# How much do I feed my rat?



## stormyyy

Hi there 

I recently just got my first two pet rats of the same litter, Oscar, and Watkins the other day- both fancy Rats. I bought them the store bought mix of seeds/corns and etc, but I read on a handful of sites not to feed that to them to often because it's high in fats. I also have the rat blocks, which I know they eat and are good for their teeth.

Since they've been home, I've put about five or seven blocks in their cage a day- and given them some sliced up carrots. And one day some seeds.

However, I want to be safe and make sure I am putting them on a healthy diet.

Can someone please tell me how many blocks are good to put in a cage? Or how often to give them fruit and how much? Or what you feed your rat a day- and how much of it? 

Thank you.


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## Jaguar

Please don't give them that seed mix as a staple. D: It really isn't healthy. They pick out the fatty seeds and leave the nutritious blocks, leading to malnutrition or fat rats. In some extreme cases it's caused starvation when only seed shells and unedible remains were left in the bowl although it appears to be full.

I've heard that adult rats eat about 5 blocks a day but it really depends on the size of the rat and the block. My boys just get a dish full and eat as much as they need. I've never had an overweight rat so it seems to work well for me. Since rats have such high metabolism and need to eat pretty frequently I wouldn't recommend limiting their access to food, but instead offering more exercise and out time if you feel they are over weight or unhealthy. Most of their diet is Mazuri blocks and the rest is grain mix and fresh fruit/veggies


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## Alexc844

I do what Jaguar does. Just fill their main dish with lab blocks, then I have another dish where I put their yogurt, fruits, veggies, oatmeal, etc. My rats are at healthy weights, as well.


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## olddeadpig

Not many posts here! There is a good guide to rat diet under its own heading from one of the moderators here, well worth a look. The diet posted above by Ema-Leigh is wonderfully varied - those ratties must be very happy! but I think there's possibly a bit much protein there. Rats can't cope with a large amount of protein in their diet, so I'd be a bit concerned at all the protein - fish flakes, dogfood, catfood, meat, fish, mealworms, sunflower seeds etc. Having said that, your rats are healthy weight and mine, fed on a more supposedly "healthy" diet, range between healthy and really fat (partly genetics, but still...), so who am I to talk?! If it works for you and your rats, great! 

The usual advice though is lab blocks or similar all-in-one rat-specific nuggets (to avoid selective feeding, where they just eat the bits they really like and wait for you to top up the bowl while leaving the bits they're not so keen on - this can lead to deficiencies in their overall diet) and then fresh veg, a bit of fruit (not too much as it contains a lot of sugar, and citrus fruits are best avoided) and the odd treat (but be careful about treats, please look at the recommended diets posted elsewhere here to see what foods are bad for rats, and don't be afraid to ask before feeding a new food). 

I don't think the diet being fed by Stormyyy is so bad, but please add some green veg to supplement the carrots (kale always seems to go down well with rats, and is cheap to boot!). I don't know how old your ratties are, but if they're under 3 months they should probably have more protein than adults, while they're still growing fast. I use puppy formula milk (buy it dehydrated in tins, reconstitute with hot water, wait until it's warm rather than hot then feed it in a small water bottle like a hamster or mouse bottle, in addition to a separate bottle of plain fresh water) and also sachets of puppy food (not sure where you are, in the UK there is a brand called James Wellbeloved who do sachets of puppy food which my does loved when they were small, it's only about 45p a pack (about 75 cents) and one sachet would do a pair of kits for 2 or 3 days - the lamb and rice version was a real favourite).

Don't listen to anything the pet store tells you, unless you know for a fact that the member of staff you speak to keeps rats successfully and/or posts here! The advice on these forums is fantastic and you get to really trust the advice given by the senior members (not me! I'm still a newbie. Look out for those who are tagged as "Squishy Laprats" especially, they've been here for years and are mostly moderators, they really know what they're talking about).

And finally, welcome to the wide world of rats! Once you've had rat, you'll never go back!!


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## stormyyy

Thank you so much everyone, I found this post to be extremely helpful.
 

I've chosen to fill up their bowl with the lab blocks in the morning, and give them their vegetables at night. My mother is going to pick up some pea, along with the carrots, and I'll give them fruits as a treat for now. I'll keep referring back to this - I learned a lot from everyone's answers.

'Im already finding I trust what people say here-
and it's true, I will never go back


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## Princess Ratty

I have 2 female dumbo rats, age two months old and the other is 3 months old. They are happy, healthy, active ratties, and not over weight. How many lab blocks do I feed them each per day?

I use to fill their bowl once per day, and found them stored, piled mountain high in their Igloo at the end of the week when I clean the cage. Now I give them ½ a bowl once per day. Is this enough food? I have trouble regulating how much lab blocks to give them every day. I have no idea if they are being under fed or over fed. How many lab blocks should I feed each rat per day? I also give them fresh veggies and fruit daily. I do not give them junk food.


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