We have got to get that homemade rat mix in a sticky somewhere folks.

It's really cost effective to mix your own rat chow. I do it once every couple of weeks or whenever it runs low and it's a great thing. I get almost no wasted food, none of the rats have scabby coats anymore and none are fat either (problems I've had in the past using other foods for them). If you look at Becky's list most of that stuff is likely laying around in your kitchen anyways or can be bought bulk really cheaply. I get wonderfully good dog kibble for free as sample packets from my local pet store (often vets have these high quality samples as well for free in their lobby). The lab block I also buy bulk at a local pet store and it's very reasonable. The cereal is always around my house as well as the pasta anyway so no real extra cost for me.

I just toss it all in a big plastic container with whatever extra things I think of, like peanuts in the shell or a bit of dried fruits (no citrus), as long as it's all dry stuff and pass it around daily. Offer them a bit of treats (mine love all those wasted ends of bread dipped in a bit of olive oil), frozen peas, leftover cooked spaghetti or bones from steaks, chicken, etc. and they are happy rats! Chocolate in reasonable amounts is actually good for rats lucky things! LOL

A lot of premix stuff is full of seeds the rats won't eat or are very fattening/addictive for them. Sunflower seeds are in my mind the worst of those.


~~Jo~~