Should rats eat kiwifruit (and other acidic food)?

[wulfyskingdom]

My boys have had stewed apple and custard before, but i dont give them too much because there is alot of sugar in the stewed apple that my mum makes

Not sure about rubarb.

I made my ratties mini pancakes the other day. My partner looked over my shoulder and said "what are those? ohhh are they for the ratties?" i replied yes and he walked away grumbling that the rats eat better than he does.

My boys and I let him think he's the alpha male so he doesnt feel too left out lol

[travntill]

it should be fine and banana is fine too...however I read on a very reliable rat site that you should feed veggies everyday and fruit only a few times a week as it is high in sugar and can result in weight gain lol...anyone for a fat rat? XD

[Colleen]

Jul 16, 2008 20:26:31 GMT 10 wulfyskingdom said:

Leeann - normal lettuce can do that to guinea pigs too. Not fun when your holding them and "oh! whats that... UGH!"

HAHAHAHAAAA! i have two guinea pigs too, and have had the exact same problem
...not pleasant

Ummm, about Rhubarb, i have read to stay away from it. It might be ok for rats when it is cooked, but it goes very tart when cooked. rats probably wouldn't touch it, and you would need to add too much sugar to make it sweet enough.

[wulfyskingdom]

I have absolutely no idea about the mint plant. I guess if in doubt dont let them eat it until you know for sure. At least there are plenty of foods they have to keep them entertained lol... its great with rats, if you run out of their food, most likely you've run out of food too!

Good report on the bok coy, they've eaten, they've conquered and now they're decided cardboard is more fun to chew *sigh* at least I was excited about them eating it...

[cassandra]

my partner just commented that rats eat better than we do.

mine loved sunflower seeds, but that was always a treat because of the fat in them. they'd try to steal my peanut butter toast when i wasn't looking too! One of them even worked out how to get into the biscuit tin when i left it out once. Far too clever for her own good, she was!

[wulfyskingdom]

actually that brings to mind another thing... speaking of toast and what food rats can eat...

boy rats should never touch oranges/citrus - what about marmalade? I've always known that rats should never be fed oranges but i never thought twice about marmalade... its an easy thing to miss

[Kim]

I basically stay away from any type of citrus fruit or produce for all my rats.

This means no marmalaide either

At least in my mind.

[Colleen]

I agree about the marmalaide. i would stay away from it, its also very hight in sugar

[wulfyskingdom]

I have a soup I was eating the other night, its vegetable & barley which had me thinking - can rats be given barley?

Also in another post I saw that you can give rats cranberries - what type is easy to buy or can I just use craisins?

One other thing - with grapes I've read somewhere that red grapes can help prevent cancer in rats - so I'm assuming that red & green grapes are fine to give rats, but red is better?

One last thing - I have no idea if this is true or even researched properly (as i heard it years ago) but I heard apricots can cause some distress to asthma sufferers, if that is true can it also affect rats with respiratory illness?

[Kim]

My ratties have eaten barley as they also get cans of veggie and barley soup on occasions. Although theirs is normally straight from the can and not heated up first.

With cranberries I tend to give my rats the dried cranberries but they have had fresh which they love.

Blueberries and strawberries are aslo favourite

I give my guys green grapes because I dont eat the red grapes and I love to munch on the grapes as much as by babies do

I guess I could always buy a red bag for them and a green bag for me ...lol... of course I will still end up sharing mine if I have any of my ratties free roaming at the time I'm eating mine I know some of my grapes will get stolen.

;D

[wulfyskingdom]

Oh thats good to hear! thanks

Im not a big soup person so i had some left in my bowl and i dont like wasting food so at least next time they can dig in. I'm going to have some very happy boys indeed!

i might have to buy the dried cranberries to add to their dry food mix.

i buy fruit that intend to eat and I SHOULD be eating, but my boys end up eating it instead hehe. i'll eat banana's any old day but i guess i'm more of a vege person lol

[Colleen]

I gave my rats soup. mostly vegie soup, and they would eat it lumps, liquid and all!

[ceara]

I don't have rats now (soon I will though!) but when I have had them in the past, they have always loved their grains, including barley - and soups. The last pair I had lived to the ripe old age of 4 years, and ate some premix food and a lot of leftovers (although not citrus or other nasties). The main thing I would need to make sure I limited was the sweets - my rats were absolute sweet-tooths and would take any opportunity to steal sugary treats!

[Kim]

Hi ceara,

Welcome to the forum, dont forget to read and sign the rules which you can find here.

australianrats.proboards82.com/index.cgi?board=meetings&action=display&thread=315

Now I would have to agree with you totally, rats should not get a lot of sugar.

Many rats though are like many people and love sugary food and foods that are bad for them, like junk food such as Mcdonalds chips.

Of course you do get rats who do prefer healthy stuff to bad stuff.

But yeah sugar is something that rats shouldnt get a lot of... it can also make rats go hyper.

[Leeann]

I don't need to feed sugary foods to have hyper ratties, Mine are just built that way lol.

I doubt there is many rats out there that do not have a sweet tooth, and yes, I agree it is best to limit the amount of sweet foods they get.

Cranberries are also good to help if a rat has a urinary infection.
Keep your eyes open when in fruit and veg shops, as many probably do sell them in a punnett.
When I have them, mine get one per day each, though if they could they would gobble down many more, lol.

If you want to feed sunflower seeds to your rats, then look for the grey striped ones, as they are lower in saturated fats than the black ones.