Rat Food
October 8, 2009 by RatsRatsRats
Filed under Rat Care, Rat Food
What do Rats Eat?
Rats are omnivores, which means they will basically eat anything. You can buy rat and mouse food from the supermarket or a pet shop, but to keep your rat super happy you should supplement their basic cereal food with something a bit more exciting. Improved nutrition can lengthen your rats lifespan to 5 years.
You will discover what your pets favorite food are with a bit of experimentation (don’t mention that word in front of the rats). Try out lots of healthy, fresh foods like carrot sticks dipped in hommus, juicy apples and pears and you will soon see what they eat straight away, what they hide for later and what they just can’t be bothered with at all.
My rat loves grapes. He holds them so delicately, takes off the top and the licks out the inside.
Rat Treats
It’s OK to give your rats treats too. They like the fruity treats you can buy in the pet shop for rabbits and guinea pigs and carob drops that you get for dogs. My rats like a bit of my dog’s dried biscuits too.
Try out raisins and bread and peanut butter, spread thinly, to avoid choking (on a carrot or celery stick) and you will see what they like best. Just like us, they like variation in their diet. Ginger and Mr T just love chocolate soy milk and a lot of rats like yogurt too. Regular soy in our rats’ diet is proven to reduce their chance of getting mammary tumors. Hard boiled eggs and bacon rind are other things your rats might enjoy.
Ginger in particular is rather greedy and will actually try and grab things from my mouth, as I am eating! What a cheek!
Try hiding special treats around their cage in secret places and your rats will love spending time searching for their favorite food, just like they would in the wild.
Remember not to overfeed your rats. If they get fat they can be more susceptible to tumors and other nasty things, so everything in moderation and try and feed lots of healthy living foods as well as the odd treat.
Provide Fresh Water at All Times
Of course you must always provide plenty of fresh water, ideally from a dripfeed bottle, fixed to the cage, that you can get from the pet shop (or our rat store). Try to clean the bottle and the food bowl out regularly to help keep your rats nice and healthy. Also make sure you change the food every day.
What Not to Feed Your Pet Rat
Don’t feed male rats oranges. They have a component called D-limonene that builds up in the male rats kidneys and can cause cancer. Avoid all citrus flavors, oils and fruits. D-limonene is not shown to have any effect on female rats, but perhaps it is best to avoid these fruits anyway and stick to other foods your rat likes. Rats don’t need to eat as much vitamin C as humans, as they are able to make their own.
You should also avoid feeding very watery foods such as lettuce, as they can cause diarrhea, which can be rather serious for our rat friends.
When you find out what your rat’s favorite food is, you can use it to train him. Rats are very intelligent and will do anything for their favorite food. They also like to please their favorite person too. My rats love to do tricks for a piece of Nesquik chocolate cereal or a spoon of chocolate soy milk (note the chocolate theme).
If you want to buy some rat food and treats why not check out our Rat Store.
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hey, I’m a British rat owner, with 10 does, of varying ages, and i feed, along with many other UK rat owners, a home made mix called The Shunamite Diet. have you heard of it? if you want to know more, type it into goodle etc etc and it should come up with loads of results,
scritches to all your rats out there,
Nic
Hi Nic,
Thanks for your comment. I haven’t heard of that diet before, so I will definitely go and do some research on it now.
Love to all your ratties!
hi
I’m getting two make rats soon (im soooo exited!) and i just wondered if it is ok to give them fruits like pinapple and grapes?
thanks, i love your website!
Charlotte x
How exciting!
I am sure you will have a wonderful time with your new ratty friends. You should avoid feeding citrus fruits such as pineapple, papaya and orange as they can be harmful to your rats. As for grapes, my rats love them. I remember Wombat always used to bite the top off of a grape and then eat the inside out. So that will make a great treat.
My rats also love bananas!
hi!
im getting two does soon and am so excited, but i have been asked as part of my college work how much protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals, vitamins and fibre they need in their diet, cant find it anywhere! can anyone help? cheers xx
hi,
is it OK to fees rats fruits such as raisins, kiwi and apple?
thanks for the good info!
lottie
Hello Lottie,
Rats love variety in their diet and fruits like raisins, kiwi and apple are absolutely fine for rats. They will probably love you for it. My rats also go nuts for sweet corn. One of the fun things about ratties is that you can try feeding them lots of different things and see what they like best. Banana also go down well with Pea and Mingles.
Have fun!
My rats, Ella and Lulu, love bananas, pasta, chicken, and, of course, cheese! something else they go crazy for is honey nut cheerios. I like to only use it for training, so that they can have something to look forward to when I go to train them: cheerios! I haven’t tried grapes yet, though.
Thanks for all the great rat info!
-Rat Girl
Thanks for your comments Rat Girl. Ella and Lulu sound like they have a great, varied diet. You have found the key to making training easy – finding a treat they really love and keeping it for training sessions.
Are things like nectarines and blueberries okay for rats?
Thanks,
Ivy
Hi Ivy,
Blueberries are good for rats. They are a source of antioxidants and some rats love them. Nectarines are also good. I hope they enjoy these tasty treats.
It’s so cute to watch them eat the blueberries that I gave them today. They just hold them in their little paws and nibble on the berries, and afterwards, they have purple stains on their little paws! ^_^
Hi Ivy,
That is so cute! I am glad they are enjoying their new treat.
Hey, I am a proud owner of 2 Dumbo Rats, Majeeka and Revel. I just wanted to let you know Nestle who make Nesquick and Cheerios are owned by Loreal who test on animals. I haven’t heard anything bad about Kellogs yet and my 2 love Rice Krispies and Ricicles. They also love GranoVita Vegetable Pate (I cannot get peace when they know I have it on my toast) they like the mushroom pate also. I’ve discovered, thanks to your site, that they love Alpro Soy yoghurts as well and if I have fresh orange Revel will climb up onto the glass and drink it. They’re both female and I don’t have orange that much so hopefully it’s not too bad for her. Great site.
Thanks for the info Ruth. It is sickening that so many companies test on animals. It sounds like your rats have a gourmet diet lol.
i have 7 boys..All of them are hairls.I feed them everthing i eat.They love it.
One of the things I love about pet rats is that you can vary their diet and have so much fun feeding them.
I give my boys the bones when we’ve had chops for dinner. They love gnawing on them, tasty and fun!! I’m sure they are also good for keeping their teeth down too. I just make sure I remove the bones after a couple of hours as not to go off (esp in the summer).