# Best rat food



## Umeboshi (May 2, 2008)

Ok so I'm trying to pick out a good rat food. I've looked at some but saw that something was wrong with each. What do you suggest? I shop at petco a lot by the way. I can also shop at petsmart.


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## AlienMando (Jan 19, 2008)

What was wrong with the ones you looked at specifically?

I feed different blocks and a small regular mix with good fresh food aswell.
they love their veggies!


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## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

Check the diet sticky in the Rat Health section. 

Unless you can find Mazuri or the Oxbow Regal Rat lab blocks, which is pretty rare and definitely not at PetCo, you're not going to fine any good rat foods in any store. The two top recommended brands are Harlan Teklan, which must be ordered online, or the Oxbow Regal Rat, usually easiest for people online. 

Don't go for a seed mix, the rats just pick out the fatty parts and get little actual nutrition. And don't go for anything that says rat and mouse, since the two have very different dietary needs and it's probably not right for rats. 

Good for you for checking around, and I hope that diet sticky helps you out!


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## JulesMichy (Apr 8, 2007)

CaptainFlow said:


> The two top recommended brands are Harlan Teklan, which must be ordered online, or the Oxbow Regal Rat, usually easiest for people online.


You can usually purchase Oxbow products through an exotic veterinary clinic.


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## furballs (May 18, 2008)

I checked out some of your recommendations and found that the Mazuri is labeled as "Rat and mouse food"..something you said to avoid? Also the ingredients on the mazuri sounds MUCH less nutritious than what I am feeding my guys (Sun Seed, hutch klub) which is also labeled as Rat and mouse food, but the ingredients are amazing compared to anything else I have seen yet. Let me know your thoughts on this.

Scott (Furballs)


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## CeilingofStars (Apr 21, 2008)

I feed Mazuri which I think is generally the best you can find at pet stores (Petsmart). Generally it's been given the stamp of approval. Substitute with fresh fruits and especially vegetables.


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## phaidraft (Apr 9, 2008)

I've been feeding Mazuri (which we have at our Petsmart and our PetCo) and Lizzy eats it ok, but Lark isn't touching it. I'm hoping she just gets used to it, or I'm going to have to try something else.

Yes, definitely make sure to get them some fresh fruits/veggies. Peas, carrots, and grapes are all favorites in this house.


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## AceYourFace (Jan 4, 2008)

I make my own mix. Well I use Suebee's mix. It's way good for them and you don't have to worry about checking for carcinogens And you know exactly what the ingredients are because you make it. My rats love it. They gobble it up. It probably costs a lil more because it isn't pre-made. But it's definitely worth it. Here's a Link:

http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

Good luck!


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## Umeboshi (May 2, 2008)

It looks like Mazuri is found in petsmart, which is pretty near me, so I'm going to look there. If it's not, I'll get the Nutro Natural Choice Lite and make some grain mix.


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## JulesMichy (Apr 8, 2007)

furballs said:


> I checked out some of your recommendations and found that the Mazuri is labeled as "Rat and mouse food"..something you said to avoid? Also the ingredients on the mazuri sounds MUCH less nutritious than what I am feeding my guys (Sun Seed, hutch klub) which is also labeled as Rat and mouse food, but the ingredients are amazing compared to anything else I have seen yet. Let me know your thoughts on this.



This stuff?

Because the ingredients aren't so hot, actually. They have what we call "ingredient splitting". It's where you list the same ingredient several times, changing a few words to make it look different. This stuff has "whole corn", "flaked corn", and "ground corn" in the first nine ingredients. Which means it's mostly corn, a very low quality ingredient. And it has "corn gluten", which is what's left over after corn has been processed and all the nutritious stuff has been removed.

It also has a lot of fillers. Oat groats, wheat middlings, alfalfa, soybean hulls... They're all fillers, there to bulk up the diet without adding anything to it nutritionally.

Their "Critter Cubes" are even worse, containing fat of an unknown origin and BHA.

Overall, Sun Seed really isn't that great.

(ETA: I found the Hutch Club stuff you were talking about, but I can't find an ingredient list anywhere, which makes me suspicious. But given the overall quality of their other rodent diets, I'm still very skeptical about the quality of this one.)


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## RascalRatties (May 8, 2008)

i do subees mix also, i used to feed lab blocks but found even mixing in lots of fresh foods i had some who liked some who didnt, so i started making my own
it worked out around $15 for ALL the ingredients (then another $15) for a big bag o good senior food.
then i filled an airtight container with the dog food, the rest got baggied up in the big freezer bags and thrown in the frezer (dog food lasts longer (and well past sellby/use by) if frozen)
then the "grain" side of it mixed up and poured into a good airtight container.

even thought its more expensive at first...it does end up costing less per week to feed than feeding a good lab block.

buy in bulk at places like sams club or costco and freeze the extra and you REALY end up saving.

not to mention ive found my ratties LOVE the mix.

they of course get fresh foods daily, but ive found unlike with lab blocks that got ignored when fresh stuff came in, they will eat the mix even when fresh is available meaning they must like it


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## BowlTipper (Mar 21, 2008)

My girls get the Mazuri as I can't afford shipping on the Harland Teklan, nor do I know where to find the Suebees. It's probably the only kind in pet stores that is anything close. (the Kaytee Forti-Diet has a chemical in it that's bad for rats... I think it was something that causes cancer but I can't recall right now as I'm sick and not thinking totally straight...)

Of course, it's not always easy to spot the Mazuri Rat and Mouse Diet. (I had a hard time finding it in a Petsmart once, but then again it was a bigger Petsmart than the one I go to


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