Feeding - fresh food and protein

[ilovemylittleangels]

I've had my two girls - Pixie and Mishka - for 6 weeks now and I wanted to know whether I'm doing anything wrong in regards to their their diet. I've been using Suebee's mix and leaving enough in their bowl for 24 hours but I'm not too sure about the amount of fresh food to feed daily or how much longer to feed them extra protein (they're 10 weeks old).
For their fresh food they usually get fruit, vegies and a bit of extra protein in a mix including peas, carrots, pak choi, broccoli, red, green and yellow bell peppers, strawberries, grapes, apple, pineapple, cooked sweet potato, cooked brown rice, yoghurt, chicken and eggs and sometimes a little corn, cooked cabbage and brussel sprouts. They get about 1/4 cup of this between the 2 of them each night including a combo of 3 or 4 items including the extra protein in the list above as well as fruit a few times a week. It works out to be about 50% fresh and 50% dry mix but I am gradually reducing to reach 80/20.
My questions: is too much/not enough?  How much fresh food do I feed them each day? Do I still need to be supplementing with the extra protein?
Any ideas welcome.
Thanks!!

[Yanglicious]

You's got a very good freshes thing there!
I don't know about Suebee's mix though.

[LastEchoes]

At 10 weeks old, they are still 'babies' and need the extra protein. I'm not sure about the 80/20 direction you're taking where 80 is the fresh foods. Are there labblocks in the picture? Labblocks is a good way to ensure rats are getting all the grain stuff and file their teeth...with dry mixes, rats tend to pick out the things they like the best(like sunflower/pumpkin seeds/cereal) and leaving the rest behind. Fresh foods are basically a way to get some unprocessed/natural/fresh nutrients and vitamins that some seeds don't have and shouldn't be THE staple diet(correct me if I'm wrong here people).

[looneycartoonie]

Well from what I can tell from your post you're not feeding any type of lab block? Subee's mix should just be a supplement to go with a diet. Subee's diet is not a full diet. I personally recommend HT blocks and since your guys are so young I'd feed them the one higher in protein. If you can get your hands on lab blocks then that will work, or you can always go with a high grade senior dog food. I use the subee's mix too along with veggies/fruit and then for protein I use tofu and HT blocks. Even when your little guys get older you'll always have to feed them something more than subee's mix.

[ilovemylittleangels]

Thanks for your replies!! Sorry about the mix up with the fresh and dry amounts that I was heading for. I meant to type 80% dry (suebee's), 20% fresh.  
Regarding lab blocks, no, I'm not feeding any at the moment but I'm substituting with high grade puppy food until I can find some. I don't have a clue where to get them around here (I live in Australia) and the local pet shop is looking into it for me. If there's no luck there, I'll have to order off the web - nothing's too good for my girls!
I'll continue feeding the extra protein, but for how long - at what age do I reduce this?
And one more thing, (sorry if I'm repeating myself) how much fresh food do I feed each night? I don't mean to be a hassle, I just want to give my girls the best care I possibly can.

[julztoni97]

Most people I think use a high grade senior dog food.  The puppy food alone I would think has a ton of extra protein.  I don't feed dog foor, I use Mazuri lab blocks but I do believe that I have read senior dog food.

[gracie]

In terms of how much fresh food to feed, your babies can actually tell you themselves. I have babies too (2 1/2 months) and at first I fed them more fresh food than they could eat. I would find leftovers around the cage after several hours of giving it to them and remove it so it didn't go bad. Eventually I found an amount to give them that they were able to finish. This amount will probably change as they grow. Good luck with your babies!

[chiropteragirl]

Yes, dog food is fine. Try to get a dog food that is between 5-8% fat and 14-24% protein. A lot of 'Light' dog food formula match this criteria. 

Dog food is actually more nutritious than most lab blocks, so go ahead and keep feeding that to them.

The extra protein is fine to keep giving them. Rats stop growing at about 8-10 months I think, so they will still be young ratlets for a while. 

[ilovemylittleangels]

I've just bought Purina Supercoat Lite and Mature. It has 17% protein and 7% fat, no corn and no artificial colours, preservatives or flavours. I still have a little puppy food left and I don't want to waste it, so I was thinking of mixing it with the senior lite (gradually reducing the amount of puppy food each feeding) until I use it up. Would this help with weaning them onto the senior dog food? I don't want to put them straight onto it as they haven't eaten it before and I don't want to upset their tummies.

There's one thing I forgot to mention. The girls are just over 3 months old and the puppy food has 27% protein and 10% fat. (Is that too high? For babies, I mean) It's also lower quality than the new dog food, so I want to get them onto the Supercoat as soon as I can.

[LastEchoes]

Yea the puppy food a little too high, especially fat wise. You COULD mix it in gradually switching to the new dog food, but I don't think it's necessary at all. It's not going to upset their stomach and i'm yet to find a dog food my rats didn't like so.....the switch shouldnt be a problem