live food for rats?

[Ginevive]

I remembered reading somewhere that rats like both fish, and crickets, live. I have heard of people feeding these as treats. Has anyone ever done this? I am thinking my rats would love fish, as I fed them some leftover salmon once, and they went nuts.

[Pythonman]

My ASF rats LOVE mealworms...so its not that out there...I'm convinced normal rats will eat almost anything

[frankykeno]

Rats will take live food. Crickets, mealies, tiny feeder goldfish. Remember they will make a gawd awful mess though and you've got to make sure that any "moving" prey gets hunted and eaten so it's not hidding in the loose bedding.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

When I bred mealies, I would feed the rats handfuls a couple times a week. They love em and its so cute to watch them suck it down like a noodle.

[Ginevive]

Sounds interesting I might try this with crickets. I figure that it will stimulate their little rattie minds a little. I was thinking of putting in a rubbermaid tub, into the tank. Letting the rat get used-to it, and placing some rat food mix in there to pique its interest. Then, putting in the fish, or crickets, or mealies and seeing what happens. I am glad that you mentioned, averting possible lost live food, Jo. I don't want rogue crickets everywhere!

[BulldogBalls]

Oh yes they love wriggling crawling squirmy things. I always limited the numbers I gave at any one time as even rats, with a drastic change in diet, will have softer and smellier excrement from richer food. Doesn't last long and isn't nearly as bad as a mammals reaction to fast drastic diet change(like dogs, diarrhea) but just a warning. I gave my rats crickets and mealworms about once a week in moderation, they loved it.

[stangs13]

there is a chance that they will be scared of the live food! I am going to try it once they get to breeding size in about a week, just to give some extra protien. As well as once they have birthed a litter!

[wolfy-hound]

Mine all loved crickets, and would pounce on mealworms and superworms.

[Ginevive]

Sounds cool I am thinking of treating my preggo females a little extra. Maybe not so much when they're nursing; I would not want to pull them away from the babies.

[frankykeno]

I wouldn't put crickets in with a rat with a young nursing litter. You don't want the crickets hopping all over those pinky rats....yewwww. A nice treat if you want extra protein for a newly birthed female rat is a bit of lightly boiled chicken liver or heart chopped up with a bit of hard boiled egg. They love this treat and it's not at all expensive to feed them.