# Can 4 week old Rats eat Oxbow Adult Rat Food?



## crazyratlady1995 (Dec 29, 2017)

I know it’s for adults but their mama eats the adult and I was wondering if it would be okay to give it to the pups as well instead of buying two different foods? They’ll be 5 weeks old on Saturday. They steal Penelope’s food and seem to like it a lot. 

Also I attached a picture of the babies from a couple days before their eyes were open. 3/15


----------



## Phoene (Dec 21, 2017)

Those babies are so cute! They can eat adult food as long as you are supplementing protean for them. You can give them eggs and nuts every day for protean. The mother should also be eating some eggs while she is making milk. You probably already know but remember to separate the litter at five weeks.


----------



## crazyratlady1995 (Dec 29, 2017)

Phoene said:


> Those babies are so cute! They can eat adult food as long as you are supplementing protean for them. You can give them eggs and nuts every day for protean. The mother should also be eating some eggs while she is making milk. You probably already know but remember to separate the litter at five weeks.


I try to feed them two scrambled eggs at least every other day but they really just make a mess with them rather than eat them. I’ve been thinking chicken? Cooked of course. They will sometimes eat the eggs but normally just play with them


----------



## Phoene (Dec 21, 2017)

Chicken would work well. When I got my girls from Mainely Rat Rescue they were 6 months old and I was told to feed them eggs, nuts, or chicken. I forgot about the chicken because I don't keep chicken in my house and have never fed it to my girls.


----------



## athenianratdaddy (Dec 20, 2017)

I got my girls when they were 8 weeks old and I have been feeding them a mix of Oxbow adult rat food (15% protein) and Mazuri blocks (23% protein). They absolutely love Oxbow and they will eat that before the Mazuri. But I will not replace their food until they finish the Mazuri. Based on their size, vitality, and overall health I think it's working OK for them. I also supplement their diet with a lot of yogurt, which they love. I have never fed any rats I've ever had any meat. I don't really know why. I was introduced to rat husbandry by my ex wife who was a vegetarian, it's called learning by association (rats exhibit the same too). Or maybe I have a fear that they will get a taste for my fingers. Or, perhaps, I do not believe in feeding my pets byproducts of what used to be live animals. Rats are frequently fed alive to other animals, and how do pet rat owners generally feel about that?


----------



## Lunchy (Aug 28, 2017)

athenianratdaddy said:


> I have never fed any rats I've ever had any meat. I don't really know why. I was introduced to rat husbandry by my ex wife who was a vegetarian, it's called learning by association (rats exhibit the same too). Or maybe I have a fear that they will get a taste for my fingers. Or, perhaps, I do not believe in feeding my pets byproducts of what used to be live animals. Rats are frequently fed alive to other animals, and how do pet rat owners generally feel about that?


In the wild, rats are opportunistic omnivores, mostly eating grains, fruit, veg, seeds and nuts, but do occasionally hunt for insects or small animals, so they will eat meat too. Because of that, there is no harm feeding them some meat, because they would do that anyway if they hadn't been domesticated. Of course whether you feed meat to your rats depends on the household, but my partner and I eat meat but our rats don't get much of it - maybe some cooked chicken once a month if they're lucky. And of course, most pet rat owners aren't too happy that sometimes rats get fed to snakes and reptiles, but that's part of their diet and I'm not too sure why that should be an argument against feeding a rat chicken occasionally.


----------



## Basiltheplant (Jan 2, 2017)

That is good, you will want to supplement protein. I have used scrambled eggs, chicken, chicken bones, Turkey, and freeze dried meal worms as protein in the past.

I personally prefer the freeze dried meal worms because you can buy some from the bird or lizard section in pet supply stores and the container tends to last a while


----------



## athenianratdaddy (Dec 20, 2017)

Lunchy said:


> In the wild, rats are opportunistic omnivores, mostly eating grains, fruit, veg, seeds and nuts, but do occasionally hunt for insects or small animals, so they will eat meat too. Because of that, there is no harm feeding them some meat, because they would do that anyway if they hadn't been domesticated. Of course whether you feed meat to your rats depends on the household, but my partner and I eat meat but our rats don't get much of it - maybe some cooked chicken once a month if they're lucky. And of course, most pet rat owners aren't too happy that sometimes rats get fed to snakes and reptiles, but that's part of their diet and I'm not too sure why that should be an argument against feeding a rat chicken occasionally.


Yes, in the wild rats will eat all sorts of meat. There's actually an amazing, in my opinion, video posted on YouTube where a brown rat attacks, takes down, and drags away a LIVE pigeon! I just choose to not feed my rats any meat. No judgement at all on people who do so. The rats themselves do not care. They will eat everything and anything, and, again in my opinion, that's a tiny part of what makes rats 'cool'. Their omnivorous nature.


----------

