What do you feed your rats?

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Originally Posted by saber2th

How long have you been using Kent, and how are your rats doing on it? Do you get it from Great Lakes Rodents? I can get it for $12.99, but its like a 15 mile drive one way.

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been using it for over a year now, I switch from Mazuri and saw no difference. besides the obvious drop in price lol. 26 bucks vs 15... huge difference.

the only thing i ever noticed a difference with, is when i switched from pet store rat food to Mazuri, i noticed their fur wasn't as soft with the Mazuri, Kent is the same way, pretty dry feeling fur, but besides that, 100% healthy, big production rats.

I get it from a local guy that buys in bulk and resells it, his parents live in my neighborhood so when he visits them and gots an order for me, he drops it off right at my house, that to me is the best part lol

When I get my colony going I plan on feeding them O'le Roy dog food mixed with black sunflower seed.

Dyes, corn, and soy are horrible for mice and rats. Not to mention the toxins that could build up in your feeders, being fed to your snakes and lizards.

i use kent when i can get it, but i found a cattle range block at co-op thats half the price and virtually the exact same thing, just a bit lower on the protein (20%), now its down to 18%. but the rats do great on it, and you cant beat $9 for 50lbs ( kinda irks me though, 4 months ago it was $7 for 50lb :( )

I use Mazuri 6F for my rats. I have to get my local Co-Op to special order it for me, though, in the 50 lb. bags and it does take a few weeks for it to arrive, so I usually have them order more when I pick up an order. In any case, since Mazuri is manufactured by Purina, any store that buys from Purina should be able to order it for you. But tell them the Purina stock number is the 5M30 or they might wind up ordering you the small, 2-lb. bags. ;) The 50-lb. bags at my local Co-Op are $23.99 each, so not a bad price. Mazuri is great for females gaining their weight back after birthing a litter of babies.

I don't feed mine anything extra, mainly because I don't have the time to prepare extra things like fruit, veggies, etc. It's for that reason I don't have lizards, and if I'm not willing to prepare daily salads for reptiles, I sure ain't doing it for the rats. LOL If I have extra table scraps, though, I may start giving them to my rats. I didn't realize that it was OK for feeder rodents. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Bellabob

When I get my colony going I plan on feeding them O'le Roy dog food mixed with black sunflower seed.

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That's probably WAAAAAY too much protein for rats. It'll be hard on their kidneys, and you may find you have a lot of sick feeders.

Try mixing it with oats instead. You can get a 50lb bag of oats at a feed store for $10-$15, and it should be 50% ish of their diet.
You can also buy barley in 50lb bags at about the same price.

I was usng mazuri and switched to kent. I was keeping breeding cards with litter numbers and dates. I did not notice any difference between average numbers and average time between litters switching over. I can get kent for anywhere between 11-13 depending on how much is ordered where mazuri was running me 25-30. I have only been running kent for about 7 months but like I said numbers are still about the same. I may be going to change over to the doggy bag next as I have a TSC going in about 5 miles away and the grainery is about 20 miles away so I may be able to save even more money by cutting out gas. My numbers are back down to 15 breeding females but at one time I was up to around 40 so my numbers were pretty spread out and gave me a good enough average to satisfy me.

i get 50lb bags of mazuri for 16 bucks a piece but i got a nice drive to get there. i just buy 5 bags so i dont have to pick anymore up for at least 6 months

So is dog bag dog food ok?
We bought that and we tend to crush it up... But I have no clue what happens to the food... It's always gone... Do they hide the food? Do I always keep the bowl filled?

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Originally Posted by Tidus10

So is dog bag dog food ok?
We bought that and we tend to crush it up... But I have no clue what happens to the food... It's always gone... Do they hide the food? Do I always keep the bowl filled?

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Doggy bag dog food is not ok, it is great. There's no need to crush it up.