# Oxbow's Regal Rat?



## bampinkfuzzyhat (Dec 19, 2010)

The Regal Rat diet is said to be one of the best, although many rats dislike it.
Some argue that it isnt completely nutritional.
If Regal Rat was always available to pet rats, what other snacks or meals could be offered to complete the diet, and how much quantity could be served? ???
For example, how much fruits/vegetables to give?

I am very curious and am working hard to create a balanced rat diet.
Any advice greatly appreciated!

Also, if you have personal opinions or experiences with Regal Rat, I would love to hear them!


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## Sidders (Dec 6, 2010)

My girls are definitely not crazy about it, they'll eat it if there's nothing left... but even then, very sparingly. I'm just trying to finish the current bag I have. I don't blame them for not liking it, one time a piece of kibble fell into my iced tea and I didn't notice and took a sip. It was DISGUSTING and I almost threw up. I also think it has a strange sickening odor and I'm someone who doesn't usually mind the smell of animal food at all.

Also, the diet is complete by itself as far as I know, but adding fresh veggies is always a good thing to any diet. Daily is fine just don't overdo it as they can get runny poops/diarrhea if given too much. That's what happened when I gave too much to my rats when I first got them, since their digestive tract wasn't used to fresh veggies at all.


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## VictorianVanity (Mar 18, 2010)

Yeah, nutritionally Oxbow is supposed to be quite good. And they should be getting fresh veggies every day regardless of what they eat, and maybe fruit every other day to avoid the runs. 

The problem is most rats just don't want to eat it. I bought a bag to try, and they ate it for a few days fine, and then just started refusing to touch it. And they aren't picky eaters in the least. I agree it smells really odd, different than any other food I've ever fed. We switched to Harlan Teklad, which they like quite well. If you can get your rats to eat it, then fantastic, but very few will.


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## bampinkfuzzyhat (Dec 19, 2010)

The problem with Harlan Teklad is that it has to be ordered online..
which i'm skeptic about..
plus the websites i checked, it doesnt deliver to Canada.
also it gets spoiled before the rats finish it ive heard.. :-\


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## Nekopan (Mar 18, 2010)

If you live in Canada, order Harlan Teklad from Flower Town Chinchillas. If you live in or near Brampton, ON you can even go pick it up yourself. A 33 lb bag can last a long time if you don't have many rats, but they now sell 10 and 5 lb bags. Any that you won't use within a month can be frozen for later use.

Nutrition wise Oxbow is the best food for rats, but mine _hate_ it. They wouldn't even eat it when I soaked it in chicken broth.


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## bampinkfuzzyhat (Dec 19, 2010)

So if you freeze them in bags, how would you serve them to the rats? defrost them or microwave?? ???
How much lab blocks would 2 rats go through in one month?


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## Nekopan (Mar 18, 2010)

It's about 1 lb per rat per month. So two pounds a month if you have two rats. Therefore a 10 lb bag would last you about 5 months, a 5 lb bag would last two and a half months. If you freeze the blocks, you can serve them frozen, or just leave them out on the counter overnight. No need to microwave.


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

I wonder why it is that the rats do not like this type of food. It smells sweet and better then some of the other lab blocks offered in stores. So what is it about this brand of food? My males never really liked it and the females eat it here and there, but would rather push it out of the dish before they begin to eat it. 

When Diesel was going down hill, I missed this with water and heated it up to make a mash for him to eat while he was healing from his abscess. It worked rather well since I added a bit of dog food for flavor and he seemed to have enjoyed it.


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## blenderpie (Sep 10, 2009)

My rats ate this with little problem. But when I was switching them over to Harlan, I noticed they ate the Harlan out before they even thought about touching the Regal Rat and eventually stopped eating it all together.


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## bampinkfuzzyhat (Dec 19, 2010)

if I were to get rats I would have to plan a good diet. I do hear good things about it, but then people tell me stories like this were they don't eat it. I wouldn't want the food to go to waste. :-\ I'm thinking about going for harlan rather than regal rat. what else do you feed your rats other that the staple diet? ???


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## lovinmyratties969 (Feb 2, 2011)

My daughter bought a 40lb bag online and not one of our rats would eat it. The theory a healthy rat will not starve...is not true. We had to go to giving them a higher fat and protien diet to get them back up to weight. We bought rodent lab 500 blocks at the local feed store and they do all eat that...although they weren't thrilled at first. I think the oxbow is something they have to be fed from birth to be honest...although our mice do eat it (and our 40lbs should last a lifetime lol)


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## inbloom2316 (Apr 16, 2011)

I was about to post something exactly like this! I am a long term pet owner, going to school to be a vet, and, as of yesterday, the owner of two male rats, so I am very concerned about nutrition. I am trying to switch them over to regal rat from the food they were fed at the pet store. Although everyone praised me for picking out this food, they still warned me that rats don't always take to it, although I think one of my rats have been eating it. So about what is a good serving size of fruits and veggies, and what are their favorite veggies?


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## Ginger3 (Oct 7, 2016)

I know this thread hasn't been touched in years, but I thought I'd put in my two cents. I've been feeding my boys Oxbow (supplemented with eggs or tuna, as they're young an need extra protein) and I don't think they love it, but I guess I got lucky enough to have a couple of rats who aren't too picky, because they eat it fine. I guess it just depends on the rat. It does seem to be doing them good; they are thriving. I have noticed something interesting, though: it seems like, the more full the food dish is, the slower they are to touch it. For some reason, it seems that smaller portions look more apetizing to them.


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## LilysPets (Jul 1, 2016)

I find it very interesting to read about so many rats not being a fan of Oxbow. My rats love it and I never had an issue with transitioning them onto it. 

Harlan is a stable diet. I used to feed Mazuri, which some people vote yes or no on. I generally leave food out all the time for my rats to eat because they only eat when they are hungry.


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## Catsratz (Nov 19, 2016)

LilysPets said:


> I find it very interesting to read about so many rats not being a fan of Oxbow. My rats love it and I never had an issue with transitioning them onto it.


Same here. I fed my adults the Adult Formula and all 3 liked it. Two are now dead and I have 3 half-grown boys and one 2-year-old. They all eat it right up. The young ones also get the Harlan Teklad 24% and they all get other food types.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

LilysPets said:


> I find it very interesting to read about so many rats not being a fan of Oxbow. My rats love it and I never had an issue with transitioning them onto it.
> 
> Harlan is a stable diet. I used to feed Mazuri, which some people vote yes or no on. I generally leave food out all the time for my rats to eat because they only eat when they are hungry.


Apparently oxbow used to have a different formula which didn't taste good. They changed it a bit ago. 

This thread is a few years old  

But I think most people who say their rats didn't like it is either because they only tried the old formula, the young formula or they just fed their rats crap junk food cheapo brands and it would be like trying to make your kid eat veggies when all you fed them before was sugar cereals lol Yeah that is going to be hard! Alot of the cheap brands of food are full of sugars! Or they fed a seed forumla. 

They need to properly transition and wean them off the junk lol

I have a ton of rats, I've brought in lots of new rats and everyone always loves oxbow. They get super happy over it!

By far I prefer oxbow food as the best.


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## Sowa (Jan 24, 2015)

I recently started mixing Oxbow into my rats food. I have almost 10 rats and can't afford to only feed oxbow right now. I get a bulk lab block and mix it with the oxbow. They love the oxbow, they go for it first.


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## Kamira (Jul 15, 2015)

My baby boys go through regal rat by the pound but refuse to eat anything else I give them except sunflower seeds ... picky much?


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