how much to feed the feeders?

iwas wondering how much you offer your feeders and or pet rats/mice... i had been throwing out what wasnt eaten over night and refilling every am but thats getting to be pretty wastefull.

i have mixed lab blocks with parrot food (large berrys, nuts, sunflower seeds, exc) they seem to really like the mixture

Lab block and parrot food...interesting. I would think that as long as you make sure the parrot mix isn't 'fortified' or anything for birds it would be alright...

As far as the non-dry foods, yes you should be offering them a little bit different each day: equal to a few nice morsels per rat. I know it can be annoying, but that's the thing with fresh foods; freshness. :) When you offer the fresh stuff, I would remove anything that wasn't eaten a few hours later, not the next day. Lessens the chances for bacteria and the rats eating spoiled food especially if there was meat or fruit in there.

Check out Becky's mix (sticky) and just make up a covered bucket of dry food. For a few pet rats it will last quite awhile. My dry mix changes with whatever is on sale at the dollar/grocery store and what's in my pantry but it basically always has a base of 50/50 mix of good dry dog kibble (small kibble stuff) and rodent block. Then I just toss in all sorts of things....dry pasta, large flake oatmeal (not the instant stuff), leftover cereal the kids don't eat, bran flakes, nuts, etc. The rats love the stuff. They get this offered daily in the amount they will eat in one day. It's hit and miss but you'll find the right amount. If you are finding a lot of hidden or wasted dry food it's one of two things...either what you are offering isn't what they want or can eat, or you are offering too much. They get fresh water daily in their bottles.

The wet food (aka kitchen leftovers) they get twice weekly and it's always different. They will also get things like frozen peas, fresh veggies, hard boiled eggs, etc. whenever I see them on a good sale.

They love pizza and wings night LOL. Oodles of yummo leftovers for them and saves on how much garbage my house produces. :)

I keep food available to my rodents 24/7. I to was disappointed about wasted or soiled food. For quite some time now I have been making a simple hanging feeder out of the same mesh I use for the tops of my rodent tubs. It keeps them a little busy getting the food out and there is virtually no waste.

I should have added you'll always find a bit of dry food hidden (in our opinion being "wasted"). Rodents just do this as a matter of course. As long as you aren't offering too much food though they will go eat the hidden stuff through the week between cleanings and you shouldn't be finding huge caches of it when you clean their enclosure fully, but you will likely always find a bit of their stash.

one thing I know rats love are eggs, when my pet rat was alive I used to feed him a lill'bit of my eggs, when I walked into the room he started freaking out, jumping all over the cage up to the door.
When I gave it to him I had to push him away so I could put the lil dish down so he didnt pounce on it. when I hand fed it to him my god never seen soemthing move so fast.
Yeha he liked his eggs...

Yep they do love eggs. I'll often hard boil up a few small eggs and hand them out one or two per enclosure in the shell. It's good rat fun to bust into the egg for the yummo treat and good for their teeth to chew on the shell. Sometimes with the younger ones I have to crack the shell a bit as the poor confused rats can't seem to figure out what in heck this new treat is all about LOL. After the first time though...they know about eggs! :D

AWESOME, were about to loose the last of our (free range chicken) eggs so boiling them up for the girls is a great idea! thanks

Don't be surprised with new treats or foods if your rats approach it cautiously, take only a small nibble and appear to be rejecting it. They will likely go back later and eat it. This is how rats normally try foods they don't immediately recognize. Most will just take a small bite then if it doesn't harm them, go back and eat more later on. One of the many reasons it's so hard to kill off wild rats...they don't always rush in and eat much of an unfamilar food source.

good to know, thanks. ill let you know how it goes

i put one in their bin and they love it!!!!

They should have a supply of lab blocks at all times. Make a cage out of 1/2" hardware mesh and hang it from the side of the cage as a food hopper. They will have to work at it and bite off bits of block through the mesh. This will pretty much eliminate food waste. If they can get on top of it, use a piece of plastic on top so they can't urinate on their food supply.

I have 3 Ware mfg "lab Block Hoppers" which are no longer manufactured, but they work great as well. I modeled my homemade hoppers after them.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...c/5db11454.jpg

My homemade copy
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...c/cc8f527b.jpg

Thats exactly what we did, made the hopper out of 1/2 hardware cloth. I would curl up and fashion one every time we added more to our colony. It was a nice way to pass the time for me. Watch movies, make hoppers... ugh.. im such a dork

would it be a waste of time to build one of those out of 1/4" hardware cloth? I'm breeding mice and wouldn't want them to be able to get inside it, but also don't like just putting their blocks in a bowl 'cause they are definitely less than sanitary with their food handling practices...

1/4" works very well for mice, as the hoppers can easily get out through the 1/2". They get the food through just fine.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

1/4" works very well for mice, as the hoppers can easily get out through the 1/2". They get the food through just fine.

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Cool... I was just concerned that they wouldn't be able to get to the blocks through such a small mesh. I'll probably be making a couple of these tonight..

What do you use to hold the "rodent mix"? Just put it in a bowl?

I don't give my mice the rodent mix because they just make a mess of it. I do add a little high quality dog food every now and then just for the extra protein. The less babies that are eaten, the better :) You could probably give them some seed mix as it keeps them busy and gives them something to do/hoard.

I don't breed my rats, but they get the mix(mine is alot more varied than the one I posted) as well as Mazuri blocks.

I have another question, but it's way off topic for this thread. I'm starting a new one...

I mix dog kibble and lab blocks. Also every night they always get some left overs. Very very spoiled :carrot:

Also it might sound wierd but i also give them doggy flavored chew sticks, and they love them.

They make dog-flavored chewies? Ew.. I don't know if I'd want to smell those.

;)

I get the fruit and veggie nylabones sometimes, as well as the Greenies(they DIE over Greenies, omg).

My ratties love doggy treats, they crunch all night with those.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

They make dog-flavored chewies? Ew.. I don't know if I'd want to smell those.

;)

I get the fruit and veggie nylabones sometimes, as well as the Greenies(they DIE over Greenies, omg).

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Yes they do!!! No hahahaha good one though.

Mine eat as much lab block as they want, milkbone type biscuits every few days and leftovers whenever...

Here it is all you can eat buffet 24/7 ;) for both mice and rats who eat through a hardware cloth so no waste.

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

iwas wondering how much you offer your feeders and or pet rats/mice...

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My rats just have lab block that gets refilled at needed.

I don't measure; I just feed each rat a handful in the morning and at night. I use a mixture of lab blocks, uncooked tricolor pasta, varying types of nonsugary cereal.. and horse treats once in awhile :) I also put some pig feed in (the kind without antibiotics.)

Hey Gin, you ever try those Dumor Apple and Carrot horse biscuits? Mine LOVE those and they are maybe $5 for a 15lb bag. Oh, and the horse likes them too, LOL.

You can get them at Tractor Supply

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

They love pizza and wings night LOL. Oodles of yummo leftovers for them and saves on how much garbage my house produces. :)

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Hey Jo...(or anybody...) how about hot wings or anything for that matter with hot sauce...can they have that? Also...if we got crabs would they be able to have a few legs or whatever? I was thinking they would have fun pickig through those!

:)

If the sauce is really hot, then I'd wash the wings off a bit before giving it to them. Hot stuff can sometimes cause explosive incidents.. Ew? LOL!

Crab legs are just fine, as are crawfish(cooked, whole or just tails), they LOVE those tiny salad shrimp.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Hot stuff can sometimes cause explosive incidents.. Ew? LOL!

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eww...lol

yea I kinda thought it could be a lil harsh for them.

:rolleyes: ;)

Mine LOVE leftover mashed potatoes too. Just drop a spoonful into each bowl - they are climbing all over each other at the front of their enclosures when they see me coming, they're so excited!

We give them the bones from hot wings all the time around here Meme. Granted we all love hot wings so all the good hot sauce is pretty much gone before they get the bones and gristle bits. They LOVE crab claw leftovers, shrimp shells, etc. Great yummies plus the added benefit of a good hard crunch...good for the teeth and jaws (same as with hard boiled eggs in the shell). Sometimes when I see cheap tunafish on sale I'll blop some of that in their bowls and they just adore the stuff - especially the nursing/preggo mommas. I still think the funniest thing is cooked long spaghetti noodles. I always boil up more than we can eat just to watch the rats play tug of war over their noodles LOL.

Once in awhile I'll buy a big bag of M&M's for them and drop some of them in their food bowls. They are too cute sitting there, treat in hands, nibbling off the candy bit to get to their chocolate treat. Okay I know...I spoil them sometimes...but they kick out all those lovely feeders for me so I figure what the heck...they deserve it! :)

It's hilarious Robin how they get to know a certain treat! Mike handfeeds the big breeder males, they LOVE leftover pb& j sammies. They see him coming and stand up, jockeying for position, shouldering each other out of the way to get to Mike (of course old Casanova gets his first!).

There are no leftover PB&J sandwiches here! LOL


I may have to make some as special treats for the rats though! And M&M's may have to make the rotation of treats soon! I've never fed crickets to my rats, but Christie says they go absolutely nuts for them and love pouncing on them.

They do love spaghetti noodles here too! It's funny when you give treats to mom, and babies are about 3 weeks old, she keeps spinning away from them as they try to steal her goodies! LOL

Yep doesn't matter how many goodies are in the food dish, if mamma's eating something...that's what the baby rats have to steal from her! Hey, come to think of it human kids are pretty much the same! LOL

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Yep doesn't matter how many goodies are in the food dish, if mamma's eating something...that's what the baby rats have to steal from her! Hey, come to think of it human kids are pretty much the same! LOL

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yep!

Mom's food always taste better!

;)

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

1/4" works very well for mice, as the hoppers can easily get out through the 1/2". They get the food through just fine.

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I was skeptical at first that the mice would be able to eat the blocks through the 1/4" mesh, but sure enough I've had to refill hoppers a couple of times... I guess they're craftier than I gave them credit for!

Yep, and it's much better than finding 14,000 hopper mice(just an estimate.. I've never had or will ever have 14,000 hoppers..) out of the cage :)