squirrel food for rats and mice?

[punyhuman07]

i was at walmart to and was walking around the lawn and garden area and saw they had a 50 lb bag of this squirrel, chipmunk food. it had peanuts,soybeans,sunflower seed, ad some other stuff it looked really good. so i was wondering if this would be healthy for rats and mice to eat since they are simlar to squirrels and chipmunks. it was 9.99 a bag.

[RhacHead]

I use a similar mix with my rats/asf's.I also add Lab block and low protien dog food.Some people may or may not agree with this technique but it works great for me.

[rebeccabecca]

I don't know about rats but for hamsters squirrel mix works really well.

[punyhuman07]

well i tryed it hey had a smaller bag and they tore it up i did though add some lab blocks it the mix and it's just the right size that the stuff doesn't pore out of the hoppers

[littleindiangirl]

i was at walmart to and was walking around the lawn and garden area and saw they had a 50 lb bag of this squirrel, chipmunk food. it had peanuts,soybeans,sunflower seed, ad some other stuff it looked really good. so i was wondering if this would be healthy for rats and mice to eat since they are simlar to squirrels and chipmunks. it was 9.99 a bag.

I don't think it would be bad as a treat, but definitely not a staple of their diet.

I would avoid completely the peanuts, and I'm not sure on raw soybeans, but I wouldnt feed those either just in case. I have read that ALL raw beans aren't good for them, so I'd lump them in there.

Sunflower seeds are perfectly fine, they will have a blast with those.

Just read your ingredients in the list and google them and see if any are forbidden to give to rats. Generally those sorts of list look like this, and will give a reason why.

http://www.ratfanclub.org/diet.html

Forbidden Foods

Generally, if you would eat a food, you can give it to your rats. Here are some exceptions and notables:
raw dry beans or peanuts—contains antinutrients that destroy vitamin A and enzymes needed to digest protein and starches, and causes red blood cells to clump
raw sweet potato—contains compounds that form cyanide in the stomach
green bananas—inhibits starch-digesting enzymes
green potato skin and eyes—contain solanine, a toxin
wild insects—can carry internal parasites and diseases
raw bulk tofu—can contain bacteria, packaged raw tofu is safe
orange juice—forbidden for male rats only, d-limonene in the skin oil, which gets into the orange juice during squeezing, can cause kidney damage and kidney cancer due to a protein that only male rats have in their kidneys. Pieces of the orange fruit are okay if you wash the orange-skin oil off of it after peeling it.

[punyhuman07]

This is what the package says

ingredients:
corn,sunflower seeds,alfalfa pellets,oats,cooked peanuts,cooked soybeans,millet and milo.

guaranteed analysis:
crude protein(not less then) 14.0%
crude fat(not less then) 10.0%
crude fiber(not less then) 10.0%
crude fiber(not more then) 15.0%
moisture(not more then) 15.0%

[SatanicIntention]

-Corn can contain mold, which will kill your rats quickly(or slowly depending on the mold and amount ingested)
-Alfalfa is NOT digestible by rats.
-Sunflower seeds, unless they are the black oil type, are incredibly fatty and should only be given as a treat.
Cooked peanuts are fine as are the soybeans, oats, millet and milo. Although the last two are pretty small and they probably won't eat it.

So all in all, it's junk and you can easily just MAKE your own and it will be less expensive.

1-2 bags of tri-color pasta, 1 large container of long-cooking oatmeal(not the quick), box of puffed rice, box of crispy rice, box of puffed wheat, box of barley, box of Kashi cereal if you choose, small bag of black oil sunflower seeds, 1 bag of in-shell, cooked, unsalted peanuts, and a small amount of HIGH QUALITY senior dog food. No store crap like Doggy Bag, BLEH. Wellness is good, Innova is good, Doctors Foster & Smith senior dog food is good(target has it). No higher than 18% protein.

Mix all this together and voila, a much healthier mix without all the FILLERS. Corn is a filler and just contains sugar, plus the mold issue. Alfalfa is just a filler to rats. If we were talking rabbits, that's different. Striped sunflower seeds are only good as a treat, way too much fat in them.

[nixer]

-Corn can contain mold, which will kill your rats quickly(or slowly depending on the mold and amount ingested)
-Alfalfa is NOT digestible by rats.
-Sunflower seeds, unless they are the black oil type, are incredibly fatty and should only be given as a treat.
Cooked peanuts are fine as are the soybeans, oats, millet and milo. Although the last two are pretty small and they probably won't eat it.

So all in all, it's junk and you can easily just MAKE your own and it will be less expensive.

1-2 bags of tri-color pasta, 1 large container of long-cooking oatmeal(not the quick), box of puffed rice, box of crispy rice, box of puffed wheat, box of barley, box of Kashi cereal if you choose, small bag of black oil sunflower seeds, 1 bag of in-shell, cooked, unsalted peanuts, and a small amount of HIGH QUALITY senior dog food. No store crap like Doggy Bag, BLEH. Wellness is good, Innova is good, Doctors Foster & Smith senior dog food is good(target has it). No higher than 18% protein.

Mix all this together and voila, a much healthier mix without all the FILLERS. Corn is a filler and just contains sugar, plus the mold issue. Alfalfa is just a filler to rats. If we were talking rabbits, that's different. Striped sunflower seeds are only good as a treat, way too much fat in them.

lab blocks and half of the stuff you just posted to feed them molds just as easy.
a few weeks ago i was reading that they are studying alfalfa digestion again because of some of the results are questionable.
mine will eat millet and milo but it is small and would obviously take tons of it to fill a rat

[SatanicIntention]

Yes, I know stuff can mold easily when stored improperly.

ALL corn, which includes the dried whole corn, ground corn and raw corn, contain AFLATOXINS, which is the toxin that mold has in it. This will kill your rats. I've seen rats get fungal infections in their mouth after eating raw corn on the cob. They then succumbed to the disease.

Lab blocks aren't going to contain the mold because they are COOKED.

[punyhuman07]

i'll just stick wih lab blocks and cherios i'll feed the other stuff to the birds