The Best Foods for Your Pet Rats

Jessica is an experienced pet mom with dogs, cats, rats, fish, axolotls, a
gecko, chickens, and ducks.

Best Food for Rats

Rats are awesome pets, and they deserve care and nutrition just like other
pets. Although they are known for eating just about anything, their diet is a
little more complicated than that. They need more than just a bag of pet food
from the pet store, and there are actually foods that they can’t eat!

This article will take you through everything you need to know about what to
feed your pet rats, as well as foods that they should never eat.

Start With a High Quality Rat Food

Rat Blocks

The most important thing to feed your rats is a high-quality rat block such as
Mazuri or Oxbow. Another good choice is lab blocks, such as the Teklad brand,
which are made for rats in labs.

These won’t be the only things your rats will eat, but it is important to give
them block food every day because this is the best way to make sure they are
getting all the nutrients they need.

Protein

Opinions vary about just how much protein rats should have, but the general
consensus is that their diets should be made up of no more than 25% protein.

Younger rats, pregnant female rats, and hairless rats will need more protein,
and older rats will not need as much.

Oxbow rat food has 18% protein so it is appropriate for all stages of life.
Mazuri rat and mouse food has 23% protein—this is a pretty high protein
content so I choose to use it for my hairless rats. Teklad’s rodent blocks
range from 14-19% protein.

Seed Mixes

The seed mixes that you find in pet stores are not a good choice for your
rat’s everyday diet. Most of them are not nutritionally complete, and the ones
that are are only complete if your rats eat everything in it.

Rats are known to stash food and most of them will not naturally eat
everything in the bowl. Some of the foods in these mixes are perfectly fine as
a treat, but they shouldn’t be relied on to give your rats everything they
need.

Fruits and Veggies

Fresh fruits and vegetables are really good for rats. They can eat a huge
variety of fruits and vegetables.

They shouldn’t eat any fruit seeds , but they can have the fruit around the seeds.
They can eat apple slices or pitted cherries, for example.
Unlike dogs, rats can eat grapes. Purple grapes are even said to have anti-carcinogenic effects.
One type of fruit that is not recommended for male rats is citrus. This has been debated so I will leave sources for both sides of the argument in the ¨further reading¨ section. The main argument against male rats eating citrus is the presence of the chemical D-Limonene which can cause cancer and kidney problems.

It is important not to overdo fruit because of the high sugar content. Fruits
are good for your rats, but vegetables are even better. You should offer
veggies and fruit every day, and this should make up about 20% of their diet.

Baby rat with a treat.

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Supplements and Snacks

There are a ton of foods that rats can eat. Some fun ideas to supplement their
regular diet are:

Cooked or uncooked pasta: Carbohydrates are important for your rat to have in their diet, and uncooked pasta is super good for their teeth!
Eggs or meat: Rats are omnivores so they can eat both of these things. This is something that should be fed as a treat since you don’t want them to have too much protein.
Treats: Any rat owner will tell you that rats love yogis. These are a yogurt drop rat treat that comes in a variety of flavors. Some other little treats you can give your rats are Gerber baby puffs or unsweetened cheerios.
Little bits of whatever you’re eating: As long as what you’re eating is made of rat safe ingredients and it isn’t too high in sodium your rats can have a little bit. Some people even make their rats little plates on holidays.

Vitamins

There are some vitamins for rats available. Most of the time your rats will
get everything they need from their diet as long as they are on a good block
food, and they are getting fruits and vegetables. However, if you suspect that
your rats aren’t getting what they need or your vet recommends supplementing
with vitamins there are definitely options to choose from!

Foods Rats Should Never Eat

Although there is a wide variety of food options for rats, there are still
some things that they should never eat. These foods are all toxic to rats:

Raw beans

Avocado skin and pit

Raw sweet potato

—|—|—

Green potatoes

Green bananas (ripe bananas are fine)

Caffeine

Cabbage and brussels sprouts

Wild insects

Poppy seeds

Raw onion

Rhubarb

Tofu

Moldy foods such as blue cheese

Spinach

Sticky Foods

Be careful with sticky foods such as peanut butter. They can get it stuck in
their throats and it can choke them. Rats are unable to vomit, so if they eat
something that can harm them they have no way to get rid of it.

Chocolate

Chocolate itself is not actually bad; it’s the sugar content that is bad for
rats.

What to Feed an Old or Sick Rat

Old or sick rats often have a hard time eating. They may have trouble with
their teeth, or they might not have the same appetite that they used to. Here
are some ideas for rats that need help eating:

Baby food: I had an older rat with missing teeth that really liked to eat out of the baby food pouches. Just make sure that the ingredients are safe and they aren’t getting too many fruits or veggies that will upset their stomachs.
Make mush out of their rat blocks: This is a good way to make sure that they are getting all of the nutrition that they need if they can no longer chew on the hard blocks. Just soak the blocks in water and mash them up.
Blend food or use a food processer: You can blend up fruits and veggies with the rat blocks for a lot of nutrition all at once.
Try soft foods like cooked oatmeal: You can even throw in some soft veggies or an egg to give it a boost.

One of the most important things to look out for with an old or sick rat is
that they are getting enough food and water. You may have to hand feed them or
give them water in a little dish. You can also let them drink water slowly out
of a clean medicine syringe.

Comments

Jess H (author) from Oregon on January 05, 2021:

Alexander, me too! They are so much fun.

Alexander James Guckenberger from Maryland, United States of America on
January 05, 2021:

I love rats so much. They’re so sweet.

Jess H (author) from Oregon on January 05, 2021:

Thank you so much, Ivana!

Ivana Divac from Serbia on January 05, 2021:

This is such a great and informative article! And the photos you chose for the
article are too adorable. Thanks for sharing!