Confused about feeding rats!

Hi all,
I am looking to rescue a couple of rats. I have done all my research but the one thing I am more confused about than when I started is feeding! Some say the mixes from pet shops are ok, some say not. There's advice about mixing your own but this is very confusing. Can someone outline very basically what and when I would feed them?

 

I feed my boy the pre made mix from rat rations, my mice get it aswell and they all love it I also feed Daily rat 3 as rats need the extra vits from it if your feeding a pre made mix. Then on top of that he gets fresh foods/my food too, veg/fruit/chicken etc all go down well as does yogurt, another fave at the moment is boiled egg
There are some good posts on here about food, everyone is different in what they feed so I found it best to try a few things till I found what he likes

As to when, they get their bowl filled at night and some of the extras put in then, in the AM i check to see whats eaten and whats not and decide from there if hes having breakfast, like today hes had some rice krispies as my 18mth old didnt want them.

 

Pet shop mixes are normally pants (Reggie Rat being the worst) because they never have the right nutrient levels in and are full of brightly coloured stuff that the rats don't need and any vitamins are left in the alphalpha pellets they leave behind lol

Rat Rations is your best bet for complete mixes, you still need to add daily essentials to the water twice a week but apart from that they are very well balanced mixes and most rats will clear the lot up making sure they get everything they need

If you want to look at rat nutrition for yourself then get the "Scuttling Gourmet" it goes through everything you need to know about rats diets and gives you a good base knowledge if you wish to start the Shunamite Diet

 

I second rat rations mixes-my lot love them

 

Hmm..I don't know much about rat rations (sorry!)
but if you want to mix your own it goes something like this (I am no expert so please correct me if I'm wrong!)
40-50% - base food (a simple rat mix something healthy)
20-30% unsugary cereals (like weetabix , shredded wheat)
10% high quality dog kibble
10% - birdseed (I use standard canary)
At the moment I am using the breeders base mix (minus peanuts and sunflower seeds) mixed with oats shredded wheat birdseed and lab blocks. I personally wouldn't recommend lab blocks they eat all their food anyway I think selective feeding is nonsense personally as my rats eat everything apart from the alpha pellets but have never come across a rodent that like them.
Hope I helped
also I think it's great you've chosen to get rats they are great and that your rescuing them is excellent