# Anyone make their own rat food?



## pipsqueak (Sep 5, 2011)

I was thinking of making my own, since i read that petstore foods arent the best for them.
But im not sure where I'd even start. 
Do any of y'all make your own? 
What are some good recipes to go by?

I found one recipe Suebee's rat diet
http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html
but i dont know if I want to make that one, or if there are better ones.
I'd like to get everyone's opinion on making your own food.​


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## lexiloo (Nov 26, 2011)

I use a slight variation of Suebee's with lab blocks. I spent about $6-7 on my mix and it made enough that will probably last me at least another couple months (hopefully it won't go stale by then) for my 3 girls. I'm not the most experienced rat owner but this has worked for me so far and they love the variety vs. just a pet store mix. I also feed them fruit and yogies of course


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## pipsqueak (Sep 5, 2011)

right now im just feeding the them food from petsmart. 
With some extra lab blocks since they love those. 
But I would rather them have something healthier, 
especially since Im getting a 3rd girl late january.

How did you make yours exactly/what did you use.


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## GhostMouse (Sep 6, 2011)

Mine get Harlan Teklad (Native Earth) lab blocks. They are nutritionally complete and the rats don't really "need" anything else. (I don't know what kind of blocks you're feeding, but generally the pet store blocks are *awful*. Mazuri and Oxbow are good, though. However, they are expensive. If you buy HT through the link I provided, it's about $.50/lb. Most pet store foods are more like $4/lb.)

I give mine Suebee's mix every other day or so, because I feel that eating the same thing every day would be incredibly boring. I couldn't find the "puffed" cereals she called for, so I use Multigrain Cheerios, instead. I also haven't been able to find the dry soybeans. Otherwise I believe I followed her recipe exactly.

Mine also get fresh veggies, and I keep Yogies and freeze-dried fruits as treats. (Target's store brand has freeze-dried strawberries and bananas with absolutely no added ingredients. They're wonderful because they keep forever without rotting like fruit does, so it's easy to have some on hand.)


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## WriterRat (Dec 20, 2011)

I'm moving towards the same "make your own" meals, since I'm on my own "buy local/eat local" diet. But, it's a little more difficult being on a busy college schedule, and I want to make sure my rats get a solid source of vitamins/nutrients. For now, I'm sticking with a regular lab block (daily) and then heavily supplementing fruits, veggies and grains. My ratties are fans of virtually every fruit and vegetable, and simple treats like puffed cereals and grain cereals. They especially like oatmeal, both cooked and raw.

The veggies/fruits aspect works out well because we're sort of eating the same things. I chop fruits and vegetables at the beginning of the week when I pre-make my meals, so I can just grab and go. And, at the end of the week, when I have food that's slightly wilted or I don't want to waste but I'm tired of, they'll take care of it for me. [Modified: I chop veggies and the like for both them and I, to make it easier. I just make little mixes of things like carrots and celery, grapes, tomatoes, etc. and ziplock it up, so it stays fresh for a few days and in the mornings when I'm off to class, I can grab and go, set out a handful for them to snack on throughout the day. Even better, if your fridge often gets too cold like mine, sometimes my rats like frozen snacks to munch on. I guess it's something different.]

As far as proteins, I give my rats just a few little nibbles of meat each week. I know other rat owners often prefer to use dog food, but when I first started rat-mommying, they wouldn't touch it. So, whenever I have lean meats during the week, I give them a small, small portion to supplement. They especially like eggs or little bits of chicken.


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## binkyhoo (Sep 28, 2008)

WriterRat said:


> I'm moving towards the same "make your own" meals, since I'm on my own "buy local/eat local" diet. But, it's a little more difficult being on a busy college schedule, and I want to make sure my rats get a solid source of vitamins/nutrients. For now, I'm sticking with a regular lab block (daily) and then heavily supplementing fruits, veggies and grains. My ratties are fans of virtually every fruit and vegetable, and simple treats like puffed cereals and grain cereals. They especially like oatmeal, both cooked and raw.
> 
> The veggies/fruits aspect works out well because we're sort of eating the same things. I chop fruits and vegetables at the beginning of the week when I pre-make my meals, so I can just grab and go. And, at the end of the week, when I have food that's slightly wilted or I don't want to waste but I'm tired of, they'll take care of it for me. [Modified: I chop veggies and the like for both them and I, to make it easier. I just make little mixes of things like carrots and celery, grapes, tomatoes, etc. and ziplock it up, so it stays fresh for a few days and in the mornings when I'm off to class, I can grab and go, set out a handful for them to snack on throughout the day. Even better, if your fridge often gets too cold like mine, sometimes my rats like frozen snacks to munch on. I guess it's something different.]
> 
> As far as proteins, I give my rats just a few little nibbles of meat each week. I know other rat owners often prefer to use dog food, but when I first started rat-mommying, they wouldn't touch it. So, whenever I have lean meats during the week, I give them a small, small portion to supplement. They especially like eggs or little bits of chicken.


Writerat, that is much of what i do. Same here except my rats love a kitty kibble now and then. Hard boiled eggs and legumes for protein.....yum


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## giggles_mcbug (Sep 10, 2011)

I use a variation of sue bees diet. It works well for us.


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## pipsqueak (Sep 5, 2011)

@ghost mouse
right now they are just getting the rat food from petsmart, and then i bought lab blocks from walmart one night. 
they really like the lab blocks, they go for those first. 


@WriterRat
Since I also have a guinea pig, I like to keep veggies in the house all the time. 
I try to give em at least a bit every other day. 
I do have some dried fruits though too. which they like. 
but they seem to prefer fresh.


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## GhostMouse (Sep 6, 2011)

Ahh, those are pretty much like feeding them nothing but cheeseburgers every day. Even if you put a bit of lettuce on the side, it's still junk food. If you prefer to buy from the store, Mazuri is a very good choice, and I know for a fact that Petsmart carries it. Otherwise, I highly recommend the HT blocks that I linked. You can get them in smaller quantities if you buy them from other sites, but that's the best price per pound that I've found.


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## junior_j (Jan 24, 2008)

My boy gets rat nuggets as a complete food mixed with grains and he gets protein and veg during the week too. He loves nibble treat sticks and will spend ages munching them but they are a RARE treat. He also gets yoggies when I am practicing his re-call with him


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## binkyhoo (Sep 28, 2008)

giggles_mcbug said:


> I use a variation of sue bees diet. It works well for us.


That is the great thing about Suebees diet, It is easy to switch about depending on your availability. If you are missing somthing on one batch, In the other it comes back. Variety. I just discovered multigrain Cheerios. Yum.(Good for me too)


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## CarrieD (Nov 20, 2011)

I started out with Kaytee lab blocks because that's what my local pet store had, knowing I didn't want seed mix and not knowing any better about blocks. When I switched to Native Earth I still had 5 lbs. of Kaytee left and have had to pitch it as no one will even touch it. The Native Earth is far cheaper and far better - less than a dollar a pound delivered right to your door as opposed to almost $2 per pound of blocks with too much protein and ingredients rats can't digest (alfalfa). 

I separated mine into 5 lb. bags and threw them in the freezer so they'll stay fresh. Threre are 10 rats in my mischief and I expect this feed to last me 4 months. Works out to something like 8.75 per month. I do make my own dry mix, but just for variety and fun, and I use whatever I happen to have around the house - cereals, oatmeal, pasta, dried fruit, maybe a few sunflower or pumpkin seeds. They get that maybe once or twice a week.


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## binkyhoo (Sep 28, 2008)

CarrieD said:


> I started out with Kaytee lab blocks because that's what my local pet store had, knowing I didn't want seed mix and not knowing any better about blocks. When I switched to Native Earth I still had 5 lbs. of Kaytee left and have had to pitch it as no one will even touch it.


My first rat I fed Kaytee... For about 4 days. She hated it. It went into the trash all so. Now, later on in life I know how rats love to eat. THat must have really been bad for a rat to turn its nose up on it.


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