[LilCritter]

If I were to supplement a lab block with various seeds, cereals, fruits, vegetables and whatnot, should I still include dog food for protein? What I essentially want to do is create a supplement that is still wholly nutritious (relatively). However, I'm not sure if the dog food would cause there to be too much protein in the mix. The brand I am using has 18% protein. Can I replace it with dried shrimp or something? I recently bought a dehydrator, so I can use that as well. So far, my mix looks like this:

Group # cups Ingredient % Total % Recommended


Base Mix
2 hulled millet 55.00% 50-60%
2 rye berries
2 pearled barley
2 hulless barley
2 quinoa
2 whole oat groats
2 chia seeds
2 amaranth grain
2 raw buckwheat groats
2 wild rice
2 brown rice

Processed Grains
4 Lab Block 22.50% 20-25%
1 whole wheat pasta
2 tri-colored pasta
1 Arrowhead puffed wheat cereal
1 Arrowhead puffed kamut

Protein
4 Solid Gold Holistique Blendz Dog Food 10.00% 10%


Seeds
1 raw hulled pumpkin seed 5.00% 5%
0.5 golden flax seed
0.5 brown flax seed


Herbs and Vegetables
1.5 Dark Greens 7.50% 5-10%
0.5 Colorful Veggies
0.5 Other Veggies
0.5 Fruits

Total 40 measuring units

 

[Night]

If they're getting a lab block, they don't need supplemental protein by way of dog food. At least for me, it's lab blocks (or Regal Rat) as a staple, OR dog food - since they're all 'complete foods.' Plus, a lot of the grains you're including have great plant proteins, especially the flax and rice, and dark leafy greens. If you do wish to continue using some dog food, I'd recommend one aimed at seniors or that is vegetarian, that has lower protein. Holistique Blendz is one of the foods I feed my dog, and it's definitely an active adult dog's food.

All that aside, GREAT mix! Mirrors my own in a lot of ways

 

[LilCritter]

Alright, I'll just not use the dog food since the minimum I can buy is 4.5lbs and I only need a few scoops. I wanted to add some animal protein since I don't think the HT2018 I use has it. I'm planning to switch to Oxbow Regal Rat once my batch of HT is done since all my rats will be well over 4 months by then. I may add a scoop of dried shrimp or something every once in a while.
Mainly the supplement is to give them something more interesting than lab blocks, but I wanted it to still be nutritionally complete in cause they decide "Oh, hey, I'm not going to eat the blocks anymore."