Raining Rats Diets and Recipe's
Our Rats Diet
Diet in a rats short life is very, very important. Rats should be given no sugars, low salts, low or no soy(until after 18 months for females) and fresh grains, vegetables and fruits on a daily basis. Store bought diets designed for rat and rodent (most of the time rat and mouse) are horrible. They are full of sugars that are unnecessary fillers.
I base my rats diet off the shunamite type mix I make here. It contains everything I know a rat needs to sustain a long healthy life. The rats are offered fresh fruits and vegetables every day. I also fodder seeds for the rats I find the fresh sprouts to be much more fulfilling.
I use the following mix:
55% Base mix (Barley, Oats, popcorn, split pea, safflower, wheat, popcorn, peas, milo, lentils, sunflower)
25% Processed Grains (pasta, cheerios, rice puff, bran flake)
10% Protein (dried worms and Sardines) High quality dog food like:
8% Vegetables (pumpkin/flax + Dehydrated vegetable)
2% Flowers
My rats have 2 water bottles each cages one with Daily Essentials Vitamins another with filtered water at all times.
Rats only need about 2 tablespoon per rat per day. If you supplement with fresh items then even less required. Rats can pick out what they like first and come back for what they need later. The food may contain husks that the rat will remove and leave the shell over. These can be dumped with each new feeding.
RRRA Dry Food:
@Two tablespoon per rat per day is a good general rule for feeding. My rats always have kalbach block (18%) 23% for does and babies) available and get this scatter through to forage for.
Ingredients: Barley Oats seeds split pea pasta cereals ryvita worms sardines pumpkin seed flaxseed veggies and flowers
RRRA Mush (warm food)
RRRA Mush is a mix grains and helpful herbs for immune support. You can prepare on the stovetop or in a instapot- just do not over cook. Serving size is only about a tablespoon per rat. *This mix may slightly change from batch to batch as I find what may be best for rats* I suggest making up a cup of this mush then take an ice cube tray and once its prepared lay it out in the tray and freeze the tray, once frozen you can pop them out and they are serving sizes ready for 2-3 rats. Healthy add in’s I also suggest are yogurt, raw egg (shell included), chicken (bone too!) cottage cheese, coconut oil, or yogurt.
Ingredients: Barley, 9 grain organic mix, brown and black rice, couscous, quinoa, wheat germ, green split peas, yellow split peas, lentils, coconut, cumin, green mush powder, grape seed extract, chia seed, flaxseed, wheatgrass, seaweed, dried fruits/veggies, melatonin, sage, flaxseed, chickweed, milk thistle, garlic, oregano, basil, rosemary, flowers, turmeric, cinnamon, fig, goji berries, *mung bean
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Add 2 parts water and 1 part mush to pot.
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Bring the water to a boil. Once its boiling, reduce
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Maintain a simmer for about 8-10 mins
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Let the mush rest to cool. *this is when I add in my add ins*
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Fluff mush with a fork - Serve!
RRRA Treats
My homemade treats are made with whole gains and devoid sugar and salts as much as possible.
Canned whole pumpkin, Oats, Golden Milk (turmeric and ginger) Coconut flour, Green pea protein, Green Mush* Coconut Oil
Golden Milk
Ingredients include: Turmeric, Ginger, Baby Wheat Cereal, Baby Formula, cracked chia seed, raw honey granules
To make this mix powder 1/2 warm water.
**I give Golden Milk every week as a treat, in their oatmeal or wheat.
Turmeric: is an anti-inflammatory, one of the strongest anti-inflammatory compounds in the world. Science suggests it to be up to 10 times stronger than prednisone. It also relieves pain. It's safe for rats too.
Ginger: treatment may have a protective effect against liver damage and oxidative stress in rats through free radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activity as well as regenerating endogenous antioxidant defense system mechanisms.
Honey: Honey has antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, useful in stimulation of wounds and burns healing and gastric ulcers treatment
Chia Seed: The dietary chia seeds prevented the onset of high lipids and fats in the blood, and helped to reduce abdominal fat.
Keep powder in freezer when not using to keep its potency longer.
Senior Supplement
I use this blend for my older Rats(18 months plus). All thats needed is 1/2 hot water, mix and serve. However, I like to add a small amount of coconut oil and a small amount of CoQ10. I offer this 3x a week for support and daily for a rat with a tumor. A little goes a long way.
Ingredients:
Power Mushrooms
De Arco
Milk Thistle
Grapefruit seed
Glucosamine
Calcium
Turmeric
Garlic
Cinnamon
Green Mush Powder
Goji/Raspberry vegetable formula
Soy Baby Formula
Rice baby cereal
Coriolis have been found to support and enhance Natural Killer cell function, to stimulate depressed lymphocyte proliferation, and to support the healthy growth of white blood cells. Also, the research shows these constituents to be effective in supporting normal cell growth, improving cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and increasing interleukin-2 production and T-cell proliferation.*
Power Mushrooms used to treat cancer and immune deficiency. May slow growth of tumors extremely non toxic makes it very safe.
Turmeric, the bright yellow of the spice rainbow, is a powerful medicine that has long been used in the Chinese and Indian systems of medicine as an anti-inflammatory agent to treat a wide variety of conditions.
CoQ10 Many claims are made about CoQ10. It is said to help heart failure, as well as cancer, muscular dystrophy, and periodontal disease. It is also said to boost energy and speed recovery from exercise. Some people take it to help reduce the effects certain medicines can have on the heart, muscles, and other organs.
Pau d’arco is also used for cancer. Interest in this use was intensified by extensive research in the 1960s that focused on the possible anti-cancer activity of lapachol, one of the chemicals in pau d’arco. However, research studies were stopped because, at the amounts needed to be effective against cancer, pau d’arco might well be poisonous. Among other things, it can cause severe internal bleeding.
Milk thistle used for fatty liver disease and an antioxidant. Great for liver health through out life.
Grape Seed is a wonderful antioxidant
Glucosamine is a natural chemical compound found in the body. As a supplement, glucosamine is most often used to try to ease the joint pain caused by arthritis
Keep powder in freezer when not using to keep its potency longer.
Senior Rat Treats:
As rats begin to age they become more and more likely to suffer from illness, their health may start to decline and then may start to become weak in the hind end. I have made these treats as a helpful supplement to keep weight on, add in more protein, and include dandelion leaf (be aware in case on a diretic) These treats are made with a senior declining in weight and mobility in mind focusing on the kidneys and added proteins.
Can be given daily and if need be soaked with coconut milk and warm water to make a mush.
Ingredients include:
Omega 3s fish oil, High quality fats and calcium, coconut milk, coconut flour, dandelion leaf, bone broth
Helpful Herbs:
You can see I use a lot of herbs in my foods for my rats. I find them to work wonderful for the little ones immune support to make them live happy and healthy. I like to save using any antibiotic’s for the rats when they really, really need them so that they will do their job properly.
Because rats can really have just about anything, rather then list what they can have here is a list of foods rats shouldn't have:
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Bitter Almond – Bitter almonds may yield from 6 to 8% of hydrogen cyanide
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Blue Cheese – Contains Toxic Mold (thought to be incorrect – 08/25/2013)
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Fats (from meats) – Rats do not have gall bladders and therefore they do not have the enzymes needed to digest the fat of meat.
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Green Bananas – Inhibits starch digestion
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Green Potato Skin and Eyes – Contains solanine, a toxin
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Orange Juice – May contain d-limonene which can cause kidney cancer in male rats
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Poppy Seeds – Can cause neurological damage, or may cause death.
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Raw Artichokes – Inhibits protein digestion
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Raw Bulk Tofu – May contain bacteria (packaged tofu is safe)
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Raw Dry Beans or Peanuts – Contain anti-nutrients, causes red blood cell clumping
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Raw Onion – Can lead to anemia and an upset stomach
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Raw Red Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts – Contains an anti-nutrient that destroys thiamin
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Raw Sweet Potato – Contains cyanide-forming compounds
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Rhubarb – Contains high levels of oxalates that bind up calcium.
For those that love to bake for their babies like me :) Here is a few recipes I often use:
The -sugar free- Rat Birthday Cake
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1 cup sesame flour
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1/2 cup ground flaxseed
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1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
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1 cup Oats
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1 teaspoon baking soda
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1 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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1 Egg (shell and all)
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1 teaspoon white vinegar
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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5 tablespoons avocado oil or Coconut or Hemp oil
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1 tablespoon Raw Honey
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1 cup water or greek yogurt
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
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Line an 8 by 8 baking pan with parchment paper.
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Whisk together the first 7 dry ingredients.
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Slowly incorporate wet ingredients.
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Pour the water over the top and stir until smooth.
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Spread the batter into the baking pan.
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Place in the middle rack of your oven and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes clean.
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Allow to cool for 10 minutes then remove by holding the ends of the parchment paper.
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Place onto a cutting board to frost then slice.
Rat Safe Frosting:
1 bag frozen cauliflower OR
3 Banana’s
Box instant mashed potato (to thicken) or
Oats
I boil the bag of cauliflower, then mash with a potato masher then add in potato to thicken to a pipping desire. I will add in food coloring if desired or greek yogurt to cream up.