So, here I sit at 9:30 PM in my kitchen, boiling sweet potatoes and beets for my rats. I have just been to Whole Foods and returned with a massive amount of ingredients. My fridge is full of veggies, my cabinets brim with grains, and my freezer runneth over with frozen fruits and vegetables. I have:

-Peas
-Blueberries
-Fava Beans
-Arugula
-Collard Greens
-Mustard Greens
-Soybeans of two varieties
-Flaked Wheat
-Flaked Barley
-Pearled Barley
-Long Grain Brown Rice
-Oat Bran
-Rye Berries
-Millet Flour
-Soy Flour
-Purple Grapes
-Bananas
-Liquid DHA
-Grapeseed Extract
-Yams
-Beets
-Carrots
-Spinach
-Cage Free Organic Eggs

And what the heck am I doing? I'm making rat food. My own oven dried/dehydrated rat diet, to be precise. This is the earliest of early testing/development phases for what I hope will someday be a product I can market to rat breeders and enthusiasts online and in local independent pet stores. This first batch is for my trio of squishy little boys, and for the 20-some rats owned by the breeder of two of my boys (though I am looking for other testers willing to email me weekly about how rats are doing on this, if any owners or breeders or rescues would like to play along after a couple more weeks of fine-tuning the recipe- just message me). I'll try and update on how my little project is going for anyone who wants to follow the progress... could be interesting, especially if I, a notably lousy cook of human food, manage to burn down or blow up my kitchen in the process....

I think my beets are done.

WOW, I don't even eat that good! no fair

is your future goal to provide this mix pre-package to other rat owners, or to just provide the recipe? while that list looks awesome (from my uneducated point of view), some of the items on that list may be hard for some to locate. thinking mostly of the liquid DHA, cage free organic eggs, the pearled barley,  and the grapeseed extract (i work in a natural foods market and am not even sure my store carries all of this).  plus, as much as i loved and spoil my rats, I could cook for them daily/every other day. if they aren't getting Suebee's or lab block, they're eating off my own plate. but if this is going to be sold dried and prepackaged, I'd go for it.

I had thought of flaxseed oil, but figured DHA comes from fish oil which has the same effect (I got everything at Whole Foods, by the way) and I will see what the skin and coat benefits are without the flaxseed first... I am hoping to get a nutritional analysis done plus the results of the first batch of testers and then add more vitamins and such from there for whatever is lacking, lower/raise protein, etc. I'm going to eventually (hopefully) make a prepackaged diet to sell under the name of Aristorat- oven dried and dehydrated pellets, cooked on low heat so as not to destroy the raw nutrients- probably sold online and in specialty stores, mostly marketed to breeders and competitors but also pet owners who want to lower the risk of cancer and raise lifespans of their beloved furbabies.

Oh, and the first casualty of this project is my blender, which I just dropped and broke into a million pieces. My SO wins the best SO of the New Year award for heading over in the middle of the night to lend me his!

Hm, true, I could make an adult formula without the DHA- I was already planning a vegan version with vegan egg replacer- so I could use flaxseed oil in that... I do have some flax for my horse that I could try tossing in the next batch.

Vegan version? Score.

Just a reminder, just because the human is vegan or veggie, rats ARE omnivores.

Oh, ahahaha!  Silly ratties.  So, where are the pictures?

"Just a reminder, just because the human is vegan or veggie, rats ARE omnivores."

People are omnivores, too, naturally.  That is what makes it possible for us to be vegan or veg unlike obligate carnivores. 

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here... except maybe questioning veg rat diets effectiveness?
My girls have been vegan their whole lives with absolutely no troubles relating to their nutrition.
Mattie's been vegan a year and a half+ and she's never been sick a day in her life.  Sophie, the baby, was vegan from week 5 and she's growing normally and thriving now at about 4 months old (she's about 9 oz).  Bev and Nettie were vegan since week 3 (they were weaned too early by a rescue) and both are normal-sized rats (10-11 oz) with no health problems yet at 9 months old.  Fran has health issues, but most of those are related to poor breeding by a shady breeder.  Even so, she's healthy except for her URI troubles and darn near all rats have those so I don't think it's because of what she's eating (or not eating).

I've had really good luck with vegan diets and ratties. It can be done if you are knowledgable and pay attention to nutrition.  Junk food vegan ratties aren't any healthier than junk food vegan humans.  

And OP, I'd love to see a GMO free, mostly or totally organic vegan rat chow! Keep us posted!

Melissa

 Well I'm certainly not going to criticize anyone who goes the veggie route for themselves or their rats.

 As long as they use the proper nutritional substitutes, more power to 'em!

Oh good lord, can we not turn this thread into a morality debate?

No matter what kind of diet a rat is on, it is important to make sure it is a balanced one. As long as people are going to feed a veg diet, I applaud any effort to make a complete vegan staple.

And "some people" have done a ton of research and evidence and actual results suggest to them that a vegan diet is the healthiest diet one can eat as long as one is careful to include all the necessary nutrients and vitamins.

It was asked what was meant and I stated my PERSONAL opinion.  I was not personally attacking you with that "some people" statement so please don't take it that way.  I'm sure you are doing what you tihnk it best for your rats and I'll do what I tihnk it best for mine.

Yup, I've been looking on the rat guide, and I also found an online service that will estimate the nutritional analysis for you for a fee so I don't have to pay the full couple hundred until I've got a recipe I'm fairly sure will meet my requirements. Thanks for the company name- I have been looking for a mentor who's been through the process, and maybe that would be a place I could contact.