There is such a huge variety of foods on the market right now just for rats – not to mention all the foods out there that rats can eat anyway – that pinning down the best food for all rats is an impossible task.
Even if you include all the ready-made rat foods like Supreme Reggie and Versale Laga; as well as foods designed for other animals, like dog kibble and parrot treats – and even those single ingredients that work really well nutrients-wise like sunflower hearts and hemp seeds – the choice for your rat food is virtually unlimited.
Unlike Chinchillas and Prairie Dogs, there aren’t strict rules on what can and can’t be eaten in the rat world – a rat’s digestive system can handle just about anything you throw at it – and sometimes with such gusto that you would think that they were loving every mouthful in the same way that we relish the perfect meal ourselves.
And, as rats can eat almost any foods with impunity (don’t mention prawn crackers), the choice for rat keepers about what the best food is can never really be answered with any one answer – especially as different life stages of rats, varying health conditions and different environments that rats live in can all affect the foods that they thrive on – AS WELL AS the expectations of their owners!
There is no real one food fits all here – no matter how much you want there to be.
We won’t be going into technical details here about protein percentages and fibre content though, because when making your own rat food or adding to an existing complete food – you are basically messing up these percentages short-term anyway. Nutrition isn’t easy to get right – even after years of trying.
So, The Best Rat Food?
More important in answering that question itself – is to understand how all the different foods work and what they can all do for you and your rats right now.
There are many different factors that can make a really good food for one rat totally the wrong food for another rat. And you are the one in control of this.
Types Of Rat Food:
We would say there were 3 different types of rat food out there all doing the same things but in a different way. Assuming your rats are not pups, not seniors, and don’t have any known health issues – these are all fine to feed as their main food.
Commercial Rat Foods
(mixed ingredients like Reggie Rat and Rat Nature)
These foods are those that are for sale pre-packaged in shiny sealed bags and waiting for you in stores across the country or online. They are made in huge amounts by large companies and sold in easy-to-carry (and pay for) sizes.
They contain a variety of mixed seeds, grains, and colored ‘extruded’ pieces (unidentifiable-as-a-specific-thing) so that they look fun to us humans – increase enrichment for the rats themselves – but can lead to wastage if your rats keep picking out the ‘best’ bits and leaving the ‘unwanteds’ to be thrown away.
These unwanted bits may also contain key ingredients – but you will be adding to this diet anyway with fresh stuff – so as long as you replace ‘like with like’ it shouldn’t be too much of a problem (well only for your wallet).
These commercial foods contain roughly the amount and type of nutrients needed to keep a pet rat in good health using a variety of different ingredients depending on the brand.
Don’t forget that rats need nutrients to stay alive not specific ingredients – so if one rat food has oats for carbohydrates and chicken for protein and the other has wheat for carbohydrates and cooked beans for protein – it isn’t really a biggie. As long as both versions contain carbohydrates and proteins that are digestible inside rats – – and are EATEN by your rats – it is all fine.
Granted, some ingredients are better than other for being digested and being put to good use in the body, but these companies wouldn’t be in business if their foods didn’t keep your rats alive for around-about their average lifespan.
We know it sounds a bit terrible put like that – but just like us humans living on processed foods – these diets for rats are acceptable, readily available, easy to feed and allow you to enjoy your pets for as long as they are with you. You can add whatever you want to these diets in moderation – including fresh fruits, veg, nuts and all other treats.
Surely then, if you enjoy your rat having variety, and you like to see them having a wide choice of foods to eat and they don’t have to eat the bits they don’t like, then surely this is the best rat food for your rats?
Extruded Rat Food
(pellets like Beaphar Care + and blocks like Mazuri)
These versions of breeder or ‘lab’ rat foods are a bit more down-to-business for the more discerning owners/keepers – by this I mean that there is no wastage of the ‘unwanted bits’ as there is no choice. There is only one piece – and it is specific.
Pelleted foods and lab blocks are actually the ground up nutrients a rat needs, from a variety of sources, all cooked together and made into lumps of the same (also called extruded foods). Basically every pellet or block is contains 100% of the ingredients on the packaging. Imagine having a whole cake given to you (extruded food) or all the individual ingredients (commercial mixes as above).
This also means no best bits – the whole thing is pure nutrition. No picky eaters, no husks and shells to mess up your set-up and all the right nutrients going into your rats’ tummies.
So, if you don’t mind the ‘boring’ look of them and are more interested in the best nutrition for your rats over and above all other things – then this surely is the best rat food.
Homemade Rat Food
(like Scuttling Gourmet mix or Rat Fan Clubs’ Diet)
Making your own rat food isn’t a task to be taken on by anyone without some serious research and possibly, we would say, years of experience keeping and breeding rats.
Having this experience of many many years and many many families of rats, you would have had a chance to see the long term and generational effects of certain ingredients and different balances of nutrients (and sources) and have made adjustments as needed.
A homemade diet isn’t just adding various commercial foods together with the odd fruits and seeds added – it means starting from scratch – and that is why it can be so very difficult.
However, saying that, it does give you the flexibility to choose ingredients which are organic, locally grown, easy to digest, animal-friendly and cheaper to buy, as well as adding those ingredients that you feel have a particular health benefit to your line of rats or a desired outcome.
For example if you need ingredients to bring out the best in a certain coat type; or your live in a tropical climate and so need ingredients that don’t spoil so easily, or you live in a remote location and so need ingredients that you can access all year round.
Most importantly, it seems in many well-known homemade diets, there is the exclusion of common treats and foods that are believed to increase the chances of health issues.
Home-made food therefore, can also mean a way of life for your rats and so becomes a holistic rat diet – rather than just the base food – homemade diets are also quite strict about what you CAN’T feed – not just what you can.
So if you can create a diet for your rats that suits your personal needs and the nutritional needs of your rattery and which you believe can extend the lifespan of your babies and reduce the incidence of tumours and kidney disease at the same time – then surely this is the best food for rats?
So, What Is The Best Type Of Food For YOUR Rats?
We’re sure this article has given you food for thought (sorry) about the benefits of different types of rat foods – even if it didn’t tell you a specific brand.
The reason the brands aren’t the most important thing is because it is how you feed it, what you want to achieve with it and what you want to avoid in it that make it better or worse for your little ratties.
And this changes throughout their lives (depending on health and age) and throughout all your rat-keeping days (in terms of finances, time, availability and personal values).
And you should know by now anyway after reading the above – that the best rat food is always the one that suits you and your rats RIGHT NOW.
As it can only ever be.
