Our Rats' Diet & Health:

We believe that excellent nutrition benefits rats as well as people. Our rats are given organic produce on a daily basis, consisting of a rotational offering of: apples, avocados, bananas, cantalope, carrots, cilantro, chard, dandelion, kale,  parsley, pomagranates, spring mix salad, watermelon, etc. They are offered high quality proteins such as  grass fed beef, free range eggs, and free range chicken, sunflower seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds, cashews and grains such as sprouted organic grain breads.  These are also corn free. We avoid commercial products with corn and canola oils as well as preservatives.We do not believe in feeding lab blocks as they are made of wheat & corn only & added synthetic vitamins & minerals. We believe real food is better for rats. It is our desire for our rattie friends to live a long, healthy life and are doing what we can to make that possible through nutrition, clean bedding, large cages with fun toys, and human love and interaction.  

If you are new to rats I would encourage you to read up on rat nutrition before embarking on a whole foods diet to ensure you have read what is NOT good to feed rats & see some examples of a good rat whole foods diet. Please see Debbie “The Rat Lady” Ducommun's article here.  A good yahoo group for holistic information is Holistarat and they have diet information on their main page when you join the group.

I believe it is in your best interest to ask a million questions of the breeder you adopt rats from if you are new to rats. They can direct you to many places to get information and share their experience & the experience of others they have learned from. I will tell you everything I know about our rats' lines before you adopt so you can choose if our rats are right for you. I want you to have a happy relationship with your new pets, whether they come from our rattery or if you decide another is better fitted to your needs.

We have had two rats develop tumors. Neither was born here, one male, one female. The female is in our breeding line but the male was not. Two of her daughters that were adopted out as babies have tumors but are the longest lived in that litter at almost 2 1/2 years like their mother.

So far our only experience with respiratory issues is one rat who we might have sent home too young as she was adopted out Easter weekend so we let her go early (3 days short of 5 weeks) & she was treated by a vet and is now a healthy, happy girl.  Three other rats went home with families that day and one breathed funny for a short time but did not receive treatment and recovered fine.

We have had two adult male rats develop bumblefoot. They were not related or in the same cage or at the same time. One died, the other is healing well so far. Neither are in our direct breeding line, but the one who is healing is a brother in our line. I feel it is important to list any health issues we have had in our mischief so that potential adopters can make informed decisions., especially breeders who may adopt from us who desire certain traits and research who they are adopting into their own lines.