What Are The Best Rat Treats?

Well, now – here is a good question. A very good question – and we have consulted many rat owners to narrow down my list here in this article.

Rats will learn to eat anything that their humans offer them – although in the wild they are very shy and wary of new foods. Rats lack the ability to be sick and so they won’t naturally gorge on new foods that they find.

However, in the home, they often find foods just appearing in their cages – some hot, some cold, some wet and some sweet – and they will try them all.

So, you need to be careful with what you offer otherwise they will eat everything you give them all the time and it will affect their health. Luckily – quite a lot of the things on my list are healthy treats overall – and so you don’t need to feel so guilty offering them every so often.  Those at the bottom – not so much!

Very rarely do you need to resort to giving unhealthy treats, and when you do – as long as it is only rarely given – it won’t be such a problem.

What we have done in this article is to split up the treats into three groups for you and given 5 examples from each one – examples that have been tried and tested by us and my rat friends.  We hope many of them are new to you and your rats can try something new tonight for a treat!

So Best Natural Treats For Rats:

We have narrowed it down to 5 natural treats for rats that seem to get brought up and recommended by rat owners all over the place. They might not be things you always have in your home, of course, but hopefully they are a good starting point for you as a newbie.

1. Chicken Bones. Rats absolutely LOVE cooked chicken bones – and no doubt with some chicken meat, skin and gristle still on there. Make sure this is given in a contained environment or just before clean out day otherwise any leftover bits of this could cause quite a stink and possibly contaminate other foods if left to get warm-ish. Give them the whole carcass if you have the room – and the inclination…
2. Roasted Monkey Nuts. Superb choice for a great treat to offer your ratlets – and loved every time. You don’t need to overdo it on these though as they are great for helping to train and tame new rats – so you want to keep this trick up your sleeve to your advantage.
3. Curly Kale – either raw, wilted or lightly cooked. Apart from being a super-food anyway and deliciously moist, kale seems to really win them over – like most small animals (my harvest mice just love it). You can break it into small pieces for them to scrabble around picking up as enrichment (and great rat-watching time for you too) or give them larger pieces and watch them carry it off to their favourite spot to feast alone.
4. Hard-Boiled Eggs – the fun they have with these is amazing. And so simple.  Either shell and give whole, cut in half or put in one of those egg slicers so everyone can get a bit of the middle!
5. Squash – any squash but especially butternut and pumpkin which are super sweet. Just cut off the top; scoop out the middle (all the stringy bits and seeds) and put it in your rat enclosure for them to climb inside and all over. You can wash and separate the seeds too – then dry them out for the perfect rat snacks – or save a few to plant the following spring and grow your own fruits next year (although through some quirk of the squash family – you might not grow pumpkins from seeds you took out of a pumpkin – you could literally grow anything from them?).

Best Human Treats For Rats:

Again, we have just chosen 5 treats for rats that are from the human world of processed or home-made foods that are always popular little treats with rats. These include things that aren’t already in rat foods or usually suggested for main diets.

1. Rice Pudding. Warmed up or cold – it doesn’t seem to matter to the rat mummies and daddies we have spoken to. Seems perfect on those cold nights when you are enjoying a bowl of it yourself – why not share!
2. Petit Filous (or any) yoghurts really – especially the strawberry or peach flavours. Nice and cool in the summer to help cool down those adorable little ones who will certainly love you while they lap it up…
3. Cheese. There are loads of different cheeses you can try with your ratlets – and we are sure you always have a selection of cheeses at home right now that you could try out. Softer cheeses can be rather sticky in the mouth – but if only given every so often as a treat you will be a well-loved human for sure. Avoid giving blue cheeses if you haven’t given them before – (see can rats eat cheese for more info)
4. Soups and baby foods – quite similar really and full of goodness – and if you can make your own mixes – even better as you know they won’t contain and nasty ingredients. Roast some root veg, blend in the mixer, freeze inside ice cube trays and voila; a winter treat that takes just a few minutes to make in the microwave when those little faces are watching your every move!
5. Plain popcorn. Treat yours to a little friday night in and a movie with a decent bowl of popcorn for all. There will be no fighting over these little rat-sized treats as there will be plenty to go around. Obviously avoid the toffee and other sticky flavours – but best way is to buy your own corn for popping and make a night of it – especially if you have a clear saucepan to make them in! (so fun)

And Finally – Best (Really) Naughty Treats For Rats:

These are really the naughty ones that really should only be given sparsely (if at all) – but are very well received. There is really no easy way to reduce these down to 5 as rats will eat virtually ANYTHING you give them – but here is what we have chosen for you:

1. Prawn crackers! Totally naughty we know – and we hardly ever eat them ourselves – so we certainly don’t like to share them – so it really is a sparse treat for them. They love shrimp cakes too – which if homemade might well be a lot more healthy for them?
2. Chicken Nuggets. Another very naughty one – but they always go down a treat. Ideally they would be oven cooked – but then the fried ones DO always taste better!
3. Pizza – if you have it to hand and are tempted – why not offer them a tiny piece of your pizza to those ever-staring eyes!  Watch out for anything too spicy or things best avoided – like onions (as undercooked or raw onions can be harmful to rats). Be careful too with those with thick gloopy cheese in the crusts as it can stay quite hot – but we are sure they will still love a piece of yours whenever you have it.  Perhaps making rat-friendly homemade pitta pancakes for your crew would get around most of the naughtiness here?
4. Spaghetti Bolognese and other cooked pastas? Now – you can make these dishes as healthy or naughty as you want before giving to your kids – using wholegrain pasta and low sodium/sugar sauces and lean meat can make a difference – as opposed to a creamy bacon-filled processed tagliatelle carbonara! Hmm… Why is naughty always more tasty!
5. Cakes of all shapes and sizes – always go down a treat and think of the calories you won’t be eating yourself if you share it with the family? Crikey – shouldn’t really be thinking about cake – but thoughts of Victoria Sponge are wafting through my mind right now…

A Word Of Warning Though About Naughty Rat Treats…

Always think about what is best for your rats long term before you give a naughty treat – as your rats lives really are in your hands and the more healthily you feed them – the longer they may well live.

We don’t have any references to hand, but have read many articles about ratty diets that can reduce the incidence of tumours, delay the onset of kidney disease and some even claim to extend the average lifespan of their entire rattery inhabitants.

So, if in doubt – leave it out…