Saturday, November 14, 2009

Sunflower seeds too much for my rat?

The food that came with my rat (Eclipse) when i bought her a week back is mainly made up of sunflower seeds but i've read on the internet that sunflower seeds are fattening and should just be given as treats? Is this the wrong food for her? It says for hampsters and mice on the packet but the pet shop said it was right, I'm a bit confused. Please and thanks (:

Sunflower seeds too much for my rat?
The pet shop who said it was good is full of bs :( Shame on them!!!





I keep four bowls in my rats' cage...





Here's the mix I use for my rats:





Lab blocks as staple diet. Don't buy from a bin, because they lose nutrition. Get a sealed bag that you can refrigerate to keep moths away and nutrition in.





Fresh salad, safe fruits and veggies. Tiny carrot sticks are a favorite. Small tiny jar of baby food (not the whole jar for one rat... instead, use 1 tsp and refridgerate the rest or throw out).





Cereal. Whole grains are great. They usually LOVE cheerios. Nothing with marshmallows or a ton of sugar. A little piece of bread now and then won't hurt. Not that soft white-bread crap!





Seed mixes... SMALL BOWL! This is a treat, not a staple diet. I give about 1 tsp per rat, at the very most, per day.





Rats under four months can use more protein than adult rats. A little bit of cooked egg always makes my babies go crazy. Once they reach four months, you really want to monitor for obesity. If you notice extreme extreme fatness, you may want to cut back on seeds and protein a bit.





PS- rats should always be kept in a pair of two or more. They feel more secure, they live longer, and they groom eachother which is an important part of their social life. My rats are allowed out for at least 2 hours per night, supervised, but I still keep 5 of them because even 2 hours of attention is not enough to keep them healthy!





Good luck, and feel free to tell your pet shop they're full of crap!!
Reply:yeah don't worry they love sunflowers seed but just make sure they get plenty of other healthy foods like pellets which you can also get from a pet shop .......MillieGxxx
Reply:Sunflowers are great as treats but those rat feeds made up of seeds aren't the best for them because they can just choice whatever they want to eat and leave the healthy stuff, it just doesn't give them the full diet they need. I'd recommend getting large 'blocks' so they have to eat everything in the block, it's much better for them.
Reply:It definately shouldn't be 50% of the diet, but yes they are fattening and yes, they are a food source.





There's rat food available, you can use that or supplement with foods in your home (pasta, apple slice, a piece of dry dog food, etc.) but for balanced diets, check out the rat foods available. Rat nutrition is well researched, they've been used as lab animals for so long that the foods needed to be 100% what was required.
Reply:Is it rat food that you are giving her. It sounds like bird food. They like sunflower seeds but try to get a food just for rats because it will have a good mix of all the foods your rat needs to stay healthy.
Reply:Sunflower seeds are very fattening, and the hamster and mouse mix probably isn't the best staple food for your rat... A lot of rat owners use this mix - http://www.shunamiterats.co.uk/diet.html - to make up a more varied rat diet. Ths contains commercial rat food, cereal and pasta.





www.fancy-rats.co.uk/community is a really helpful rat forum - you might want to have a browse through there for food ideas :)





As another poster said, rats like company of their own kind - Eclipse would probably benefit from having a ratty friend to snuggle up to and play with...


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