Food

Written by Rachelle Bish, Jellybean Rattery

Rats should be fed a quality balanced lab block to provide proper nutrition. Commercial mixes are usually not nutritionally complete, and rats are like kids who will pick their favorite foods out of any mix meaning they are missing out on key nutrients in the pieces of food they are leaving behind. With lab blocks, they can’t pick out individual ingredients. I recommend these lab blocks: Science Selective, Envigo/Teklad 14% or Teklad 16% Rodent Diets, Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat Food (never the young rat or garden select versions, no matter the age), Mazuri Rat & Mouse, and Kalmbach 18% Rodent Feed. They should have pellets available 24/7 and given beneficial treats around 3 times a week as enrichment. I personally like to let them play bobbing for berries/veggies in a bowl of water during free roam or sprinkle treats in snuffle mats, foraging toys, or in a dig box or their bedding right before cleaning day.