# Baby food



## Reikiru (Apr 9, 2013)

All the babies have opened their eyes, and they are crawling around the maternity cage, chasing mum around a bit and ive also noticed a few of them have been picking stuff up to nibble at today, not sure if this is normal behaviour oor if they are wanting to try some food, anyway my mum brought back some beef and veggies baby food paste stuff (the one for like 0-3 months or something) but when i read the label it said it contains celery. I've read somewhat contradictory things about celery, (most say its okay for adult rats in small amounts but not on a daily or weekly basis but none mention BABY rats) what im wondering is, is it safe for the babies to eat if they decide to try some? cause i don't want to put some in for Mina to try and then they try it too and it makes them sick, ya know?


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## Kaliloca (Jan 24, 2013)

I've been hand feeding 3 baby rats for the past 14 days.  They're now 17 days old. 

I gave them solid food for the first time today. 

All I'm giving them is oxbow, scrambles eggs, fruits/veggies, and their formula. I'm also going to start giving them bread soaked in water to get them to start drinking water. 

The little ones I have are eating non-stop. They love eating and even the oxbow is eaten with no problems. 

If you want to give them a soft food to help them transition to solid foods you can. If you want to just give them regular rat food as supplement with some soft foods, that works too. 

As long as you're offering nutritionally balanced foods, they should be fine.  

Not sure on the celery part. My rats like celery with peanut butter on it.... So, I actually feed it to my rats. I haven't given it to the babies yet, but my adults really enjoy it.


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## zurfaces (Jan 16, 2013)

I think i heard something about the stringy outer part needs to be cut off. 

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## Kaliloca (Jan 24, 2013)

zurfaces said:


> I think i heard something about the stringy outer part needs to be cut off.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I think that might be it. 

My rats will leave that part.  

I'm going to remove the stringy next time and see what happens.


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## Reikiru (Apr 9, 2013)

I tried them with a little tea spoon of it in the bottom of an espresso cup, mina didnt like it...and one of the babies decided it looked better ON him! the others werent fussed about it. Thanks for the input


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

Hmmm.. I'm fairly certain beef isn't a good call for ratties as both beef and pork can be very hard on rattie livers. The best thing to do is feed them exactly what you're feeding mom, just water it down a bit. If they're picking things up to nibble on you can even see what they'll do with hard foods. My Ashe, at 3 weeks of age, was eating lab blocks like a champion, so it doesn't take them long to pick up on it.


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## Reikiru (Apr 9, 2013)

Ah i thought if it were beef baby food the content wouldnt be as bad as giving them what id call proper beef, Ive removed it from the cage though and i tried them on some of mums favourite which is different kind of baby mush, they seem to like it but im still only giving a little drop as i dont want them to over do it or for mina to stop eating her solid food in favour of the baby food, I'm already giving her some baby food stuff, as it seems more balanced but i still making her up some dry stuff with fresh veg and that.


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