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Isamu Rat Diet

I’ve seen too many good web pages disappear (and photobucket is nasty) so I’m reposting the good bits of this RatForum thread here. It’s obviously more pertinent to UK rat owners but can help inform rat owners in other countries, as well.

02-18-2013

Isamurat: Making your own mix – how I do it (picture guide)

I have seen that several people are thinking of starting to make their own mix, or are just starting out feeding one. I thought it might be useful to see how I go about my mix, with photos and info on the kind of ingredients I use as well as the steps I take. I’ve been feeding a homemade mix for years now (started in 2006) and get on very well with it. I do tend to evolve my mix fairly steadily depending on how the rats are doing and new ideas I see. This is one of my mixes, they are all slightly different, but the basic balance stays the same. It is very much my take on a Shunamite style mix, given that I started out on that diet, and have learnt and adapted my mix along the way with a good amount of help from its author over the years. Base (50% by volume) First off I start by assembling the base of the mix, this is predominantly minimally processed grains, it forms about half my total mix and is aimed at giving a solid foundation of carbs, that aren’t too easy to digest (leads to fat rats) and contain plenty of whole grains, but not too much that are high in phosphorous (harsh on the kidneys, one of a rats weak points). I like to include a decent amount of grains still in their husks here too, as it adds an element of enrichment, and keeps the rats busy during the day doing what they are meant to do, peel open little seeds and grains. This means that I generally use animal quality grains (or at least a good number of them) as for some reason us humans are rubbish at, or too lazy to getting grains out of there husks so strip them off. I’ve used a lot of different bases in the past, sometimes entirely mixed grains, sometimes entirely a rat suitable commercial rabbit food. My current balance involves a mix of the two and works well, they get the variety with the backup of the enriched rabbit food. To make my base I add the following (note I’ve tried to photo these all in the same container for people to see the size of the bits) • 6 scoops Banana brunch - this is a lovely rabbit mix with the following ingredients (in order of volume); cooked flaked peas, cooked flaked barley, oats, cooked flaked maize, cooked flaked beans, mixed wheat discs (with vitamins), banana chips, flaked carrot, banana essence, vitamins + minerals. Its nutritional analysis is; protein 14%, fat 2%, fibre 5%, Vitamin A 5000 iu/kg, Vitamin E 26 iu/kg, copper (cupric sulphate) 5mg/kg . I break up the banana pieces into smaller chunks, otherwise it looks like this

• 6 Scoops Marshams Mixed flakes - this is a nice mix of micronize flakes, micronizing is essentially heating and squishing, the heating helps ensure that the fungus issue you sometimes see with dried corn/maize isn’t an issue. It’s 60% flaked barely, 20% flakes peas and 20% flaked corn and smells lovely and pea flavoured. I use this to help bulk out my mix and up the barley content (this is my fave rat kidney friendly grain, closely followed by rice)

• 4 scoops Versa Laga Junior Dark Plus Pigeon mix – I add this as it’s a good way of getting lots of variety of seeds and grains in without having to have many little packets of them. Its ingredients are as follows: extra french cribs maize 16%, dari white 14%, paddy rice 12%, extra wheat 8%, safflower seed 8%, extra small french cribs maize 6%, milocorn 4%, extra barley 4%, yellow peas 4%, green peas 4%, small green peas 4%, yellow millet 2%, toasted soya beans 2%, mungbeans 2%, maple peas 2%, striped sunflower seeds 1%, brown linseed 1%, junior pellet I.C. 6%. Its major nutritional values are; protein 12.5%, fat 7%, fibre 7.5%, carbohydrates 54%. The higher fat helps combat the low fat of the banana brunch and mixed flakes. It’s a lovely interesting mix and goes down well.

• 2 scoops Paddy rice – there’s already some in the pigeon food, however I add more as it’s such a good grain, and my preferred mixes major on barely and rice. Paddy rice is a nice form of rice, it’s still inside it’s husk, meaning to get at the grain the rats need to peel it before they reveal the brown rice inside.

• 1 scoop Pearl Barley – I add this as an alternative form of barley, it’s a different shape and texture so nice for them, this is human quality so unfortunately doesn’t have its husk on, I’ll get hold of some that are husky at some point.

• 1 scoop Millet seeds – this is another good grain, and as it’s around 11% protein it helps make up for the fact that most grains are very low in protein. I get a mixture of red and white millet still in their husks

• 2 x Millet spray broken up – another form/texture of millet. I take a millet spray and just run my fingers along the stalk backwards, giving my lots of mini millet tufts. These are a little easier for rats to find in there substrate, though mine can find even individual seeds now.

When mixed together this gives me my base mix which is approximately 20-21 scoops

Protein (5-10%)

As I use a base that works out relatively low protein in need to add extra protein to top it up. Rats need a diet around 12-14% protein for normal adults, more for growing youngsters. The best protein sources for being kind to the kidneys are egg, soya and fish (in that order). All have their strengths and weaknesses so I do a mix, which also adds variety balancing there weaknesses. It also helps make sure that the rats get ‘complete’ protein, proteins are made up of different amino acids, you need a full range of them to fully use the protein, mixing the type of protein you use helps this. • ½ scoop dried shrimps, mealworms, fish, tubifex, bloodworm and krill. Crustatians are really handy as there high in copper, they are also a great form of protein in that they have a high protein:fat ratio. Mealworms are a little high in fat but I include them because they’re quite a natural foodstuff for rats, and there isn’t loads of them. These are all very light, as I mix by volume it means by weight I don’t add loads, but given there around 60% protein this is good as you don’t want to boost the overall values too much.

• ½ scoop Soya flakes – this is micronized soya, the cooking part of the process makes it safe for the rats to eat, as uncooked soya beans are not good for them (much like any bean). Soya is a bit controversial for some people, it reduces the chance of some forms of cancer, and increases the chances of others, however pretty much all studies are done at high levels of soya, feeding as a small part of the diet can be quite beneficial and it’s a good kidney kind protein and one of the few proteins which are complete. I’ve also fed it as the dried beans soaked for 12 hours, then roasted in the oven, this also makes them safe to eat (and are a nice treat for humans and rats too).

• ½ scoop Egg biscuit– this is essentially floury biscuit soaked in egg then dried. It is often sold for birds as egg food, this one is particularly nice as its in bigger chunks, meaning the rats can find it in their substrate when I scatter feed. It seems a little high in sugar (smells cakey), so I wouldn’t use it as all their protein, but it’s a very handy way of adding dried egg.

• ½ scoop Fish for dogs Salmon small bite kibble. This is by far my fave dog kibble to use in my rats diet, its really high quality and the ingredients list says it all. Ingredients; Salmon (27%), Pea Flour (22%), Potato (23%), Fishmeal (8.7%), Salmon Oil (9.3%), Beet Pulp (6.6%), Brewers Yeast, Minerals. Nutrition: Protein 26%, Fat 12%, Crude Fibres 7.5%, Omega-3 Fatty Acids 1%, Vitamins: Vitamin D3 1,800 IU; Copper Chelate Of Amino Acid Hydrate 80mg; Calcium Iodate Anhydrous 2.5mg Antioxidants (Stabilised With Rosemary And Tocopherol-Rich Extracts). Effectively it has a good proportion of named meat, and that’s an oily fish, which is a sign of good quality. Also by going for fish you avoid the heavily farmed poultry or beef, which are far more likely to have poor care standards and contain lots of chemicals. The other ingredients are also named and aside from the fishmeal (which I would prefer over most other meat meals) all are whole. The protein is quite high for a dog kibble but as I don’t add loads it works well, plus the size of the pieces is tiny, which means it spreads well in the mix. I mainly add it because of the added vitamins it contains, particularly vit d and copper. Both are naturally low in a grain based mix, and with the rabbit food I add being low copper I need to boost it. This helps a fair bit and as an added bonus the rats love it too

Here’s a shot of the mix with protein element added to the base

Processed Carbohydrates 20-25%

This section is there to up the amount of carbs the rat can get from the food, as well as adding in vitamins and minerals. A diet entirely devoid of more processed carbs can mean that some of the nutrition is not so available. Too high and you get rats that get fat easily. This balance seems to work well, as long as you keep the sugar content of the carbs down below 5% (in most cases) and try and select for wholegrain products unless you have old rats (when white grains, and upping the overall percentage can be useful). • 1 scoop Denes wholegrain mixer – this is a mixer for dogs, it’s a wheat based biscuit, which I normally don’t prefer, but has good vitamin content, especially copper, calcium and vitamin D, so it is very useful. Ingredients: Cereals (Wholegrain Wheat), Derivatives of vegetable origin (herbs include Seaweed), Grassmeal, Minerals. Nutrition: Protein 11%, Oil 2%, Fibre 4%, Calcium 1.4%, Copper (Cupric Sulphate) 15mg/kg, Vitamin A 5,000iu/kg, Vitamin D3 500iu/kg, Vitamin E 50mg/kg. I break these in half of thirds as on their own they are a bit too big to properly divide up in a mix.

• 1 scoop Rice crispies – one of my preferred grains, I normally go for a value or own brand ranges as they are generally lower in sugar, as a breakfast cereal its enriched with plenty of vitamins and minerals.

• 1 scoop Mixed puffs – These are a mix of different grains including spelt, rice, millet, etc. These offer a nice easily digestible addition to the diet and add a variety of grains

• ½ scoop Shredded wheat bitesize – this is the lowest phosphorous form of wheat, I break them up a bit and use them as my main wheat element of the mix.

• ½ scoop Cornflakes - similar to rice crispies, I use own or value brands, whatever is lowest sugar content. They are enriched which is handy and corn isn’t a bad grain to have in terms of phosphorous.

• 1 rice cracker broken up – mainly added for a little more variety, I break into small pieces At this stage the mix looks like this

Herbs – 5%

This part of the mix offers extra flavours and textures, as well as a change to exploit some of the lovely properties many herbs have. I vary this one every time and try and add a couple of different types in. I generally use herbs sold for rabbits as they come in decent sized chunks, human herbs are chopped too finely and easily get lost in the mix. • ½ scoop Herb Plus – this is my fave rabbit herb mix, it smells lovely and has good variety in it

• ½ scoop Echinacea – This apparently has immune boosting properties (at least in the tincture form, I doubt it adds much in its herb form, but I feed it anyway), it’s a little big so I chop it up smaller, the rats eat it though it’s not there fave bit.

• 2-3 sheets Shredded Nori – seaweed is full of lots of minerals and is very useful to have in a mix, I find that cutting up dried nori sheets sold for sushi goes down well and is easy to get hold of, seaweed powder just gets lost in a mix.

Veg – 5%

This also adds some variety and extra flavours, vits and minerals. • ½ scoop Dried mixed veg – this is a mix typically sold for human soups, its leek, carrot, potato and peas. I sometimes get it in cubes, sometimes chopped for variety of texture.

• ¼ scoop Beetroot flakes – beetroot is a super food, full of all sorts of good stuff, its also a natural way to add colour to the mix (from an entirely human view lol). The rats seem to like it as it’s one of the first things to go. If it gets wet though it turns things near it pink.

• ¼ scoop Mixed pepper flakes – A nice mix of chopped, dried sweet peppers (capsicum), both red and green, colourful veg is packed full of vitamin C and it goes down well too.

At this stage the mix looks like this

Seeds – 5%

This is the final element of my mix, it ups the fat content, as aside from the protein section everything else is a fair bit lower in fat than the rats need. It also makes sure that these fats are good fats, in particular omega 3 and 6. It’s easy to cut out the good fats when your rat is overweight but don’t, the overall calories make a far bigger difference and a decent amount of good quality fats keeps there skin and coat healthy. This section also adds a bit of additional protein to the mix and can have other advantages if you choose your seeds well. • 1 scoop Mixed Seeds and pine nuts – This is a mix of good seeds I’ve made up, I always try and get them in their shells or husks to add to the task of getting in to them, it also slows down there scoffing slightly. This mix includes hemp (one of the few complete protein sources out there), linseed (otherwise known as flax, great for the kidneys), pumpkin seeds in their shells (full of nice omega oils), Pine nuts (there shells are really tough which is a great challenge to the rats), mixed meadow seeds (typically edible grass and flower seeds), fennel seeds (gives them a lovely smell) and cumin seeds. The main ones are the first few oily seeds, with the others adding variety and interest, as well as the challenge of finding them in there bedding.

• 6 Chopped brazil nuts - I add these because here in the UK, and in Europe in general, our grains are low in the mineral selenium, brazils are really high in it, so the rats don’t need much. About 1 brazil will do 4-6 rats there selenium intake for a week. I chop them up small so everyone gets a bit of them.

When everything is mixed together it looks like this

The above mix is fed in the mornings, they get about 10-20g of this mix each a day. Importantly to me it’s scatter fed, which means they have to forage for it in there substrate. It’s not just about what you feed, it’s also how you feed it. They don’t leave anything apart from husks, as I’m mean and don’t feed loads. Supplements, Veg and Fresh Food On its own it is not this mix is not 100% complete, it’s still a bit low on some vitamins and minerals, however I feed it alongside a daily mix of Veg. I also give them vitamin supplements in there water once to twice a week. These are important as the offer a safety net in terms of vitamins and help to make sure everything is covered. Even with all the balancing above, and feeding daily veg the mix is a little weak on copper, vit d and calcium. Without this the rats could become deficient, you can balance it to some extent by fresh, but I would strongly advise anyone who feeds this kind of diet to consider some supplements, having had rats with vit D deficiency in the past when I didn’t add the kibble, rabbit food etc. The following are my normal ‘extra’s • Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials 1 – this has a nice wide range of vitamins and minerals, the main ones I use it for are topping up there copper and vit D. It goes in there water 1-2 days a week, or up to 6 days a week for babies or pregnant mums

• Dr Squiggles Calcivet – this contains calcium and vitamin D, they get this alongside there daily essentials, I don’t feed this daily, even in youngsters, as the rats need time to process the calcium, so need at least a day off a week, plus too much and they can get calcium stones. 1-3 days a week is plenty for an adult, up to 6 for a baby. • Bones and egg shells – a great source of calcium, my rats always get my left over bones, they get lots of iron out of the marrow , the bones are full of calcium too. Egg shells are the same, they might get 1-2 shells a week, which they sometimes eat. If they get some of these, especially bones, I only do calcivet one day a week • Vegetable – this is fed daily, it’s a mixture of veg I make up then freeze in daily portions. It’s 50% dark green leafy veg such as kale, 20% colourful veg such as carrots, tomatoes or peppers, 20% other veg such as peas, sweetcorn, courgettes etc, 5% berries and 5%raw coconut chopped up. They adore this mix

• Cooked meal – about 1-2 times a fortnight the rats get a balanced cooked meal, this is typically carbs, protein and veg, like eggy rice with peas. It’s a bit of a treat, though a healthy one, and replaces there dry mix for the day. I use it to hide other supplements in and give them a bit of a boost. Typically it has a multivitamin powder in, some salmon or linseed oil and anything else that may be appropriate for their age and conditions (such as extra vit b and glucosamine for oldies, and phosphate binder for those with kidney issues).

Its easy enough to create your own diet based on this kind of principles, a lot is about what ingredients you can get hold of and understanding what the words mean on the ingredients list of things you find in pet shops and supermarkets, but really it’s doable for anyone. I would say that unless you really know how to judge your rats condition make sure you feed a good proportion of enriched foods (like most pet foods and human breakfast cereals) and ideally a good vitamin supplement too, and if your not sure whats wrong talk about it and don’t be afraid to change the balance a little. Someone I massively respect in the rat world once said that feeding rats is part science and part art, and from my experience that is very true. I started out relying on spread sheet and meeting the scientific requirements of my rats, but never got them beyond ‘good enough’ condition, then I relaxed a bit and started doing it more by feel and now my lads are in the best condition they’ve been, which was also verified by others at the show I went to this weekend. Its really nice when it all comes together.

Here’s a list of where you can find them in the UK (I tend to get mine all from online shops, the local farm shop or the supermarket), as well as some info on how to choose alternative brands, as I doubt the same brands are available over there Base • Banana brunch – You can get this from some pet shops, online petshops and online small holder / farm suppliers in the UK. When looking for alternatives try and find a rabbit muesli which is higher in peas/barley/beans than wheat and ideally has no alfalfa, wheatfeed or strawfeed added (or these are low down the ingredients list). Don’t just limit yourself to rabbit food, some rat, horse and guinea pig food isn’t bad as a base over here (though it might not be great for a normal meal). If you cant find any you can drop this element of the base, its just a nice cover all. Aiming for around 10-14% protein and 2-5% fat works well • Marshams Mixed flakes – Animal feed stores, online farm/small holding stores, farm and equine supply shops. Its normally easier to get hold of each product individually but that’s not massively practical with only a small number of rats. There are a variety of mixes sold here, the ones higher in barley are better, some come with added soya flakes too, which is handy. This could be replaced to some extent by more processed grains sold in health stores, less enrichment for the rats but easier to get hold of. Can work out quite expensive though and you need to get a range of grains • Versa Laga Junior Dark Plus Pigeon mix – Animal feed stores, online farm/small holding stores, bird feed specialists. if picking an alternative aim for one with a large range of grains and not too high or low protein, most pigeon feeds are predominantly corn, avoid these unless you don’t have much if any corn elsewhere in the mix. Some parrot / bird seed my make a good alternative • Paddy rice – Online bird feed stores, im sure it must be available elsewhere but that’s the only place I’ve found it here, oh and rat rations but as that started out life as an online bird feed store until the rat world got hold of it that doesn’t count. • Pearl Barley – supermarket, health food shop • Millet seeds – bird feed shops, could replace with processed millet if needed or entirely with broken up millet sprays if wanted • Millet spray broken up – pet shops, very commonly sold over here. Protein • dried shrimps, mealworms, fish, tubifex, bloodworm and krill. – sold for turtle/terrapin/fish food here in specialist exotics shops (mainly sourced online). Mealworms are very easy to get hold of and sold for wild birds. • Soya flakes – Animal feed stores, farm shops, online small holder ranges etc., can replace with roasted soya nuts (salt free) which you can make yourself by soaking dried soya beans for 12 hours and roasting for about 20-30 mins at 180 deg C. Chickpeas are another alternative (also need soaking and roasting) as is dried soya mince or similar often sold in health shops • Egg biscuit– sold as bird egg food or similar in some pet shops and bird food specialists. Could be removed and just feed fresh egg once a week. • Fish for dogs Salmon small bite kibble. – found in online petshops and their website, not sure if this brand is available in the US. Look for high end ‘natural ingredients’ dog food, aiming for fish based where possible as its higher quality. High copper content and small bite is a bonus. Can be missed out but you need to up the supplements relatively Processed Carbohydrates • Denes wholegrain mixer – Available from online pet shops, it’s a natural vegetarian mixer. Aim for high end ranges again, look for high vitamin content, especially copper. An alternative is barley rings, sold as animal feed in farm shops, small holder places etc. If your missing this out you will have to up supplements in other forms. • Rice crispies – supermarket • Mixed puffs – health food shops, rat rations (who stock pretty much everything here in the uk) • Shredded wheat bitesize – supermarket • Cornflakes - supermarket • rice cracker broken up – supermarket Herbs • Herb Plus and Echinacea – pet shops, sold as rabbit treats, alternatives is to aim for a nice mix of herbs and edible plants, can do this yourself easily enough, just get a load of fresh herbs, hang to dry on a cooling rack in somewhere warm and dry, break them up. Good herbs and plants to try are; dandelion leaves, current leaves and your commonly available human edible herbs like basil, tarragon, mint etc, Growing your own is easy to do as well. • Shredded Nori – supermarkets, Asian food shops Veg • Dried mixed veg – some supermarkets, online human food shops (sold as soup ingredients, loads of choice out there) • Beetroot flakes and pepper flakes – as above but more specialist so not in most supermarkets, there’s a vast range of options out there, some interesting ones are; kale, cabbage, mushrooms, carrot, berries, tomato etc Seeds • Mixed Seeds and pine nuts – Bird seed specialists online stock a good range of seeds still in there husks, I get pumpkin, hemp, pinenuts and linseed from them, for the others (which are a nice to have) they are sold as a special mix by versalaga for wild birds in the uk (meadow mix) or from Indian / spices suppliers (cumin and fennel), I’ve found them in my local supermarket too. If you’re struggling a human quality seed mix sold by supermarkets is a good option, or look at some of the parrot foods out there, though try and avoid those too heavy in sunflower seeds and peanuts. • brazil nuts - supermarkets (probably not needed in the US) Supplements, Veg and Fresh Food • Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials 1 and Dr Squiggles Calcivet – - bird suppliers, pet shops, mainly online. There are a lot of alternatives out there, though bird supplements seem best for calcium and vitamin d in particular. You can also use those sold for humans, such as vitamin A extracted cod liver oil (here in the Uk the brand seven seas does a good one that does several rat doses when fed once a week in a wet meal) for both of those. Copper is easily fixed by feeding liver regularly, you can make liver treats which make a good way of topping rats up (let me know if you want the recipe). I also add ground up human supplements for vitamin d and calcium to these, baking destroys some of the nutrients but not all. Its always worth looking at other animals supplements too, some are very useful for rats, some of the senior dog ones are very handy for old rats in particular for example. • Bones and egg shells – left overs, alternatively here in the UK butchers will often give you free or very cheap bones for dogs, you can roast these or even feed raw in many cases. • Vegetables – supermarket, some fresh, some ready frozen, • Cooked meal – whatever’s in the house, mainly carb with some healthy protein, bit of oil and any veg I’ve got or some natural wet dog food, fish for dogs do a nice salmon mousse that’s great as a treat for the boys. I’m sure you can find similar quality stuff in the US, the trick is read the ingredients, if there’s any you don’t recognise then it’s probably not great quality. If anyones not sure of anything then if you can get it's ingredients and nutrition and bung it on here myself or someone else thats spent a bit of time on rat nutrition will probably be able to help.

It probably works out around £2.50per kg, which is cheaper than anything decent here in the uk. My rats get about 60g a day (I have 5 boys) so it works out roughly £5 a month, then theres veg and such on top. That is down to buying some stuff in bulk from farm shoos though, as I have sone local friends I split it with.

Oh and it keeps pretty well in a good container, as long as the oldest ingredient. Normally I make up monthly batches and keep the unmixed stuff in a sealed box in my shed. This lasts typically 6 months

It evolved over the years. Next time you make yours just try adding a couple ingredients or changing a few whilst keeping the balance the same. over time your mix will develop to. To be honest mine had changed since this again lol, I've found a bit more banana brunch seemed to improve my boys coat, and oddly less veg to (though they still get it a couple times a week). out just goes to show that you can play around to find the right food for your rats if you know how to judge condition

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