We get a lotta strange looks and comments too. We talked with our 4 kids and they know if we breed our pet rats that's for pets....food is food...whether we eat it or a pet does everything eats something....our kid's are pretty cool with that and all of them love snakes so that helps (our oldest prefers corns tho). They just needed reassured that their rats or their rat's babies weren't meant for snake snacks.

Guarantee your rats will love the oil/bread thing and you won't believe how their coats will be after a couple of weeks. All our rats eat a homemade food I make up in a big bucket and that has soy nuts in it (or whatever I find interesting in the bulk bin isle that month LOL)...they LOVE it (much better for them and cheaper in the long run since they tend to eat most all of it rather than just pick out a few things like they did on commercial mixes).

Got a great hint the other day....buy a single brick from any Home Depot or Lowe's...under a buck usually...put it where they go to eat so they must climb up on it daily to get a snack....keeps there nails down beautifully but doesn't cause damage as they are off and on it so quickly. Easy to clean with a harsh brush tho my rats usually don't poop near their food source anyways.

If I ever get around to buying a digital camera I'll have to post a picture of Cracker aka Fattus Rattus.

~~Joanna~~