Am I feeding too much?

[Roxy's Ratties]

OKay, for those who do not know, I have three, young male rats.  James is about 6 months and he's the oldest.  They are moderately active and don't look too fat right now. 

I have a Coast Cage, Rat Mansion.  Not huge, but not tiny, either.  These cages have two bowls built in.  Well, not built in, but you can't use the cage without them or the rats will get out.  I fill the one bowl about 2/3 up daily with a mix similar to Suebee's, but with a high quality (Solid Gold) dog food added.  That's generally in the morning.  In the evening, I fill the other bowl to the top with veggies and fruit.  Most of that's not eaten, but I am trying to see what each likes and accomodating those foods.  Right before bed, I give a small bowl with a couple teaspoons of either baby food (homemade when possible), oatmeal or baby cereal, yogurt or something from the dinner that I made.

I know that I have growing boys, but their stomachs cannot be big considering how small they are.  Is that too much food?  I am still new to rattie nutrition and I am just testing the waters and seeing what works and what doesn't.  Just a month or two ago, I was just feeding lab blocks.  And not great ones, either!     After joining this forum, I learned and decided that my boys deserved better.   

[happybat]

Without knowing the size of the bowls, or the size of the ratlets, you are filling it is difficult to say for sure if you are overfeeding. You say that they leave quite a lot of their veggies. Have you noticed your guys getting overweight? 

For comparison, my four guys get around 120 ml of Shumamite mix (like Suebee's, but with the dogfood added), plus veggies, a little fruit and occasional treats of human food. I was very worried recently that they were putting on a lot of weight - it turned out that my husband had started feeding them too! Sorting that one out has helped a LOT.

As your guys are still growing, I wouldn't worry too much unless they start to get fat OR unless they are cherry picking the tasty food and leaving the healthy stuff. If either of these are concerns, it might be worth cutting down until you find a level at which they are maintaining a healthy weight (or weight increase as they grow) but still eating most or all of what you give them.

[ilovedorks313]

I have that cage and i HATE those stupid food dishes.  I cannot feed them without a full scale escape attempt... which is cute sometimes but not when I'm trying to go to bed.  Plus, i stupidly installed the water bottle directly above one of the dishes so it drips on it and melts the food.  plus i like to clean out veggie/fresh food bowls as soon as the boys are done eating and this doesnt always coincide with play time.  right now they have a bowl that formerly functioned as can for chicken (like a tuna can).  They get that filled up once a day and then they each have thier own smaller bowls (maybe 3 tablespoons worth) that are used for fresh foods like veggies, baby food, anything i don't want sitting in the cage for too long those get filled up when ever i cook, almost always they get veggie scraps at dinner and on weekends they'll get some egg for breakfast.  They also get one yogurt covered pinapple everynight before bed too.  I have 3 10 month old boys.  They aren't fat but they sure aren't thin either.  There's a good chance that they're leaving the veggies because they don't like them.  Dino won't eat carrots to save his life, templeton isn't a fan of green pepper...they coud just be picky.   

[wonderrodent]

My girls (will be one year in a few days) have always been slim. Maybe also because they have a whole room for themselves and are very active. They were always on a healthy diet and I didn't even start with the junk food stuff. I did give them a piece of pizza twice and they didn't even like it. If I give them people food it's usually something healthy like whole grain rice, salmon, noodles etc. but only a tiny amount. One of my girls suddenly gained weight recently (she is 370 g now). One day I realized that she was heavier than her sister. Well, until I found out that she also eats most of her sister's food! Since Chailyn is just not as hungry and not as interested in food (or likes to store it) her sister would take advantage of that. Now I monitor them when I bring in the food. So she gained weight because she eats more. Sorry, but I am not really a believer in the "it's just in her/his genes" or "she/he is a Zucker rat" mentality (I am sure there are exceptions). Also,some people say that all their rats eat the same amount of food but some are overweight. Well, do they really know how much each rat actually eats? That's what I thought of my girls.
My girls get lab blocks, fresh fruit and veggies, tiny amounts of baby food. Healthy treats that don't have much calories once in a while. Whatever doesn't have a lot of calories I give a little bit more of, the food that has more, I give less.
I just read that a cube of cheese (don't know how big though. 1" or 2"?) is like a human eating 400 cubes! So I guess a lot of times people don't realize that the furkids need a lot less.

Anyway, I think iit's great that you are concerned about not only what but also how much they are eating. Since your boys are still growing I am sure they are fine but I would watch the weight because it's always harder to put a rat on a diet once they are overweight. I don't know how big your food bowl is so it's hard to say. But obviously, they like the higher calorie stuff (baby food, oatmeal etc.). Maybe you should try different kinds of veggies and fruit. Or serve more of that and less of the higher calorie food. They know they don't have to eat their veggies and fruit since there is enough other good stuff available . Have you tried good quality lab blocks? (Mazuri, Harlan-Teklad or Oxbow Regal Rat)?

[Roxy's Ratties]

They HATE lab blocks.  Since I learned more about the nutritional needs of the rats, I have tried several different kinds.  They won't touch them. 

The food bowls are medium size.  I would think 2 inches wide by one inch long by one inch deep.  The baby food bowl is small and they only get a couple teaspoons.

I've been trying out all the different fruits that I can think of lately to see what each likes and what's healthiest and what not.  They eat a large amount of green leafy veggies and carrots.  I've given apples and cucumbers, but none of them like it too much.  They hate strawberries, as I found out last night.  I have a bunch of fruit in the fridge that I am testing on them each day.  James might be willing to give his left leg over a chunck of banana.  He lives for them!

Is there a chart or something that shows what the ideal weight is?  I think James is starting to push the limit, Trev I can't keep weight on because he never stops and the baby is just a baby.  Does someone have a picture of the "ideal" rat? 

[wonderrodent]

Well, I read that a rat should be more of a tube shape rather than a triangle  but boys definitely get heavier than girls. I think I read that if girls hit 400 g they are definitely overweight. As I said it's different for boys but I can't remember what I read about the boys.
I guess all you can do is trying out different fruit and veggies. Have you tried making your own baby food? I do that and I freeze it in little baby food jars. I cook the veggies, mash them and then I mix different veggies together like broccoli + peas. Carrots + sweet potato, potato + corn etc.
My girls don't like berries and apples either. Have you tried watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, mangos, peach, nectarine, plums?
As for veggies: Kale and broccoli (both very healthy), radicchio, belgium endive, cooked potato and sweet potato, peas, corn (in moderation). Just don't give them iceberg lettuce but you probably know that.

[ilovedorks313]

My boys love, love, love black olives.  they have a pretty high sodium content so they only get a slice, but wow.  they also like mushrooms and tomatoes too.  have you tried those?  Green leafy veggies are good but they do have a pretty high water content and i thought i read some where that things like lettuce should only be fed sparingly.  I think it was on a Do Not Feed list... but i can't remember which one. 

[Roxy's Ratties]

My boys love, love, love black olives.  they have a pretty high sodium content so they only get a slice, but wow.  they also like mushrooms and tomatoes too.  have you tried those?  Green leafy veggies are good but they do have a pretty high water content and i thought i read some where that things like lettuce should only be fed sparingly.  I think it was on a Do Not Feed list... but i can't remember which one. 

They don't get lettuce.  They get collard greens and Kale.