# DIY Lab Blocks



## bluesred (Feb 14, 2014)

I was looking online for a recipe i could make myself or grow myself in my back yard which is about an acre

I couldnt find any recipes so i was wondering if anyone has any idea's. I was looking into a vegan dog recipe for dog food in copying it. ?

i plan to still feed a treat seed mix of normal stuff and fruit and veg or vegetarian but i would like a dried food that they can eat any time they want. that has basically everything they need.


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## TNCraftyRat (Nov 13, 2013)

I would also be interested in this.


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## bluesred (Feb 14, 2014)

from what i found so far.. this is what i can see. when looking into it most of it i could grow. ie if i kept chickens or was near a good farm i could eggs. if i was near a place with goats milk or something i could get goats milk instead of cows milk but a lot of it is asking for powder form
if you replace the white flour with sorghum it should be easy enough to handle the problem is im kinda scared to try out all the changes
also i need a chicken broth replacer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zQNHMlLJp4
http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/make-baked-dog-kibble-2975.html


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## TNCraftyRat (Nov 13, 2013)

That is a good question. I am not sure what to replace chicken broth with...is the a vegetable broth of some kind that could be used?


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## bluesred (Feb 14, 2014)

the problem is.. rats. it's basically (cooked sweet potato, pumpkin cooked, green bean uncooked, few other stuff) peanut butter is in some which can probably be replace by walnut trees or almond tree or something else like a hazel bush or two.. i need to understand what they are getting out of the chicken broth to replace it right? because if it's like gelatin then i can get gelatin vegan but if it's an animal base protein issue cant we get it from the egg.. maybe someone on this board as already figured out the hard lab block replacer formula but the issue is id rather grow it myself or get it from someone i know easy u know what i mean... u can grow millet, sunflowers, sorghum and u would be shocked how much u can get from very little land...


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

The trouble with that recipie is that at the end of the day its designed for dogs and dogs do have different requirements to rats. Honestly you would be far better off making a good well balanced home made rat mix than using something like that. Rats do better on a alrger concentration of grains, it should be the bulk of there diet, dogs do better on the bulk of there diet being meat, with the odd bits of veg. You also risk having a diet short in essential minerals and viatmins as again a dogs requirements are also different to a rats and to be honest that mix doesnt have any suppliments added so i cant see it being balanced


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## bluesred (Feb 14, 2014)

that is my problem i havent found a block form home made rat mix.. what i have found is rat mix with seeds you cant give them all the time and fruits you can give them some of the time a block form is basically "everything they would need" it isnt healthy to give them that all the time but they would live.. pretty good on it if they only got that. so i can add things on the side if i want. i have enough room to grow what i want.. except maybe the eggs and milk i could probably grow it all if i had a recipe i could modify but there's not .. it's driving me nuts trying to find something that wouldnt be awful to try out.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I feed a mix with gains, seeds, dried veg etc, all of which can be fed daily, its all about a balanced mix, if I fed them entirely on the seeds for example it would be rubbish. If your interested I can give you some links to info on making your own

Honestly I dont see that making your own lab blocks is particularly beneficial when there is oxbow out there which is pretty good as lab blocks go. The problem with make your own blocks is baking them denatures an element of any vitamin shipments, some more than others, so even a balanced mix may not be balanced when subject to heat. I will be honest though, I don't think lab blocks are great food for rats, they are boring and often give the impression that a rats nutritional requirements are fixed through its life which is nonesense, plus most contain low quality ingredients.


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## ratsoff2ya (Aug 19, 2013)

i use this! it's not a block but my girls love the mix. http://veganza.com/2007/12/03/rat-diet/


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## bluesred (Feb 14, 2014)

i planed on drying the lab block but i cant find a good recipe... which again is the issue.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

ratsoff2ya said:


> i use this! it's not a block but my girls love the mix. http://veganza.com/2007/12/03/rat-diet/


Just be careful with a vegan diet, rats can tolerate vegetaian diets ok but it is very hard to get sufficient d3 into them on a vegan diet as it is essentially a by product of either sun light(which Isnt practical for a dark loving rat) or an animal getting it from a nother animal related source, eggs being a good example plus oily fish etc. Unless your supplimenting vit d, and I dont know the levels in tne yeast flakes though theres not a lot of them being added relatively, then your rats are likley to be deficient. Vit d is basically used to make the calcium in the diet work, so rats with low vit d can have poor teeth, brittle bones etc, if they are fed on a low vit d diet from birth it is worse as they dont develop properly and age faster.


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## bluesred (Feb 14, 2014)

id be happy to put some egg in it or yogurt i make my own so happy to. just as long as im able to grow most of it. i dont really care. lol as long as it doesnt make em sick and could grow most of it. ive got enough land to do it i just need a plan mostly about what i need to grow and how much is too much to feed them.


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## TNCraftyRat (Nov 13, 2013)

bluesred said:


> id be happy to put some egg in it or yogurt i make my own so happy to. just as long as im able to grow most of it. i dont really care. lol as long as it doesnt make em sick and could grow most of it. ive got enough land to do it i just need a plan mostly about what i need to grow and how much is too much to feed them.


Since you are really into growing your own food then you might as well plant all the vegetables people eat since rats eat must of what we eat. Yes, some of it has to be cooked but simple boiling or baking is enough. In doing this your rats will have a variety of veggies all the time and most veggies you can freeze and cook later, you could even make you baby food like mush that your rats may enjoy. 

Man, it sucks that I live in an apartment with no balcony or yard. I would love to be able to grow some veggies for my rats...I wonder if it would be cheaper?


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## bluesred (Feb 14, 2014)

TNCraftyRat said:


> Since you are really into growing your own food then you might as well plant all the vegetables people eat since rats eat must of what we eat. Yes, some of it has to be cooked but simple boiling or baking is enough. In doing this your rats will have a variety of veggies all the time and most veggies you can freeze and cook later, you could even make you baby food like mush that your rats may enjoy.
> 
> Man, it sucks that I live in an apartment with no balcony or yard. I would love to be able to grow some veggies for my rats...I wonder if it would be cheaper?
> 
> ...



we get laying hens on and off.. keep em for about 5 to 6 years. ,,, i think when i was a little kid we have one that lasted 8.... we havent had any for about 2 years. but the feed cost were much lower if you just grew it.. and like i said u can grow a shocking amount.. "plus i really hate getting feed. sprouts ..... are freakin amazing


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Your best bet is probably to make them a grain mix like the shunamite diet, then feed them fresh veg you grow every day or two and regular eggs, if you leave out the protien section of the shunamite mix you can feed it fresh in the form of eggs, the easiest is to scramble them with their chells and cook them and offer with a few chopped veggys thrown in. You can then grow some herbs and veg to dry to add to the mix too. If youve got lots of space to grow things then growing some barley or even oats which could be dried and added as part of the mix


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

This is the closest you'll get to a block in the DIY category: http://ratfanclub.org/diet.html


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## bluesred (Feb 14, 2014)

*thanks*



cagedbirdsinging said:


> This is the closest you'll get to a block in the DIY category: http://ratfanclub.org/diet.html



thanks a lot i wanted to feed some seeds but not tons because mine love to hide and waste seeds


just want to say thank you to everyone it works. now im trying or trying to try out different sprouting options. also checking to make sure sprouting is really a good idea


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

Welcome back! We'll be closing this thread as it's been a few months.


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