Rats: What do you feed them?

[mykee]

And how successful have you been feeding it? Curious...

[ydnic]

I buy the pet store 'gourmet' rat food - give her some scaps, and when I bring her into the living room - I have a little container called treats which has (dog food, cat food, uncooked rice, uncooked beans, uncooked pop corn, uncooked barley, a organic granola mix, dried bananas, dried strawberries, raisins, and yougert covered raisins. )

She likes cruncy things so thats why she has the treat bowl!

[thunder]

no longer work with rats, but when i did they all ate lab-grade food made specifically for rats. i also gave treats, like apple slices, to the ones i liked.

[CamHanna]

I feed my breeders Mazuri 6F. My weanlings get Mazuri 6F plus occasional table scraps. I don't know that the scraps make a difference but the rats like them. I think I am reasonably successful. My average litter is about 14-15 and average birth weight is about 4-5 grams. I haven't recorded growth rates but I do okay.

There was a three week period in December where I ran out of rat food and co-op fed dog food. I didn't really notice a difference except that dog food was more expensive and fell through the mesh on top of my rack, then got lost in the substrate, making it even more expensive.

Cam

[Oni5000]

I feed my rats Mazuri 6F, fresh vegetable pieces and a few small dog biscuits every now and then.

[greenman1867]

Mazuri and I love it so far. I just wish they made something to make the pee smell less. Kinda like how asparagus works on us, but opposite :D

Actually most are not bad but the cages of all males growing into Jumbos can get pretty rank in a very short time.

[Auskan]

None of the above. I feed a diet I make up myself that consists of various cereals (Total, cheerios, rolled oats, puffed wheat & rice etc) and dog food in about 50/50 quantities. It seems to work well. The rats are healthy and produce big, healthy litters with almost no stillborns.

[Paleosuchus]

I have been using Harlan, they seem to love it. I also give the female hard boiled eggs, aswell as meat scraps once the male has bred with her and i notice a difference in wieght.

-Jason