[yonksgirl]

This was a idea in another post so I thought I would get the ball rolling

I always love to find out what others put in thier rat mix
My Hot mix is
Green beans
Peas
Carrots
Brown rice
Broccoli
Cauliflower
And I add a tiny bit of meat or fish once a day

My dry mix is
Granola bars broken up
mixed nuts
Ritz crackers
preztels

They also get some other goodies like oatmeal and fruit

Next time I want to add dried cranberries to my dry mix and Cooked beans to my hot mix!

Let me know what you put in yours! Or if you think I should add something let me know I love suggestions!

 

[yonksgirl]

Forgot in my dry mix there is also uncooked tricolored spiral pasta and gold fish crackers ( they look so cute carrying around little fish LOL)

 

[Spider]

Are you trying to kill your Rats? Your dry mix is the worst mix I ever heard of for a Pet Rat!
Granola bars, Ritz crackers, Mixed nuts, I can't think of any creature that could survive for long on that diet, except a dumpster diving wino.
You have the Rats, exercise some responsibility and get with the program. Theres plenty of site with tons of info on Rat Diets, Sue Bees, Rat fan Club, September Skies website has the diet I use.
I believe you do care for your Rats but are inexperienced so I'll lighten up but Rats are an exotic and require a specific dry diet with a lesser amount of veggies as supplement. Study up on it and you will be rewarded with happy healthy Ratties.
Spider

 

[yonksgirl]

Wow

I asked for suggestions I will admit that I do not know it all but I did not ask for a response like that. Instead of yelling maybe you could explain your side and let me know whatyou think I should be feeding.

My ratties get lab rocks and they do not get the dry mix all the time. They do get the mixed veggies with brownrice every day and they love it The dry mix is a treat.

 

[twitch]

the dry mix seems rather fattening but i don't see that horrbile a problem with it. the hot mix seems fine though how do you cook it? they'll get more nutrients from it if the veggies are uncooked. if you do want to cook them (i bet they like it warm) then they will get more nutrients fried rather then boiled. so long as you don't use too much oil anyway (which can be fattening as well).

with the mixed nuts i'd make sure that there are no peanuts. peanuts destroy vitimin A so one nut once a month maybe would be more then enough as a treat. i don't remember reading anything bad about the other nuts but peanuts should be avoided.

my rats don't get a mix like that at all though either. i feed them the best dog food i can find and trust in my area and then they get table scraps and veggies (whatever is in the salad or left over in the fridge) and fruit (mostly banana or strawberry tops). no one is abnormally large (weight wise) and no one is too thin either. they all seem to be growing at a nice rate and maintaining their weight fine. right now spider is sick so she gets a breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, supper, and late night snack of baby foods. he favorite seems to be the baby oatmeal mixed with chocolate boost. she's lost a bit of weight since first getting sick but she's starting to pull around.


Spider-- i understand you're concern but please, in future, try to hold back on her emotions to better word your sentiments so your advice is better taken. you catch more flies with honey afterall.

 

[Spider]

You didn't say anything about lab blocks in your first post, and the mix you described if fed as a primary mix would surely kill a Rat over time.
Ritz Crackers are full of hydrogenated fats, sugar, sodium, and lifeless bleached flour.
Granola bars are really dessert wrapped in a healthy wrapper, most have enough sugar to send a small animals blood sugar skyward
Mixed nuts are great if your a squirell but rats shouldn't have more than 1 raw in the shell per day.
Pretzels are completlely devoid of any substance for health, White bleached flour with lots of salt, real fresly made pretzels are marginally better
All the vegetables you mentioned are great, as long as most are raw allowing the Rat to absorb important amino acids which are imperitive for digestion and vitamins.
The Rat is an Omnivore and can exist on a variety of foods but will thrive when given a diet of 30-40% clean organic grains, Organic Veggies, beans, seeds, and smaller amounts of Organic free range animal products.
Given the information you supplied earlier I feel my response was justified and I will not apologise , people have to be ready to stick up for animals. If you are feeding better than you described earlier we have nothing further to discuss , good luck with your Rats
Spider

 

[Forensic]

I feed HT lab blocks and fresh veggie treats, often peas and carrot (they fish for them. )

 

[Vixie]

Wow, Spider, I'd have to say your hostility is completely uncalled for and very unnecessary. Don't just jump down someone's throat like that with insults. We've had problems like that before and it's very difficult to deal with people who just attack without true provocation.

I feed my rats a low-fat low-protein dog food mixed with the Kashi Puffs.

If I find we get something good for dinner(never fast food, just when my mom cooks) I'll make rat-sized servings and share with them.

I love watermelon and cantaloupe and all of the good fruits and what not, so they often get tidbits of that. Acid LOVES carrots and the boys really enjoy their watermelon.

 

[thegrotto]

Spider's hostility was very uncalled for. Kindness gets better reactions than threats.

 

[ladylady]

yeah dont take it to heart or get embarassed yonksgirl, there are alot of people who say knowledgable things but deliver them poorly.

My reaction was-not so much processed food cus rats tiny bodies must store toxins and additives in high concentrations compaired to us humans. I try to bear in mind what goes into the popular at home mixes when giving treats for eg-pasta, oats, mushrooms and tiny bits of ham. And one yogurt drop a day. (I think) It should be Mainly complex carbs and fibre, some veg, a little protien and a tiny bit fat.

 

[Star]

I feed http://www.ratnutrition.com/order.html its like a suebee diet for people who can't get the ingreidents all the time. I mix with it Natural choice senior small bites. And they get organic baby food every day. Sometimes I give soy yogrut/milk, olive oil, and not as often veggies. (we just don't keep the stuff they can eat around the house, frozen takes time to thaw, and I would never feed caned stuff to my kids.)

 

[Spider]

Its just the way I talk, I don't feel at all hostile.
Spider