Rats will literally eat anything. It’s a big part of why they survive so well in the wild amongst other factors. This doesn’t mean they should though. Creating your own rat mix has many benefits both to you and your rats. It ensures you give them a varied diet of different ingredients they can thrive on, keeps the weights of our rats easier to manage, improves longevity of life and overall quality of rat as well as many more health benefits. It also is much cheaper than buying the high quality of best rat mixes out there.
Here we take a look at the full process of making your own rat food mix. This will give you a great idea of what you’ll need step by step in creating your very own creation mix for your rats. There is a basic structure to doing this and you can customise it to add the things you can source yourself. You can go from a small basic mix to start off with right up to big and varied multiple ingredient blends.
This homemade rat mix is based off the Shunamite Diet via The Scuttling Gormet Website.
Step 1 – The 6 Parts
In this mix there are 6 different categories of food types that make it up. Each type can have a minimum of 1 suggested ingredient in it for a very basic mix but it’s recommended to start with at least 2. The more you add to it the more varied you will make your mix which will have extra benefits as well as minimizing the chances of your rats getting bored with their food too quickly.
The 6 parts are as follows:
* Base Mix – This will form the bulk of your mix. Most base mixes can be found at places like equestrian shops or farm stores and can be bought in large amounts.
* Processed Grains – made up mostly of human breakfast cereals and pasta. Can be easily picked up during your weekly shop for very cheap.
* Herbs and Veg – these can be bought from certain places like pet shops and whole food stores but buying a dehydrator and doing it yourself works out much cheaper in the long run
* Protein – things like high quality dog kibble and more natural sources like dried insects can be picked up from pet shops. Other bits like lentils can be picked up during your weekly shop.
* Seeds – should be a nice mix of different seeds. Can be made yourself or bought ready mixed from stores or pet shops.
* Supplements – shop bought mixes tend to have vitamins sprayed on them. If you make your own mix you will need to supplements separately.
Step 2 – Ingredients
The below are the more common examples of what most rat keepers use to make a good complete mix. This is just a basic suggestion for the more commonly used ingredients. Start out by picking one or two of each then as you get more confident with making up a mix you can look at adding lots more into each of the sections. For a much bigger and complete list check out the DIY Rat Mix – Ultimate Ingredient List now.
Base mix
Minimum of 1 of the below base mixes. Mixing 2 together can be very beneficial so if you have space to store more than one that will be beneficial to giving your mix more variety.
Processed Grains
* Low Sugar Breakfast Cereals (look for less than 5g of fat per 100g) Try get 2-3 different varieties. Best examples include own brand versions of Shreddies, Cornflakes, Puffed Wheat etc
* Pasta – get a couple different shapes and sizes for Variety
* Wholegrain Rice
* Rice Crackers (Unflavoured)
* Rice Noodles/Egg Noodles
* Pearl Barley/Barley Rings
* Pop Corn (Unflavoured)
* Plain Oats
Herbs and Veg
* Dried Herbs – Dandelion, flower mixes, Echinacea, Basil, Parsley, Dill, Thyme
* Dried Veg – Carrot, Leek, Pepper, Parsnip, Beetroot, Broccoli
* Rabbit Herb Mixes
* Bunny Bistro Vitality Salad
Protein
* High Quality Dog Kibble – Try going Fish or insect based as they are kinder on the kidneys. The higher the quality the better although this can come at expense but worth paying more for.
* Dried Insects/Shrimp/fish
* Egg Biscuits
* Pulses – lentils, peas, roasted soya beans, soya protein
Seeds
* Pumpkin Seeds
* Linseed
* Hempseed
* Sunflower Seeds
* Sesame Seeds
* Peanuts (Smaller amounts)
* Parrot Seed Mixes from Pet Shops
* Organic Omega Seed Blend by Buy Whole Foods Online
Supplements
* Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials
* Rat Rations CaCuD3
* Calcivet
Step 3 – Ratios
Getting the right balance is very important in a mix. Foods high in fat like the seeds and high in protein like the kibble need only a small amount adding whereas the base mix is much lower in fat food value but still important for a balanced diet so you can add more. The best way to measure if to find yourself a “scoop” to use. This can be an actual feeding scoop or anything else like a cup or a glass. Whatever you use just make sure you use the same thing for the whole mix so it’s accurate measuring. 1 cup will make up 5% of our total batch. Mix each batch up thoroughly so all the ingredients spread together evenly.
Base Mix – 50% -10 scoops
Grains – 25% – 5 Scoops
Protein – 10% – 2 Scoops
Herbs and Veg – 10% – 2 Scoops
Seeds – 5% – 1 scoop
Not only will making your own mix work out much cheaper in the long run but you can modify it at anytime. A lot of breeders will adjust their mixes often depending on the general ages of their rats or even at certain times of year. You can also change the ingredients every now and again to keep your rats interested and prevent food boredom. Remember that scatter feeding will also keep them stimulated so make sure you spread the food out far and wide in the cage for them to search for.
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