A Colorado Blue Rat Breeder, A Colorado Rattery

  This page is here only to help you with knowing what to feed your rat , and to tell you what you should not feed them. And I hope it truly helps you.

1) If you want to give your little buddy cancer give it junk food. It works! Any fast food or potato chips or cake, well you get the idea. If It's bad for you well... it's much worse for them. It may take you 50 years to get health issue from it but they are shorter lived. So they will get these issues really fast.

2) Sugar. That's bad! There have been documented cases of sugar causing seizures in rats.

3) Salt. Only on occasion is that ok. It's not good for you in access either.

4) Corn. Why did I mention corn? Well I'll tell ya, corn has no and I mean NO food value. You know what happens to corn when you eat it? Yeah it doesn't stop to change color. You cannot digest it. It comes out the way it goes in. Also it's got plenty of sugar. So all your doing is making your rat hyper. If you give a rodent corn he will dig through his food and eat all the corn first. Then all you have done is made him full and hyper and he has gotten no food value or vitamins. You need to feed your rat everything in every bite! Not fillers. The only product that contains corn that I recommend is Harlan Teklad lab blocks. This diet contains everything a rats needs all in one diet. Other blocks are not fresh enough to touch. I will talk more about that later on.

5) Lab blocks! Oh yes I know the big super stores feed lab blocks, so they must be the best! Right?  99% of lab blacks contain everything a rat does not need. They are also not fresh and blocks have a shelf life of only 6 months. Stores are selling you a product that is sprayed with preservatives and is about 2 years old. If you want to feed lab blocks I recommend Harlan Teclad brand, diet #2016 for adult rats and #8604 for babies and lactating moms. Science is showing that particular food is the best block for rats. Any block sold by a super store is the worst thing you can feed a rat. I actually distribute the harlan product. Pleas see my ratty store for info.

6) ANY prepackaged diet from a pet shop! This is the one I insist on! I don't want you to think that packaged foods are the best and or the only thing there is for their main diet. It isn't. But is is the worst. I have seen my fare share of animals starve to death while on these diets. But why would they starve? Well ask any farmer really, do it... ask them how long grain is good for after it has been harvested. Here is what he will say, grain lasts 6 to 8 months from the time they harvest it. Do you ever see a farmer try to grow plants from 2 year old seed? NO! It's bad, you won't get much percentage of good seeds. So here is what processing plants do with pre-packed seed.. they spray preservatives on it, then they put it in a bag where it's shipped to a ware house and it will sit there for a minimum of 2 years before they even ship it to the pet shop. So it has no food value. And I worked in pet shops for 6 years and dealt with the distributors. So I can tell you this for a fact. Pre-packaged foods from the big super stores are the worst! These foods have been sitting around for at least 2 years before you get it.

So What Can I Feed My Rat?

   First rats need a maximum of 14% - 16% protein for adults, 18% - 24% for babies and lactating and pregnant moms. So if you are not feeding Harlan lab blocks which are 100% nutritionally complete you can use a grain diet mentioned below and for the protein get some natural dog food, a senior diet is best because of the protein content plus veggies for the vitamins. And all feed stores sell certain types of grain, and some pet shops sell it in bulk as well, just make sure it's not poured out of a bag that's been sitting around. Feed stores and some pet shops get their grain from the grainery fresh off the crop so you can get the latest crop, not the crop from 2 yrs ago.

Below I will show you the two options you have to feeding your rats.

My rats are eating the Harlan lab blocks and pasta salads not the grain. Harlan blocks cover all of the nutritional needs of a rat. This diet is the latest breakthrough science has made for rats dietary needs. Lab blocks sold at pet shops are NOT a good substitute for Harlan! They are not even close to meeting the nutritional needs of rats. Harlan blocks are NOT sold anywhere in Colorado except here at my rattery. I distribute the product.

  I give mine these salads all they can eat all day long. You can make any recipe you want. Rule of thumb is, if it's good for you it's good for them. Just don't give them citrus or mushrooms. Those are toxic for rats.

Small animal pasta salads
You will need to feed the salads and pasta if you use grain! I only feed the pastas and salads to my rats because I love to spoil them. However the blocks cover everything they need. I just enjoy feeding them goodies!

This is the diet I used for 9 years. However my rats are not eating it at this time because I have switched them to the Harlan blocks. If you prefer to use this grain diet on the rats you adopt from me please take time to wean them onto it. You will need to go to a feed store or natural grocer to purchase the ingredients to make this diet on your own as I do not sell it.

3 Parts flaked barley

1 part sun flower seeds

1/2 part good natural dog food (for some protein and vitamins)

1/2 part oat groats or rolled oats/race horse oats.

1/4 part Calf Manna. Vitamins and protein.

1/4 part raw peanuts (either in the shell or out of the shell)

Optional: A pinch of raw pumpkin seeds daily. Around 4 seeds per rat. This is a good treat food.

This diet was formulated to meet the nutritional needs of the rat and stay in line with the proper amount of protein and fat. Please also feed the veggies listed below to care for the vitamins your rats needs.

And To Cover The Vitamin And Protein Needs If You Are Feeding A Grain Diet:

   Alternate what fruit and veggie you give them every day. They NEED this part! This is the most important part of the rats diet if you are feeding grain since the grain is not 100% nutritionally complete all by itself. You can also give them a tid bit of your cooked meat or egg from your plate and anything else you are eating(if it's healthy). They need cooked pasta and cooked rice for the carbs as well, so add that to their veggies at least 2 times a week. Other good supplements or additions are sprouted seeds(lentils). The best sprouts are the ones you grow yourself. But be aware they are full of protein so do it in moderation. Cooked fish is good too as it contains Omega 6,3 & 9 fatty acids that are great for the skin and coat. A special treat is Sun Maid brand raisin bread, and natural dog biscuits. You can also give them a bird mineral block or cuttle bone for calcium and for keeping the teeth ground down. The fatty acids and calcium need to be fed together to react in a way that makes them work.