how much to feed the feeders?

[ADEE]

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

[Argentra]

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.

[frankykeno]

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.

[TekWarren]

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.

[frankykeno]

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.

[darkdreamer]

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...

[frankykeno]

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!

[ADEE]

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

[frankykeno]

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.

[ADEE]

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