Now what????

[Broseph]

Well i decided that instead of feeding a medium rat to my big girl i'd get 2 small ones for her. well after 5-10 minutes of being with toph this little rat lives. now what? I never had a left over so i setup a extra tub i have for it, but what do i do till next week. i have no rat block or food so i gave it some of are rabbits food and i found a extra water bottle. will that be enough? Here it is..

[Flagg]

Rats can't digest rabbit food which is alfalfa.

Give it any kind of seeds or grains, dry oatmeal, stale non white bread, lunch meat, tuna, cooked egg, fresh or frozen vegetables, rice, dry or cooked pasta, dry cereal (unsweetened is better)... most human food can be eaten by rats.

Dry dog food is good, or dry cat food, though cat food is very high in fat and protein.

Avoid corn, onions, dry beans or peas.

[Broseph]

The rabbit food i have is a mix of pellets, sunflower seeds, corn kernnels and other stuff. so it should be fine then with this?

Rats can't digest rabbit food which is alfalfa.

Give it any kind of seeds or grains, dry oatmeal, stale non white bread, lunch meat, tuna, cooked egg, fresh or frozen vegetables... most human food can be eaten by rats.

Dry dog food is good, or dry cat food, though cat food is very high in fat and protein.

[Flagg]

Yea as long as there is enough of the other stuff.

[frankykeno]

Personally since you will only have this rat a week or two at most I'd just use some dry dog kibble, some handfuls of your breakfast cereal, some dry pasta from your kitchen cupboard and some kitchen scraps. Better than the rabbit food really.

[Reptilian]

Avoid corn, onions, dry beans or peas.

Why peas? I buy dried lentels and dried peas, it's in one of the online recipes the one with the pasta...and I've given them a handful of thawed frozen mixed veggies which have corn, carrots, green beans, and peas.

I made a post on it and it seemed ok by other users. I just don't want to make my babies sick...

[Broseph]

Thaks Jo, sounds easy enough...i will try that.

Personally since you will only have this rat a week or two at most I'd just use some dry dog kibble, some handfuls of your breakfast cereal, some dry pasta from your kitchen cupboard and some kitchen scraps. Better than the rabbit food really.

[daaangconcepts]

Personally since you will only have this rat a week or two at most I'd just use some dry dog kibble,

Question?

I thought I remembered reading once that dog food wasn't a good choice b.c certain dyes in the food could actually do harm. I can't really remember though, so I could quite possibly be totally off.

[SatanicIntention]

Well if the dog food isn't total crap, like Ol Roy(Death) or Dinner Time or anything Kibbles N Bits/Chunks/Pedigree, etc, it won't have dyes in it. Hence the multi-colored pieces of junk in Ol Roy or any of those previously mentioned.

[Flagg]

Fresh or frozen peas are fine, it's DRIED peas and beans that aren't good for rats.

Forbidden Foods

Generally, if you would eat a food, you can give it to your rats. Here are some exceptions and notables:
raw dry beans or peanuts—contains antinutrients that destroy vitamin A and enzymes needed to digest protein and starches, and causes red blood cells to clump
raw sweet potato—contains compounds that form cyanide in the stomach
green bananas—inhibits starch-digesting enzymes
green potato skin and eyes—contain solanine, a toxin
wild insects—can carry internal parasites and diseases
raw bulk tofu—can contain bacteria, packaged raw tofu is safe
orange juice—forbidden for male rats only, d-limonene in the skin oil, which gets into the orange juice during squeezing, can cause kidney damage and kidney cancer due to a protein that only male rats have in their kidneys. Pieces of the orange fruit are okay if you wash the orange-skin oil off of it after peeling it.

Foods to Feed with Caution
carbonated beverages—rats can’t burp (but they can fart!)

Dried corn can contain high levels of fungal contaminates which has been shown to cause liver cancer in rats. Corn also contains high levels of both nitrates and amines. These two compounds can combine in the stomach to form nitrosamines which are carcinogenic. Other foods high in nitrates include beets, celery, eggplant, lettuce, cucumber, radishes, spinach, collards and turnip greens. Therefore, I suggest you limit the amount of these foods in your rat’s diet. Some fresh corn is fine, but if you feed your rats blocks, try to avoid brands which have corn as the first ingredient.