custom mixing rat food? (frankykeno, others?)

[Ginevive]

I was wonderin if anyone here makes their own homemade rat food mix. Right now I feed them SunSeed lab blocks, and they were not that expensive at $25 for a 50lb bag. But once the bag is gone, I want to fond a cheaper source of food; any ideas on home-mixing rat food?

[SatanicIntention]

HEB and WalMart are your friends


I mix everything in a rubbermaid bin and then put it in smaller containers for easy storage. It depends on how much you want to make. I have 7 rats and this is what I use.

1/2 bag of 18lb Purina Beneful-or one small 8lb bag(Healthy Weight or Healthy Radiance)
2 bags of tri-colored pasta
Half a canister of old-fashioned oatmeal(dry)
one bag of puffed wheat-in metal bins where bagged cereal is
one bag of puffed rice-same as above
half a box of cheerios
1/3-1/2 box of Total cereal(you can buy the store brand total)
one bag in-shell dry roasted peanuts
Zupreem Avian Maintenance-Small Parrot(I found a great deal here: http://www.foryourbird.com/page/fory.../CTGY/zuparrot ) This isn't necessary, but my rats LOVE it and it smells like Trix cereal. Helps put weight on. I just put enough in to color the mix. The 10lb amount lasts quite awhile, about 4 batches if I remember. A batch lasts about a month for 10 rats.

Hope this has helped a bit. I know it helps me to have a recipe to look at. You can put anything else in there that you want. I would still buy the lab blocks and just hand them out as you deem necessary. It will help the bag last longer. If you have any other questions, just ask

[frankykeno]

Yep I mix food for our three rats. I just don't care for most of the store bought rat mixes, as the rats seem to waste a lot of the stuff. Plus it's just easy and cheap really and I think the rat's like it (they are certainly all big enough LOL!) Here's a few links I used to make up my mix and one link of forbidden foods.

http://home.comcast.net/~aunty_bs_rattery/Rat_Diet.htm

http://www.tailspinzrattery.com/RATCARE.html

http://www.petratscanada.com/forbidden_foods.htm

I just mix it all up...store it in a big bucket with a tight fitting lid and keep it in a dry, cool cupboard. They get some of this mix every day plus fresh treats (whatever is handy). I give nice hard lab blocks as a treat plus bones to knaw on for teeth maintenance. They all get one slice of bread twice per week that's got olive oil dripped on it (3 share one slice), feed from hand. It makes their coats as soft as a baby rat and it's a great way to use up those end pieces that no one in our house ever eats anyways.

The initial outlay to make up the mix isn't too bad (use bulk bins and store brands to save lots) and it lasts for ages and ages. I just keep adding to it here and there and it never seems to run out and is constantly changing LOL. Just make sure everything in the bin is DRY so it won't mold (I still give it a good swish with my hand every day cuz I'm just wierd about mold LOL). My rats LOVE soya nuts in particular so I don't put too many of those in or they'd just pick thru for their fav!

The links for recipes are just a guideline. Get creative or buy what's on sale as long as it meets a rat's basic needs they'll love you for it and so will your budget!

The next things we are going to try are:

1) frozen peas in a shallow water bowl for fun and cooling in the summer

2) feeder goldfish in water for hunting and general funness (we won't let Ping the Beta fish watch that LOL)


~~Joanna~~

[PrincessErica]

Hahaha! I feed the end pieces of the bread to my dog. Animals are handy like that, aren't they?