# Free-feed or scheduled feedings?



## Tedology (Mar 3, 2015)

Hello all,

Up until this point, I had a little bowl of lab blocks in the boys' cage. I had read somewhere that scheduled feedings help with a few things (keeping their food regulated, obesity, bonding), but of course free feeding is more convenient.

Just wondering (wish I could take a poll on here  )... how many of you free feed, schedule feed, a mixture of both?

And for those who schedule feed, would you mind offering advice? Do you feed breakfast/dinner? How many lab blocks for each meal?

Disclosure: I do not mind returning to free feeding. I just wanted to see if an argument could be made for scheduled feeding.

Thanks, in advance, for your input!


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## Cinn (Mar 4, 2015)

I mostly do a mixture. Every time Cinnamon's grain mix bowl is empty, I refill it, but at night he gets new lab blocks and veggies/treats.


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## Tedology (Mar 3, 2015)

Cinn said:


> I mostly do a mixture. Every time Cinnamon's grain mix bowl is empty, I refill it, but at night he gets new lab blocks and veggies/treats.


Thanks for your fast response, Cinn! 

For the grain mix, do you use a special recipe (I know I've seen some around)? Do you find that he will still eat lab blocks? Does he just pick out what he wants to eat from the grain mix?

And for veggies/treats...do they accompany the lab blocks? Or are they a special meal ("dessert") after the "main course"?


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## Wieju (Jan 25, 2015)

Our rats get their food in the evening around 7pm-ish.
They have their bowl with dry food (mixture off lab blocks and seed-stuff) available all day and I throw away any bits they did not eat in the evening and fill it up again for the next 24h. 
At the same time I will give them their fresh food (veggies, fruit, extra protein) which they have available for the night and I remove the bowl in the morning.

The time works out pretty well for us since our daughter goes to bed at 7:30pm and so I get everything done before I have to get her ready. I'm not very good at remembering things if it's not linked to a time so feeding on a schedule works great for us.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

I scatter feed nightly with my boys and they get veggies when I get home in the afternoon. I find that scatter feeding is convenient because they tend to not find all of the blocks at once and it gives them things to nibble on during the day. I do try to keep it as close to how much they "need" as possible though, that way they keep their weight down.


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## Wieju (Jan 25, 2015)

Tedology said:


> Do you find that he will still eat lab blocks? Does he just pick out what he wants to eat from the grain mix?


I hope you don't mind me answering that question too because ours get a mixture as well 
We don't have a problem with them not eating their lab blocks at all. They really enjoy them and usually in the evening there is not much of anything left for me to trow away.


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## Tedology (Mar 3, 2015)

Wieju said:


> Our rats get their food in the evening around 7pm-ish.
> They have their bowl with dry food (mixture off lab blocks and seed-stuff) available all day and I throw away any bits they did not eat in the evening and fill it up again for the next 24h.
> At the same time I will give them their fresh food (veggies, fruit, extra protein) which they have available for the night and I remove the bowl in the morning.


Gosh, I should probably get some fresh veggies and fruit (after I do some research). Being a bachelor with LESS-than-spectacular eating habits, I will need to learn to do this. 



kksrats said:


> I scatter feed nightly with my boys and they get veggies when I get home in the afternoon. I find that scatter feeding is convenient because they tend to not find all of the blocks at once and it gives them things to nibble on during the day. I do try to keep it as close to how much they "need" as possible though, that way they keep their weight down.


Does scatter feed mean just putting a few blocks in their bedding, etc...so they have to "hunt" for them? 

And question for everybody: when you feed veggies/fruits...do you just have a dish and put it in the cage? I wouldn't know how much to give without risking them getting the "runs".


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## Tedology (Mar 3, 2015)

Wieju said:


> I hope you don't mind me answering that question too because ours get a mixture as well
> We don't have a problem with them not eating their lab blocks at all. They really enjoy them and usually in the evening there is not much of anything left for me to trow away.


Thankful you answered!

I'm learning that JUST feeding these guys lab blocks may indicate I'm being a lazy rat dad.


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## Cinn (Mar 4, 2015)

Tedology said:


> Thanks for your fast response, Cinn!
> 
> For the grain mix, do you use a special recipe (I know I've seen some around)? Do you find that he will still eat lab blocks? Does he just pick out what he wants to eat from the grain mix?
> 
> And for veggies/treats...do they accompany the lab blocks? Or are they a special meal ("dessert") after the "main course"?


I use RatGirl44's Grain and Seed Mix. He actually likes his lab blocks better than the mix, and it takes him about 3-4 days to eat the 1 tablespoon I give him. The veggies are usually about 5-6 leaves of either lettuce, or other veggies. The treats are usually healthy treats, such as eggs or fish. It's just as a "dessert" I guess you could say, its just used as a treat.


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## Tedology (Mar 3, 2015)

Cinn said:


> I use RatGirl44's Grain and Seed Mix. He actually likes his lab blocks better than the mix, and it takes him about 3-4 days to eat the 1 tablespoon I give him. The veggies are usually about 5-6 leaves of either lettuce, or other veggies. The treats are usually healthy treats, such as eggs or fish. It's just as a "dessert" I guess you could say, its just used as a treat.


Lettuce you say? Hmm...any particular type? Romaine?

Looks like a visit to the produce section is in order! Do you just get organic? Or do you just do a thorough job of washing?


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## Cinn (Mar 4, 2015)

Tedology said:


> Lettuce you say? Hmm...any particular type? Romaine?
> 
> Looks like a visit to the produce section is in order! Do you just get organic? Or do you just do a thorough job of washing?


It's a mix of romaine lettuce and spinach.


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## Wieju (Jan 25, 2015)

Tedology said:


> Gosh, I should probably get some fresh veggies and fruit (after I do some research). Being a bachelor with LESS-than-spectacular eating habits, I will need to learn to do this.


You really should. Forces you to eat better too since your rats won't really eat a whole head of lettuce 




Tedology said:


> when you feed veggies/fruits...do you just have a dish and put it in the cage? I wouldn't know how much to give without risking them getting the "runs".


It's best to get them used to it slowly. That way you will not risk upsetting their stomach. 
Ours get a small bowl with mostly veg and they get fruit every 2-3 days. I learned that the ratties' diet should consist of around 15-20% fresh food.


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## Wieju (Jan 25, 2015)

I picked three videos by Ratgirl44 that might help you out.


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## Cinn (Mar 4, 2015)

Wieju said:


> I picked three videos by Ratgirl44 that might help you out.


These are the videos I watched when picking out Cinnamon's diet. They help a lot!


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Sorry it took so long to answer this, but yeah, I scatter the amount that they need into their bedding (I use aspen). I've found that they're more excited about eating and they've started slimming down some.


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## Tedology (Mar 3, 2015)

Thank you all for the help and videos! They were very informational.

She mentioned a Facebook group? I wonder what it is...I'd like to join it. Maybe that's topic for another thread. LOL


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## SaraLovesRats (Jan 11, 2015)

I Kind of just feed them when I notice there bowl is empty


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## erinsweeney (Nov 13, 2014)

Just my two cents on fresh foods--I give mine mostly fresh foods with a smaller amount of lab block in the cage at all times. The fresh foods that are their staples are soybeans, peas, oats, brown rice, sweet potato, seeds, and fruit. frequently i offer treats like nuts, dark chocolate, vitamin-fortified cereals. I give them a bowl full of fresh food nightly, and I keep a smaller bowl with lab block in the cage at all times.


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## Vegn (Jan 2, 2014)

If they get fresh foods or treats, it's not scheduled. They get oxbow so it's more of a kibble, my 5 get a handful and a half or 2 morning and night but not specific times, sometimes I'll skip a feeding because 2 of them stash. I scatter feed but only on like 1 level, but switch where I put it and sometimes hide food under their hay. I would consider it more like free feeding since I don't limit how much they eat a lot.


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## Mene (Mar 13, 2015)

My girls always have lab blocks available in their food dish and then I give them snacks in the morning early evening and bedtime, consisting of broccoli, peas, blueberries, and sometimes granola chunks.


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## Mball77 (Jul 3, 2013)

Ok, so my vet is on maturity leave, the other vet at the office who put my Nimbus to sleep breed and raised gerbils. (It was Nimbus's time, I knew even before I got there.) He asked me if Nimbus had been eating, and I pointed out that previously night Nimbus was only eating his Oxbow Kibble, nothing else, but grinding it to dust without actually eating it. He scared me when he told me rats have bacteria in their guts that help digestion or something but turns against the rats if they don't eat enough (constantly), turning toxic within them. Does anyone know if this is true? It's scared me out of timed feeding. Again, while I trusted the guy enough to to send Nimbus off to the rainbow bridge his expertise is in chinchillas and gerbils.

Normally I leave some Oxbow while I'm away or sleeping and do a breakfast and dinner of veggies, chicken, eggs, yogurt, berries, ect, so they can't leave it in their cage. I wanted to do timed feedings when my Loki got fat and Nimbus didn't.


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## Vegn (Jan 2, 2014)

I don't believe that. I'm unsure about research but people don't die when we take antibiotics and the bacteria in our gut die but it doesn't turn toxic. I would assume the same goes for rats.


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