I feed homemade and have done for about 10 years now, and I wouldn't go back. There are very few commercially available rat foods out there that I would rate or feed to my rats. About the only one I think is ok in the US is Oxbow, and to be honest I don't think pelleted diets fully meet a rats needs (for a start there nutritional needs vary a lot with age, genetics etc, and then theres the enrichment need!).
I do think that a well put together home made mix is hard to beat in terms of really giving the rats the best diet possible. However there are a lot out there that are essentially junk food. You either need to follow a good recipie (not Suebee's) or really know your nutrition. It also helps to have a good understanding of rat condition and how to "read it".
I've got some information on constructing a home made mix here
http://www.isamurats.co.uk/options-for-dry-mixes.html it is UK focused (its a bit easier over here) but is adaptable to most countries (I've helped people in the US as well as other countries pull together a good mix). At some point I'll get my condition guide up on there two as I think it would be helpful.
My current diet is roughly this;
Food
Picture
My feeding regime is made up of five main parts, all of which are important to how my rats look and feel. The exact balance of how much of each and the overall balance is very much down to my judgement on how the rats are doing at that particular time. I believe that a rats requirements change a lot depending on there time of life, growth rate, age, metabolism and activity levels. One of the reasons I like having small groups of rats is that I can better flex there diet to suit them individually. To do that I use all 4 sections of their diet;
Dry mix – This is the staple of my rats food, offering a balance diet based on a majority of minimally processed grains, I used to mix my own from scratch however now I use a complete straights based mix as my base and add a more varied but still balanced mix to that myself. I generally don’t feed this when they have wet food, unless it’s a small helping then they get a small scatter around the cage, I play this off there weights really, up it if there a bit slimmer than they should, drop it if there putting on a little, it’s quite fluid.
•50% Harrisions Bannana brunch, sometimes with some other good complete mixes such as low wheat rabbit muesli's or allen and paige pigmy goat mix.
•50% Home made straights based mix
o 50% minimally processed grains; Marshams mixed flakes, versalage junior plus pigeon mix (or dark plus), paddy rice, millet, dari, buckwheat, whole barley, oat groats etc
o 15% processed grains; Barley rings, denes wholegrain mixer, Rat rations mixed puffed grains, rice crispies, cornflakes, bitesized shredded wheat, porridge oats
o 10% protein; fish for dogs small bite kibble (or another natural high quality kibble) dried sea bugs (including fish, shrimps, tubifex etc), soya flakes
o 10% veg and herbs; boredom breakers herb plus mix (or another nice looking mix), dried cabbage, carrot, beetroot, leek, peas, berries, pepper, tomato etc.
o 5% seeds; pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, linseed, fennel seed, mixed meadow seeds, pine nuts etc.
Veg – about twice a week. Now this is usually a mixture of veg, normally with a base of something dark green and leafy, it also usually includes a small amount of fruit. I manage it by getting a load of veg in and then chopping it up and mixing and storing in the freezer. To add variety I have about 3-4 different bags full that have a different combination of ingredients. They quite often get this still frozen too which goes down well. I also look out for mixed veg such as stir fry mixes regularly as this adds a bit of variety in too.
Wet meals – this happens between once every week to 10 days. This is normally something wet and higher than normal protein (e.g. dog food, sardines, egg, fish etc.), something carbohydrate based (soaking mix, cous cous, pasta, rice etc.) and there veg portion.
Supplements - As my rats are fed on partially un-enriched straights based food i need to add a few key vitamins and minerals. This means I give them Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials about 2 or 3 days a week, going up to 5 days a week for babies and nursing mums. They also get cooked bones or cuttle fish bones at least once a week.
I also add some of the following to there regular wet meals depending what they need at the time (1-2 oils and something full of vitamins as standard); salmon oil, vitamin a extracted cod liver oil, evening primrose oil, omega oil, linseed oil, daily 3, seaweed powder, calcivet, senior aid, glucosamine, some sort of crushed up vitamin tablet (I have copper, vitamin d, calcium and vitamin d, selenium, don’t do this that often really), vitamin C and pro-biotic, bone and meal powder. This then is mashed up and fed in a bowl.
Treats – generally a mix of higher protein higher fat every couple of days (fish for dogs small bite kibble, natural cat treats, melon seeds) and low fat low protein (currently curried chickpeas) on a more frequent basis. I up the amount of high protein treats for youngsters or those that look as though they need it. In later life or to support specific illnesses I will often pick treats that may help. To me treats are a useful way of tailoring a diet to the individual, as one rat can get something different to the others (as long as you’re fast dishing them out).
A typical mix looks like this
Thanks!
