can rats eat fruit and vegies?

We've kept rats for years and we feed them dry food in the morning and fruit and veggies in the evening. For some reason, they LOVE celery (It's mine, It's mine, It's all mine!!!)

Although the rat mix will provide the rat with a good basic diet, rats also enjoy fruit and vegetables. However, it is important that fruit and vegetables should be introduced to a rat's diet gradually as a sudden large amount of fruit or vegetables can cause diarrhoea.

To begin with the rat should only be given a small piece of fruit or vegetable once or twice a week and graducally this can be increased to larger amounts every day. If at any time the rat shows signs of diarrhoea all feeding of fruit and vegetables should stop until the rat has recovered and then gradually re-introduced into the diet.

Certain vegetables, herbs and fruit can be fed to rat. The rat should only be fed an amount it will eat as if the rat is fed too much and leaves vegetables and fruit in the cage it can become mouldy.

Some fruit, vegetables and herbs that are safe to feed a rat are:

* Apple (seedless)

* Banana

* Broccoli

* Brussel Sprouts - small amounts occasionally

* Carrots

* Cauliflower leaves and stalks

* Cucumber

* Grapes

* Kiwi

* Lettuce - small amounts occasionally

* Mango

* Parsley - a good tonic

* Peas

* Romaine Lettuce

* Tomato

Fruit, vegetables and herbs that should not be fed include:

* Kidney Beans (raw)

* Onion

* Potato (raw)

* Potato tops

* Rhubarb (raw)

* Rhubarb leaves

* Tomato leaves

The main diet should be rodent blocks or similar. For the addition fruit and veggies, you want to give more veg than fruit because of the sugars. For our ratties, we only give fruit as a treat once every 2-3 days or so. Veggies, about 1- 1 1/2 tbsp a day. Also, they love peas!!!! Now is a good time for a fun game for them as it is summer. Get a low pan or container and fill it with water (let sit to room temp) and throw some (frozen is fine) peas in it. They play around the water cooling themselves off while getting a treat. (make sure there are no drafts where they play and dry off in the water) And for the biggest treat for them, once every week or two, we give them a cooked chicken leg bone. This is good for them in moderation, as it helps keep their teeth in good health and the marrow inside the bone is very good for them.

Food needs to be kept available at all times. Laboratory pellets (Lab Blox, Rodent Chow, Pet Blocks, etc.) are the best basic main diet. You can find them in pet shops or feed stores bagged in small quantities. If lab pellets are not available in your area (you may have to ask the store owner or manager if they can get them if not normally stocked), then a high quality dog food (not over 8% fat content) from the pet shop/feed store such as Nutro, Science Diet, Iams, etc., fed equally with a rat/mouse grain mixture is a good substitute. Complement either diet with small amounts of salad greens (clean, freshly washed, non-contaminated or sprayed, dandelion leaves can be a treat for mice), fresh fruits (rats love bananas, also avocado given in small amounts) and vegetables (raw broccoli and corn-on-the-cob are a favorite with rats) (NOTE: any fresh foods should be washed when necessary), and whole wheat bread. Be sure to clean out any uneaten fresh foods the next day. Be sparing with oily seeds, nuts, and grain mixes. Dry cat food should only be given to growing youngsters or nursing mothers because of the high fat and protein content. DO NOT give your pet treats such as candy (chocolate can’t be digested by rats), cookies, potato chips, or other junk food. Treats such as dry, healthy, low-sugar cereals (Cheerios, puffed wheat/rice/millet, spoon-size shredded wheat, etc.), plain popcorn, wild bird seed, dry oatmeal, occasional table scraps such as veges, salad, spaghetti, etc., are okay and will be eagerly devoured by your pet. Do not feed your pet through the screen top of the cage (if the screen is large enough to do this), or if you use wire rat cages, through the bars of the cages, as they will learn that things poked in are food and grab anything poked in including your finger.

Rats are omnivores just like most people. It's not only okay but it's healthy for her to have some fresh fruit and veggies. If loose stools are a problem, you might want to cut back but it sounds like you have have a lucky little friend

yes! In the wild, rats will pretty much eat anything! So, fruits and veggies a most definitly okay for a rat.

yes. give your pet fruits and veggies as well as food from a pet store for good health.

yes u can givem fruits n veggies sum ppls feed their animals rice with soup

rats can eat anything even clothes.

yep u should give them more of that they love it. especially bananas and apples. they also can eat yogurt they love that stuff too.