What do you feed your rats?

[blackghost]

Hey everyone

Just need an opinion from people that breed their own rats...

Basically what I am asking is...What do you feed your rats?

I feed a normal rat/guinea pig mixture that I buy from a local pet shop, and with this I add a handful of small home-brand round dog biscuits from woolies. I was told to feed them this so there was less chance of them eating there own babies, as rats are also meat eaters. Apparently dog biscuits are also plentiful in protein and it's good for them to chew on something. The problem is, that I was told today that the dog biscuits are very high in salt and over time, this could be potentially harmful to my pythons?

I do freeze the rats before feeding them to my pythons (not sure if this makes much difference), but I would like to get other opinions from people that keep their own rats and what they feed them and if they have any thoughts on this issue with salt?

Thanks everyone...

blackghost

[bitey]

I feed mine the rat mix from the produce and protien dog biscuits and fruit and vegies (usually scraps ), so the have rich milk for the babys and yes so they dont feel the need to steal my snake food.

[Whisper2]

most of the feed mixes i get already have dog biccies in them. i just add fruit (banana is a favourte i have found) and squedgies, that keeps them happy and healthy : )

[MrBredli]

Give them some Nutri-Grain for extra protein!

[kandi]

work horse mix sometimes with homebrand oats and bran also they love tomatoes and watermelon.

[nuthn2do]

Just get real rodent food like barastoc, about $25 for a 20 kg bag

[OdessaStud]

I you will eat it so will they,a basic diet should consist of grains,protein biscuits,fruit,vegies and anything else you have that is not going to be eaten.Mine love rice and at less than $10 for !0 kg you end up with around 30kg of rice throw in some full cream milk or cream thats over its used by date,egg if you have heaps ou name it they will eat it.Be carefull with the amoun of protein you give them as this can cause them to get itchy skin.Bird seed is ok but as an additive not a meal,rat pellets Ive found some like and some dont.I could go on and on but hopefully youll get the gist of what im trying to say.
Good luck and if I can help in any other way pm me if you like.
Cheers Odie

[bjbk18]

Hey mate i feed mine a rat/guinea pig mixture which i add in some dry dog food. Then when i go to coles usually they have bags of salad which r almost out of date and they sell them out cheap!!! 99 cents so i get one bout every 2 weeks. I was going away for the week so i put the whole bag in. The people which was minding my pets said they ate it in the first day lol hungry little things.(i only have 2)

[mickousley]

i used rat cubes ,corn for there teeth, a small amount of sun flower seeds for oil, and some dog biscuites for iron that way they dont eat there young
mick

[dazza74]

i feed mine anything and everything

[Tsubakai]

They love meal worm as a treat! About the only good use I'f found for mealies so far.

[TrueBlue]

i feed mine a mixture of pony pellets and pig pellets, works a treat. I also give them some working horse mix from time to time. Cant stop them breeding, this food works as well as the old deer pellets from forest glen that were awsome rat/mice food untill they changed the recipie.
Ive tried every type of rat/mouse cube available in the country and imo they are all rubbish compared to the above mix.

[Lucas]

Python hatchies

[slim6y]

Originally Posted by Lucas

Python hatchies

That is quite ironic really... why not just use the eggs?