ok im trying to feed my rats a very balanced diet. im thinking about feeding them a home made diet so how does this sound? (have looked on line at homemade diets and dont like them)

burgess sensitive dog food
fresh fruit and veggies daily
wholemeal bread and milk once a week
1 defrosted day old chick once a week

now is this ok? i have the option of feeding meal worms as well if they need it.

please feel free to shoot me down or help me!

check out

Rats and a healthy diet - Critter City

for things they shouldn't eat etc (i assume you've already done this but jsut in case )

try seeded bread rather than just wholemeal (unless that's what you meant?) do you work from home? you could always make your own bread and biccies too to feed them and yourself.

sounds like a good plan though, we're lazy and just feed our premade nuggets, muesli and veg/fruit leftovers.

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This is not a game of 'who the fek are you'.

Not a single gram of fek shall be given today.

nah i ment the seedy ones! my mum bakes bread for the weekend only and in the week we have burgen soya and linsead... will check that link out thank you!

Hiya, I suggest you go onto fancy-rats.co.uk and check out the shunamite diet. The woman who first came up with the diet also has an account on there and I am sure she would be more than happy to explain things to you.

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It is not very balanced at the moment.

The dog food is far too high in protein for rats for starters, and Burgess uses some....questionable...sources of animal based protein in their foods, so i would avoid if possible.

Also, all of the ingredients combined do not make for a complete diet, as you cannot check the phosphorus, protein, fat, vitamin etc content of the overall `mix`, which means they could be lacking in anything and cause many different health issues.

What is it which you dont like about homemade mixes/diets which you have looked at?

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Stovokor Rattery Breeding for Healthy Russian Blue, Burmese & Siamese Rats with Lustrous coats.
We also have rescue Rats needing homes too. Please click HERE for more information.
Stovokor Rattery on Facebook

they all look like 2 many ingridiants! going to try the suggested Shunamite Rats diet. i have a wholesalers near me so i can get the ingridiants cheaper... have to beat $1.94 per kg to make it cheaper to make my own! other wise i will just buy pets at home rat nuggets

Surely mixing rabbit food, some high quality dog kibble, human cereals and some pasta/added grains isnt too many ingredients?

I have over 50 rats here inlcuding all the rescue rats, and find feeding them even in bulk, very cheap and very easy.

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Stovokor Rattery Breeding for Healthy Russian Blue, Burmese & Siamese Rats with Lustrous coats.
We also have rescue Rats needing homes too. Please click HERE for more information.
Stovokor Rattery on Facebook

do you use a particular rabbit and dog food spoilt?

as, for instance, alfalfa is toxic to rats (or undigestible one of the two) i assume some of them, not being for rats afterall,will have something rats shouldn't have in them?

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This is not a game of 'who the fek are you'.

Not a single gram of fek shall be given today.

Alfafa is not toxic, and is not undigestible, its just difficult to digest, there is a difference.
There is quite a reasonable level of digestible protein, fibre, minerals, amino acids and so on within it...there are lots of incorrect rumours regarding foods it seems.

Regarding dog food, i do not use chicken based foods, usually fish, as it is often safer to feed due to alot of cheaper dog foods using chicken full of fillers and growth hormones, which can have an effect on tumour formation.

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Stovokor Rattery Breeding for Healthy Russian Blue, Burmese & Siamese Rats with Lustrous coats.
We also have rescue Rats needing homes too. Please click HERE for more information.
Stovokor Rattery on Facebook

did the diet! went to the wholsalers where i can get rabbit food at 75p per kg... smells like redbull but hey!

also got extra flaked maize at 60p per kg... some bird mix which has about 20 different peas and grains in it! 60p per kg... plus the pasta and the free dog food which works about at 84p per kg!!

that is compared to the original food which was £1.95 per kg...

then found some really nice looking hamster mix at 75p per kg so got 3 kgs which should last me a few weeks! all is good