what else besides palets?

[WinX]

My rat seems to like the dry palets I got for her at the pet store and since I was running low I was wondering if there is any other kind of food that I could get besides the palets. She gets plenty of fruits and veggies and I know the palets are good for her nutritionally - is there any food brand that would be good or should I just stick with the palets?

[Ratwings]

As a supplement to the pellets for a little variety, you could make a mix such as Suebee's mix.  I feed my rats lab blocks in addition to a modified version of the mix: puffed rice, puffed wheat, rolled oats, Nutro Natural Choice Lite dog food, and Total cereal.  My rats love it!

(I am assuming that by "palets" you mean lab blocks, or rat pellets)

[babygoth]

Untill just recently I haven't been able to get the specialized rat pellets in pet stores so my boys have eaten hamster/gerbil food.  I search for the one with the most sunflower seeds because that's what they like the most.  Just this week I picked up some wildbird feed that is made with seeds of all kinds to see if they like it.  So far, so good.

[Marybelle]

Beware seed mixes, babygoth.  They're VERY high in fat.  It's a lot like what would happen if you or I ate cake and candy all the time.  Yeah, it's good, but it leads to all kinds of problems.  You're better off with a staple low protein dog food (like Nutro Light), and Suebee's mix (which ratwings linked), rather than seed mixes and bird foods. 

[Snowy_Rats]

My rats get lab blocks all the time  nd a mixture twice a week.
They have a mineral block, and some greenies (the toothbrush) which has kept them ocupied.
They get diner scrasp everyother/every 3 days.
some consist of;
Chicken wings (Rats can eat chiken bones because they kaw and hollow them out)
corn, peas, brocoli
Meat scraps
potatoes

Other treats :
Lettuce
Carrots
Apples
(I avoid any sort of serious cirtrus like oranges, what it odes to males, i wotn risjk it with females)
Yogies 

[babygoth]

I mixed the seeds in with the regular food and they still get the pellets too.  They pick what they want but they don't get more till the pellets are gone.

[scrubjay]

Here are some links discussing the proper diet for rats. 
http://www.ratfanclub.org/diet.html
http://ratguide.com/care/nutrition/diet.php

Better to spend a bit on a high quality food like Harlan lab blocks or Oxbow than to pay vet bills later. 

Dried corn can contain high levels of fungal contaminates which has been shown to cause liver cancer in rats. Corn also contains high levels of both nitrates and amines. These two compounds can combine in the stomach to form nitrosamines which are carcinogenic.

[forkyfork]

I mixed the seeds in with the regular food and they still get the pellets too.  They pick what they want but they don't get more till the pellets are gone.

What is the name on the pellets you use? 

You also want to make sure they are gone and not hidden, theyre little rascals when it comes to that.

I was able to buy purinas lab rat food block(they also make mazuri blocks) from a horse feed store I got a huge 25lb bag for $25 and it has lasted a very long time with 2 rats, just check the expiration date so you have a long time before it expires. This way I know they get a fairly balanced diet since thats all the labs feed and they dont want the diet to affect the experiement results. I put it in lots of gallon freezer bags and store it in a cool dry place.

[WinX]

I'm not sure of the name I've gotten them at the pet store where they have it in a container and you scoop out however much you need, I think it was about $1 per pound.
I know she eats them.
This might sound weird, but she's been nibbling on everything a lot more in the last few days, including my finger. Is there a chance she might "confuse" my finger with her pellets?

[VegetarianPetLuvR]

More than likely, the pellets are a crap quality full of corn and such. Though that is the assumption I'm making, seeing as you didn't mention reading any ingredients.

I suggest you either go about ordering a high quality lab block (Harlan Teklad, Mazuri, and Regal Rat are the best I've seen) or start looking over the Subee's mix recipe (and look into getting some Innova or Nutro Lite too).

[wonderrodent]

I totally agree with Scrubjay and VegetarianPetLuvR. First of all, read the suggested websites. Diet is VERY VERY important. High quality lab blocks should be their main diet. It might take a while to get them used to a new lab block. I would start out buying a small package to see if they even like it. They might prefer a different brand. The best quality blocks are Mazuri, Harlan Teklad and Oxbow. If you still have troubles, try to feed treats/veggies/fruits in the evening only so that during the day they have no other choice than eating lab pellets. I know it sounds terrible, but it's for the health of your ratties. Once they are used to them you can start giving them more (healthy) treats again. The lab block contains everything they need. Hamster, Rabbit and Gerbil mixes are NOT made for rats. Too high in fat and rats have a hard time digesting alfalfa. Since rats are omnivorous, of course they would pretty much eat anything but that doesn't mean it's the right food for them. Most of us like junk food, too but is it good for us? NO! Like scrubjay said with a healthy diet you might save a lot on vet bills. Good luck!

[forkyfork]

I havent been in a pet store that has had good "rat" food in a bulk container. As the others have said its best...and cheaper in vet bills to feed a rat appropriate diet.  The other downside of bulk food is that you dont know how old it is and bugs get in it as well.  Also you mentioned wild bird food sometimes they put a spray on it to keep the bugs out...rats are very sensitive to any chemicals and get tumors and cancer very easily so its best to avoid anything like that.

Im guessing from your question about if he thinks its your finger it is a large pellet and probably Kaytee if so they put a preservative in ALL their food that has been proven to cause cancer in small animals yet they still use it, its as if they dont care if our buddies die from cancer they just want money.

And dont worry about them thinking your finger is a pellet, though you may have somthing yummy smelling on it causing them to check it out so make sure you wash food off your hands before playing with them.
I do have a boy that will grab hard with his teeth, anything he thinks might be food that means letting him get a yogie out of the container himself and keeping fingers away from the end of anything I give him. He dosnt see well and lunges at his food.

As far as cost mine was $1 per pound but is better for them I just had to buy more at a time.   

[mamarat2]

Also just a quick word of advice about the seeds, I've had some rats actually have choking problems with the seed mixes.  Haven't fed the seed stuff in ages.

[babygoth]

I use Kaytee pellets, am researching more to see if I should make a change.

[babygoth]

The Rat Fan Club states that pellets should have soybean meal within the first 3 ingredients, Harlan's pellets do not show any soybean meal in the ingredients.  But then Harlan's site says that fat and protien content should stay low and their food goes no higher than 19% protien and 9% fat.  The Mazuri food has 24% protien and soybean meal as the first ingredient.  Kaytee has soybean meal as the 2nd indredient, 21% protien, and 4.5% fat.  I guess my whole point of posting this is to find out why Harlan's would be considered better than Kaytee when Kaytee seems to meet up to the requirements of a good food better than Harlan.

[jessiree]

kaytee contains a perservative,  Ethoxyquin, that is thought to cause cancer in rats.  And, if I remember correctly, Kaytee basically contains a lot of junk. 

I swear by Harlan.  My boys love it and they're doing very well on it.  I need to look up the ingredients of the formula I use.

*edited because I looked some stuff up*

Harlan does contain soybean meal as one of it's main ingredients.
Kaytee's first ingedient is corn. While Harlan does have corn, it's not as much as Kaytee.  Kaytee also has alfalfa, which rats don't even digest.  It's all filler.

[Heather]

I trust this site and the opinions here more than the Rat Fan Club. I feed Harlan to mine, 2016 as it is the maintenence diet vs the 2018 as a formula for breeding/lactating/growth, and I am confident that it is the best food out there for rats. Not only does Harlan feed it to their own animals, it's been tested to fully meet the requirements for rats. If that was the case with Kaytee, why do they put cheap fillers in their blocks and a cancer causing preservative not even approved for human consumption? Not to mention the company is questioned for it's avian practices. Most people who have access to Harlan blocks feed it. Mazuri is nice but it smells RANCID compared to the Harlan. It's because it contains fish meal and other animal by products. Since being on Harlan, mine have better coats, better weights, better appetites and a better smell. They used to really reek on the Mazuri food (and I went the Kaytee route years ago as well) and when I switched to Harlan, a few mos later I took a deep breath in and thought "hey! they don't smell anymore!"