Making your own rat mix can be quite a lot cheaper in the long run than buying it in, especially the more you make at once and the more rats you have to feed. Most of the ingredients require buying in from places like equestrian supply stores and supermarkets anyway but there are a few things you can do to make your mixes cost even less. One way of doing this is to dehydrate your own fruit, veg and even herbs to add to your mix. Especially ingredients you have bought in for yourself and end up not using. Instead of this going to waste you can easily dehydrate them, break it up into small pieces and store until you make up your next batch of mix
What Is A Dehydrator?
A dehydrator is an appliance that removes moisture from food by circulating warm air at low, controlled temperatures. This process preserves food and extends its shelf life by inhibiting bacterial growth. A basic dehydrator includes a heat source, a fan for air circulation and trays to hold the food. They come in various different designs, powers and sizes depending which one you buy.
What’s Best To Dehydrate In A Rat Mix?
There is no exact answer to this other than what’s available to you and what you want in there. Going through the Isamu rats guide on Fruits and Vegetables is a good thing to do so you can get ideas of what you want in your mix. You want to avoid anything that’s suggested only as occasional treats and include anything that says it’s beneficial to them or things they find tasty.
Here are a few ideas of things you can dehydrate for your mix:
🟡 Fruit: Apple, Apricot, banana, coconut, papaya
🔴 Vegetables: Bell Peppers, Beetroot, Carrots Courgettes, Leeks, Parsnips.
🟢 Herbs: Basil, Chives, Dill, Parsley, Thyme
How to dehydrate?
First thing is to buy yourself a dehydrator if you haven’t got one already. We bought a good one from Cooks which works really well but most top kitchen appliance company’s make them and they all tend to do the same job. If you are planning on making bigger batches all at once I recommend paying a bit more money for one with more trays. The more trays you have the more you can put on at once which is actually quite handy if you like to get your mixes made up quicker. The process itself is all down to experience and knowing your dehydrator too, plus a little technique. For example knowing what thickness to cut your items is important. Cutting too thinly and the item will almost disappear once dehydrated and be no good but cutting too thick and it will take forever to dehydrate. Don’t worry though it’s trial and error but it doesn’t take too long to get the hang of.
Once you have everything chopped and loaded onto the trays you can set your dehydrator going. For our dehydrator we tend to put it on full power (70 degrees) for 12 hours at a time for the fruit and veg and 4 hours for the herbs. You can get 2-3 batches of herbs done in the day easily when your home all day then put the veg on overnight to make things more efficient. Also as mentioned they are very good to have around if you have anything lying around that you think will go to waste, you can simply chop it all up and throw it in the dehydrator overnight and it will keep for your rats to enjoy for much longer.
You can make up as many batches as you want with as many different ingredients as you want and it will keep for a long time. For those with big mischiefs of rats it’s very beneficial to get a large air tight storage container and get a large amount made up. Keep throwing different things in until you’re happy you have enough and then mix it all together ready for Rat Mix making day. Be careful though it gets very addictive.
The Rat Wiki 