[Leala]

I'm acquiring some rats soon and the person I'm getting them from feeds them Critter Cubes. I can't seem to find much about them on the internet but the guy that I'm getting the rats from says they're excellent. He also said that it was general food cubes for small animals.
I just want to know if anyone's heard anything about them? Are they okay to use on their own or should they be mixed with something else to make it better.
I'm not really sure =\
Some help would be nice.
And if this isn't any good any suggestions on what I can add to it or use instead?

 

[lilspaz68]

Critter Cubes are from Sunseed? They are considered a bad food ranking up there with Kaytee products but still above seed mixes.

If you have a PetSmart nearby they sell Mazuri lab blocks there which ARE good.

 

[Leala]

<sarcasm>Oh excellent</sarcasm>.
There is NO PetSmart in my province, let alone near by haha. We have Pets Unlimited and a smaller pet store called Pet City.
I have no idea what they sell in those stores either.
I could buy online but that could prove to be expensive.
Do you have any other good foods? Or is there anything I can mix with the food to make it more beneficial?

 

[Forensic]

No, no, no... anything that says 'high protein' I'm not feeding my boys!

 

[lilspaz68]

Hagen Nutri-blocks aren't bad either. BUT if you are going to order its best to get Harlan Teklad from Kim's Ark Rescue, I believe its a dollar per pound plus shipping and is a complete diet for rats. They might take paypal as well.
Harlan Teklad 2018 is the best all around diet for your average rat.
http://www.kimsarkrescue.org/content/view/23/35/

There is another alternative, a diet you buy and mix yourself called Suebee's Mix, but you have to find the right dog kibble for it, otherwise it defeats the purpose.
http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

A woman named Suebee created it as a balanced diet, she is also a moderator on the Goosemoose forums.

 

[Leala]

Thanks a lot =).
Is that fist store you mentioned from Canada or the United States. It could get a little crazy if it's not from Canada.

I wouldn't mind using Suebee's mix but I can't get all of the ingredients. Such as the Total cereal.
I'll e-mail her about it and see what other options there are.

Edit: Upon further inspection there's no e-mail option >_<

 

[lilspaz68]

Thanks a lot =).
Is that fist store you mentioned from Canada or the United States. It could get a little crazy if it's not from Canada.

I wouldn't mind using Suebee's mix but I can't get all of the ingredients. Such as the Total cereal.
I'll e-mail her about it and see what other options there are.

Edit: Upon further inspection there's no e-mail option >_<

Ahh silly me, didn't notice you are from NFLD. I will PM a friend who lives in NB and see if she knows of anywhere local to pick up labblocks.

About the total, I was told to crush up a multi-vitamin (child's?) and sprinkle it on. If you would like I will PM Suebee for you? I am on Goosemoose and I also know her.

 

[lilspaz68]

Just did a search and found a thread called "Good Alternatives to Total Cereal?"

I use Debbie Ducommon's molasses mix recipe and her diet menu. You can find it at http://www.ratfanclub.org/diet.html
She has Total cereal in her molasses mix and it says if Total cereal is unavailable you?ll need to grind up a child's chewable vitamin/mineral tablet (be sure it contains minerals, and not just vitamins), for children 2-4 years, and add to the molasses mix recipe. I would think you could add the childrens vitamins to whatever your feeding them.

 

[Leala]

Thanks. I have family that lives in Nova Scotia so I might be able to get them to send me some food. I want to try and get as much of it at one time as makes sense so I don't have to get them to send me food every month, maybe every three months or something.

Also do you think you might be able to message Suebee? I might be able to use her diet, substitute the cereal for the vitamins and possibly substitute the dog food as well. I took a look at Walmart last night and couldn't see the brand she uses. I just want to know if it's okay to use something that has roughly the same amount of protein in it and such. It seems easier to get my hands on that stuff, and it also looks to last much longer.

Thanks again for being so helpful! I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have a place like this to come and ask questions!

 

[Forensic]

Approved Rat Dog Foods

But try picking something similar to the Innova, yes.

 

[Leala]

Thank you that list may be a life saver. I'm going to check Walmart tonight and see if there's anything there close to what the innova is!
Thankyousomuchomgiloveyou!

 

[IceLore]

You can dig around a bit and come up with alternatives to some of the cereals in the Suebee's mix. There is also a list for UK people called the Shunamite diet. It's not completely applicable to you, but looking at that will just give you a good overview of how you can mix and match to come up with something if you choose to go that route.

I highly recommend the grain mix diet though. It's awesome, turns out to be really cost effective (even for my 8 rats) and it's fun to make too.

Good luck finding the dog food. I had trouble settling one one too. It's not so much just that they have to be the right amount of protein and fat and such, but the ingredient list has to be good as well. Little to no by-products, corn, middlings, etc. Whole foods are always better. You can go to any of your local petshops and tell them what you are looking for though, and they might be able to help you too!

 

[Leala]

Thanks IceLore. I don't actually have any pet stores here in my area but I am going to visit some friends and to get my ratties sometime soon. I'll buy some in bulk out there. They've got a few pet stores that I can take a look around in. I dunno I might get lucky and find something at the Walmart here in town. Yes that's all we have that sells any sort of pet stuff =\.

Actually I might be getting a single rat within the next couple of days. A friend of mine tried to feed it to his snake, but the snake wouldn't eat him. So I'm going to take him and take care of him. It was such a sin. I won him over really quick though, at first he tried to bite but then I fed him some seeds (all they've been feeding the poor baby is a gerbil seed mix) and eventually he crawled in the sleeve of my sweater and wouldn't come out.

Ignore my creepy looking fingers, and the crappy quality it was taken with my cellphone camera.

 

[Night]

Make sure you get him a buddy! Rats can't live alone

Also - be aware that the bitting may come back. Neutering greatly reduces territorial/hormonal responses such as bitting, lunging, and hissing. So, just in case, make sure you have a good rat vet and enough money for a neuter!

 

[Leala]

Yes I know they get lonely, and from what I can tell he was biting from being scared.. He only did it once and I think it also might have been an accident. I had a seed and then dropped it by accident. I'm pretty sure he should be alright, but if there is any problems I'll try and find a vet that actually neuters rats.
Also just to let you know I'm getting 4 more boys coming in a couple weeks. so I think he should be alright for now.

 

[Leala]

Just in case I can't find any proper dog food to mix with my rats food would I be able to use the "critter cubes" and just mix them with other foods to give them a slightly balanced diet?
I want them to be healthy, I don't have a lot of options for proper food in my province. It's fairly small and not much ever happens here.

 

[lilspaz68]

Are these Sunseed Critter Cubes? If they are they are considered crap. Along with Kaytee. Sorry, so no healthy diet there. :roll:

 

[Leala]

I actually don't know
The person who I'm getting the rats from never mentioned who they were made by.
I want to give my rats a healthy diet but I have no idea where I would get lab blocks. I don't even think they're sold in my province >_>

 

[lilspaz68]

Google "Suebee's Mix". She created a mix you can make yourself to feed your rats.

No petstores at all?