Food

🐁Up to 16 weeks

The rats should be fed a high quality mix, such as a homemade mix or a pre-made mix from ratrations.co.uk. I recommend the ISA-mixes to start, with supplements (CaCuD3) 2-3 times a week. They will also need extra protein during this period. This can be in the form of scrambled egg, tinned mackerel/sardines or high quality wet dog food (Bakers grain free, Lilly’s kitchen. Avoid anything made from meat/animal derivatives). There should be no need to restrict the amount of food during this time, a good starting point is 20g but you can feed more if they are eating it all in one sitting.

🐀Over 16 weeks

At this point they no longer need any extra protein, and so just their mix is appropriate for their main food. As they are no longer rapidly growing, you may need to start taking care of how much they are being fed. Somewhere between 15-20g per rat per day is a good starting point. You can adjust this depending on the body shape of the rat. You want them to not be pear-shaped when they are stood on their back legs. There is no ideal weight for rats, it is best to judge on shape.

🍴Homemade mix recipe

This is the recipe I use for my rats. I recommend anyone wanting to make their own mix read The Scuttling Gourmet by Alison Campbell (Available to buy here).

• 6 scoops Dodsen & Horrell Conditioning mix
• 6 scoops Allen & Page Pygmy Goat mix
• 1 scoop fish4dogs small bite salmon and potato
• 1 scoop sprats
• 4 scoops from a mix of cornflakes, rice snaps, wheat pillows (all three less than 5% sugar), pearl barley, popped corn
• 1 scoop from a mix of Rosewood herbs plus, dried carrot, dried flowers
• 1 scoop from a seed mix of linseed, pumpkin seed, hemp seed and sesame seed