To ensure pet rat diet variety, supplement your rats’ daily commercial diet with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables as well as other whole, natural foods. A few examples are:
Vegetables
• Broccoli
• Kale (Lacinato is especially nutritious)
• Bok Choy
• Carrots
• Peas (thawed out frozen peas are fine)
• Sweet Potato (baked)
• Corn
• Tomatoes
Fruits
• Melons
• Bananas
• Apples
• Grapes
• Blueberries
For even more pet rat diet variety, you can also feed:
- A little bit of what you’re having for dinner…..as long as it’s healthy food.
- Homemade Grain Mix…..as long as your rats aren’t overweight due to high fat content in nuts and seeds
Aim for a balance of 80% commercial diet and 20% organic, whole foods. In an ideal world, it would be great to feed our rats only organic, whole foods. However, the best commercial diets are so well formulated, they’re hard to beat in terms of getting all of the nutrients your rats need in each bite.
For a sample daily menu, read A Typical Day’s Diet.
Make sure to familiarize yourself with the list of Dangerous Foods, so you omit these from your rats’ diet.
Variety through homemade diets
Some people prefer to make their own rat diets. If you feed a homemade diet and do not add in lab blocks, you must make sure it’s nutritionally complete. And you need to make sure your rat consumes all of the ingredients in the diet.
There are many diets, recipes and formulas available online for pet rats. In my opinion, the person who has done the most research is Debbie Ducommon. In fact, if you’d like to learn more about pet rat nutritional requirements, I recommend reading Debbie Duccommon’s page on rat diets. On this page you’ll also find a homemade diet she formulated. My own personal diet improved years ago when I first read Debbie’s rat diet recommendations. Prior to reading about the top vegetables for rats recommended by “The Rat Lady”, I had never eaten kale or bok choy. Now they are some of my favorite vegetables.
Another very popular homemade diet is the Shunamite mix. For a fascinating discussion on homemade rat diets, and on the Shunamite diet in particular, read this post on reddit.
In summary, while I may not advocate for solely relying on a homemade diet for pet rats, there’s valuable insight to gain from exploring such dietary approaches. Presently, I’m engrossed in The Scuttling Gourmet, which was revised in 2023. It’s a well-crafted resource that delves into the intricacies of rat nutritional requirements and highlights the distinct advantages of different foods. Armed with this knowledge, you can selectively incorporate elements from these diets to meet your rats’ nutritional needs.
updated 11/15/23
