# Chia Seed



## Steven (Mar 30, 2011)

So I was wondering if anyone has ever given their rats this? 

My rat loves it when I make up some chia gel(chia seed + water) and give it to him as a treat, sometimes I mix in a bit of spirulina or bee pollen as well to add more nutrients. 

For those that have never heard of chia or havent fed it, here are a few articles/info:
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/chia.html
http://whatscookingamerica.net/CharlotteBradley/Chai-Seeds.htm


----------



## wheeljack (Mar 17, 2011)

Yup, I give them chia seeds pretty frequently (and eat a ton of the myself).


----------



## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

I'm inclined to grow them for my rats. I'm trying to make a list of fast growing plants for a dig box, and I wouldn't have thought of this otherwise.


----------



## Steven (Mar 30, 2011)

wheeljack said:


> Yup, I give them chia seeds pretty frequently (and eat a ton of the myself).


Oh! Im glad Im not the only person that eats a lot of chia! I eat it daily in my smoothies, so good! And the animals like it, so I guess it benefits everyone by me buying it. 



smesyna said:


> I'm inclined to grow them for my rats. I'm trying to make a list of fast growing plants for a dig box, and I wouldn't have thought of this otherwise.


Im going to hopefully be buying a wheatgrass juicer soon, and growing my own wheat grass with an 'extra' tray just for the rats to munch and dig in. If you know of any other good/fast growing plants let me know!


----------



## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Good luck juicing it! That sounds..well not tasty to me, but I bet its really healthy!

Mostly other than wheatgrass I'm finding herbs, like parsley, mint, stuff like that. I'll let you know what else I find though. From what I understand rats prefer it to be pretty recent sprouts, so if you want to add some slightly slower stuff it is not too big a deal.


----------



## Steven (Mar 30, 2011)

Wheat grass is very tastey! It just depends on when its harvested to be juiced from your growing pan - sometimes if you let it go too long/too short it can be really sour or nasty where other times it can be too sweet. Ive seen so many rat pictures of them digging and eating wheat grass, so they must like it no matter what the flavor. 


Ive never heard of giving mint to rats, do they actually like it? I know mice do not and avoid it, so I figured rats were similar in the taste for mint(although I sure love it).


----------



## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

I've heard people say their rats went nuts for it. I'll let you know if I end up growing it.


----------



## wheeljack (Mar 17, 2011)

Stacy,

Make sure you soak and eat the seeds, don't sprout all of them.
Once you get past the texture, they are really fun to eat and the rats love the plain seeds (soaked or not).


----------



## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

I'll certainly try it, but I'll be really surprised if I like it plain like that. Sounds like more of a mix in but we will see, I'll try to keep an open mind about it . It's definitely something I'm going to try to keep around though. Hopefully they're not too hard to find.


----------



## Steven (Mar 30, 2011)

Sort of similar, but I made a really good 'spanish rice' recipe from a raw food book using sprouted barely, it was pretty good! And wheeljack, Ive never heard of people just sprouting and eating wheatberries, interesting! Will have to try it.


----------



## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

mMm that does sound good! I love spanish rice.


----------



## Steven (Mar 30, 2011)

I can message you the recipe if you'd like, its definitely something Ill be making again, and its super simple to make!


----------



## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Yes, I would definitely like that, thanks so much!


----------



## wheeljack (Mar 17, 2011)

Steven said:


> Sort of similar, but I made a really good 'spanish rice' recipe from a raw food book using sprouted barely, it was pretty good! And wheeljack, Ive never heard of people just sprouting and eating wheatberries, interesting! Will have to try it.


I meant chia seeds, never heard of anyone sprouting wheatberries either.

fwiw, both my rats and cats go psycho for mint--I have applemint and spearmint (and of course catnip--it's part of the mint family) and the quadrupeds dig/roll/eat/ on it like they're possessed. 
Oregano doesn't grow all that fast, but that's another firm favorite.


----------



## Steven (Mar 30, 2011)

Oh woops! I thought you were talking about wheat berries since we were talking about wheat grass. :

Ill definitely give my rat some mint when I pick some up later this week! I know most dark leafy greens are a big hit here in this household though, the rat, mice, and turtle love them.


----------

