Pros and Cons of rats?

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Originally Posted by SnakeKB

...if its in a bowl. Im going to make a 1/4" mesh hopper for them this weekend and use up my Kaytee Rat Blocks and then switch to some cheap dog food for them.

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I use wire food hoppers and they don't waste much food.

I would stick with quality food for your feeders so they will grow quicker, stronger, and generally healthier.

Mike

A high quality dog food can still be much cheaper than rodent food. If you buy in-store, PetCo and Petsmart want 10 or 11 bucks for a 5lb pound of Kaytee lab block, and Pet Supermarket wants almost 5 bucks for a 2lb bag of the same thing buy LM Animal Farms.

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Originally Posted by Shenzi Sixaxis

:P ASFs are another thing I'll breed for food and pets, as no one supplies them here. Did you try hoppers with them?

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Yeah, the 1/4th inch is the absolute largest you can go, but if you have it for the lid of the tub they cannot get the food through the space. So if you have them in a rack system you can't put the food on top, you have to put it in side. I also made storage tubs to keep them in, and I made hoppers for those. They still waste the food and the babies crawl all over it since I used 1/2 inch hardwired cloth (and a 1/4th inch as a lid for it so the little b words won't get out).

Cheap dog food is fine, but I would also use rat food. I feed 1/2 and 1/2 Mazuri and cheap farm dog food. The expensive dog food has a lot more meat than cheap dog food. Cheap is just fine, it's corn and grains, it has more calories and fat because of that.

So i was looking around at the different Rat, Dog, and Cat foods. Mizuri blocks are 16% min protein, 6% min fat, 6% max fiber. Now the dog foods average in the 25% min protein range, % of fat is up or down depending on puppy, adult, or small breed formulas, and fiber is mostly at 4% max. Now cat foods seems pretty crazy with protein. Many showing 30% min protein, 10% min fat, and 4% max fiber. Now my question is based on the Mazuri info, would the massive amounts of protein, slightly higher fat %, and slightly lower fiber % hurt the rats? If not then cat food would be my choice of food for some big strong healthy rats.

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Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

Yeah, the 1/4th inch is the absolute largest you can go, but if you have it for the lid of the tub they cannot get the food through the space. So if you have them in a rack system you can't put the food on top, you have to put it in side. I also made storage tubs to keep them in, and I made hoppers for those. They still waste the food and the babies crawl all over it since I used 1/2 inch hardwired cloth (and a 1/4th inch as a lid for it so the little b words won't get out).

Cheap dog food is fine, but I would also use rat food. I feed 1/2 and 1/2 Mazuri and cheap farm dog food. The expensive dog food has a lot more meat than cheap dog food. Cheap is just fine, it's corn and grains, it has more calories and fat because of that.

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So 1/4 inch for ventilation and 1/2 inch for hoppers?

Hmmm... makes sense. However, I find that most cheap dog foods have dyes in them, including the red 40 dye. :rage:
I'll have to keep looking through dog foods at stores... I need big kibbles and no dyes.

What all is harmful to the rats? I never thought of the dye in a food product untill brought up.

I know a few people have had chew outs with mortar tubs. I am going on two years with no chewing at all with these bus tubs.
I think the HDPE bus tubs must be a bit tougher than the plastic mortar tubs. 16 tubs in my rack ...zero chewing.:D It will be two years for this rack in Feb.:gj:
Tubs came from http://www.webstaurantstore.com/21-x...0%20%20BK.html

http://davidperkinsreptiles.com/foru....php?f=13&t=13

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Originally Posted by Shenzi Sixaxis

A high quality dog food can still be much cheaper than rodent food. If you buy in-store, PetCo and Petsmart want 10 or 11 bucks for a 5lb pound of Kaytee lab block, and Pet Supermarket wants almost 5 bucks for a 2lb bag of the same thing buy LM Animal Farms.

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I will not go to the big box pet stores, they don't carry the best products and they generally cost more then the superior products.

Go to a feed store (like a "real" feed store for farm animals) and check out what they have. Most of the time the old men in there ain't real busy and will take the time to find you a great feed with what your looking for at a reasonable cost. Just remember the cheaper you buy generally means a cheaper product.

You can find a good feed at a good cost, which might be dog food or hog feed or rat food.

Mike

50lbs of Mazuri 6f for $28 at the feed store versus $3.50 a lb at petsmart :O

I feed nothing but Mazuri and table scraps, you def get what you pay for.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

50lbs of Mazuri 6f for $28 at the feed store versus $3.50 a lb at petsmart :O

I feed nothing but Mazuri and table scraps, you def get what you pay
for.

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do you find that the rat poo smells less with mazuri vs dogfood and what table scraps do you give?

thnx