You may have read that the only way to provide your rats with a nutritionally balanced diet is to feed them nuggets. This is a persistent myth and certainly not true, and I suspect is in part born from the desire for the companies that produce nuggets to sell them!
There are a few brands of nuggets marketed at rats. Science Selective is the best of the bunch, but is high on the wheat side so aren’t great for rats long term. Other brands of nuggets have actually been found by multiple reputable breeders who have larger numbers of rats to have increased the number of tumours their rats developed. Both of these also have a low quality meat component, meaning that they can cause other issues long-term too. Although this brand has changed their recipe, they still contain low-quality ingredients that aren’t balanced right for rats.
So, many people have come to the conclusion that these nuggets aren’t the best option nutritionally for rats. But what if there were good quality nuggets available? Well, I still wouldn’t want to feed my rats nuggets because nuggets are one texture, one shape, one size, and one taste. Rats are naturally opportunistic omnivores that scavenge and eat a variety of foods in the wild. They get a huge amount of enrichment from having different foods to eat, so why not give them that whilst making sure it’s nutritionally balanced?
The way most (if not all) reputable breeders and many owners do that is with what’s commonly referred to as a Shunamite style mix. This is not one single recipe but a principle (originally created by Alison Campbell) outlining the basic proportions of different groups of foods that is nutritionally balanced for rats. These mixes are made of many different ingredients so have a whole host of different textures, flavours and require the rats to engage in natural behaviours to get to the food (e.g., husking seed shells).
There are a few common options to get a Shunamite style mix:
1. Mix your own from scratch; if you plan to do this, the Scuttling Gourmet Book by Alison Campbell is a must read! https://shunamiterats.co.uk/services/
Isamu rats also has a great Youtube tutorial on this too https://youtu.be/1jb6KZ2BN8I
2. Mix your own using a few key ingredients bought from Rat Rations (40% Harrisons Banana Brunch, 50% Rat Rations mix no11, 5% barley rings and 5% seed mix).
3. Simply buy any of the complete mixes from Rat rations. If you are struggling to decide which to buy, I have this article just for you!
It’s worth noting that with a Shunamite style diet you should supplement with extra vitamins and minerals. This isn’t difficult to do: the details are in the article linked above.
Some common questions:
“Can I not just feed nuggets and supplement the rats with fresh foods?”
Not really. Too much fresh food can throw off the nutritional balance of the main food, and the point still stands about nuggets being bland and boring.
But my rats LOVE their nuggets!!”
I’m sure they do. I love Big Macs, but it doesn’t mean I should eat them every day.
“But my rats will just selective feed- they pick out their favourite bits and leave the bits they don’t want!”
This is one of the most commonly reported objections to nutritionally complete mixes and usually is because of one (or a combination) of three factors:
1. Overfeeding. Make sure you weigh out the right amount per rat per day and only give that- when you weight out 12g/rat (this figure is just for example, actual weights vary per rat and group) you might be surprised at how little food they need to stay healthy! If they are fed the right amount, they are unlikely to selective feed because even if they select their favourites first, when the overall amount is limited they will simply continue eating the rest- they will not starve themselves. NB what constitutes the “right amount” can vary hugely between rats; try starting on 15g per rat per day and increase if they feel skinny, and decrease if you find there’s still some stashed away by the next feed time or the rats are getting overweight.
2. Bowl feeding. Eating from a bowl is not natural for rats and can lead to selective feeding and food defensiveness/aggression. Instead, you should weigh out the food and then scatter it in your substrate for the rats to forage for. This means they have to search, burrow, dig (all excellent enrichment) and they eat whatever they find in whatever order they find it! Having to engage in natural behaviours to locate food and eat it also helps to keep them busy and active.
3. Mistaking seed husks for uneaten foods. Many people, usually those feeding in a bowl will say “but my rats left loads of bits, they’re not eating it all!” However, upon posting a photo of what is actually left in the bowl, it becomes clear that the rats have left the seed husks. One of the great parts of a mix is that the seeds are in their husks, meaning that the rats have to manipulate the husk with their paws and teeth to prise it open and get to the edible seed inside. They they discard the husk. If you scatter feed, you never get to see these husks because they drop through the substrate to the bottom. If you feed from a bowl, these are left in the bowl and often mistaken for uneaten food.
Move on to Mistake 3
All the articles on my website have always been and will always be free, created by me because I am passionate about rat care. However, if you have found my articles useful you might find my book useful too!
Azuline Rattery 