


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