Peace, Love & Rats!!
FOOD!!!
Food... Glorious Food!! This is such an important category because it determines so much about your rats health, development, longevity, and quality of life. Rats can eat alot of different things as SNACKS, but when it comes to their regular food there are important guidelines to follow.
I have listed and linked ALL of the ONLY rat foods that are readily available that I recommend. Rats do not need grains and seeds in their diets which most commercial foods have in them. They are prone to being overweight and most commercial rat foods contain too many unneeded ingredients that cause this issue.
Another thing to note is that rats require different things at different stages of life. The most important requirements is less that 23% (18-20 ideal) protein for young ones and less than 18% (14-16 ideal) protein for adults.
P.S. Most ALL of these are available on Amazon, Petco, & Petsmart so feel free to check out each site for them.
YOUNG RAT FOOD <4 MONTHS
1. Oxbow Essentials Mouse & Young Rat Food OR Oxbow Garden Select Mouse & Young Rat Food:
Oxbow Brand is the BEST quality commercial rat food you can buy. These 2 options are perfectly balanced for young rats.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/oxbow-essentials-mouse-and-young-rat-food
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/oxbow-garden-select-mouse-and-young-rat-food
2. Kaytee Forti-Diet ProHealth Rat, Mouse & Hamster Food:
This is not as high quality as Oxbow but still a good option for young rats. If you get this food you MUST remove the green and blue bits out of this and ONLY feed the brown lab blocks.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/kaytee-fortidiet-prohealth-ratmouse-food-5-lbs
3. Mazuri Rat & Mouse Diet:
This is the lowest of my recommendation list because it is VERY high protien, if you feed this it should only be short term for rats under 3 months.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/mazuri-rat-and-mouse-food
ADULT RAT FOOD >4 MONTHS
1. Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat Food OR Oxbow Garden Select Adult Rat Food:
Again, Oxbow is the best brand of commercial rat food available. It is wonderful quality and very well balanced nutritionally.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/oxbow-essentials-adult-rat-food
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/oxbow-timothy-twists-6-count
2. Supreme Science Selective Rat Food:
This is a newer brand but it is really great quality food as well.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/supreme-selective-diets-rat-food