Rat food? What do you use?

[talon]

I breed rats to feed my reptiles.
what do you guys think of dog food?
cereal?
rat mix from pet store? (more expensive than dog food)
ANy suggestions or no no's?
It seems to me most "pet" rat breeders go all out. I want to provide the best un expensive way to feed my rats and reptiles
also what about pine bedding? I know aspen is better but boy is it expensive!
anybody know of a cheap healthy rat bedding? for rats being feed to reptiles.
I think we should come up with a"rats for food" breeding & feeding page. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[nomadbean]

Cheap rat bedding=papertowels
Cheap Rat food= this is going in your snakes, feed them stuff high in protein and fresh, don't want to skimp and have a malnurished snake. P.S. If you give them Pediatlyte, Water and Miner-All mix to drink it is GREAT for your snakes.
Good luck-Trina
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[telefrag]

I really wouldnt feed them dog food,
I would go with a commerical rodent chow, and you can mix some bird seed in with it.

And you can give them fresh veggies as well.

The snake is going to get the nutritional benefits from a food animal, you feed the rats junk, thats going to reflect on the nutritional needs of the snake.
Its not going to kill them or anything, but its just a better way to do it.
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[Dani]

I'm going to have to start breeding rats soon too (interested in small ones right now). I plan to use cat litter as substrate and feed them regular rodent mix foods and some fruit on the side. Make sure they're feeding well, you want them to be healthy. Like the others have said, if you don't feed what's going into your snakes well, your snake won't be feeding well.

[ChrisRezendes]

Dog food is a big no-no. I've read that dog food contains dyes in it that are harmful to snakes, and that this dye is retained by the rats being fed to the snakes. I've never bred rats, but when I have a mouse that doesn't get eaten the first day (I live feed because my snakes are wild caught), I keep him alive on a diet of oatmeal. I'm not sure if that's going to work for rats, or if the nutritional value is useless, but I doubt it would be harmful to the snake. Somebody will be along soon with a more refined answer.


Edit: Well, it appears that others already HAVE come along, lol.
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[Heather]

I feed my mice ots, rice, dog food, hamster feed, & some bones. I have vitamins I give them to. Well I feed the babies to the snake not the breeding mice & I treat the feeders the same way as the breeders so that the feeders are healthy.

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[talon]

the problem with comercial food is that if its a mix they might not eat all the different types of food they need to get the proper nutrients. I have mineral and add the supplement directly to the outside of the prekilled rat every 3rd or fourth feeding depending on the frequency of feeding to prevent a toxic build up.
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[GizmO]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> I live feed because my snakes are wild caught </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>


They can be converted to dead or frozen thawed.
usually the human gives up before the snake does.

Check this out.
Why not to feed live.
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[Heather]

I see why you should not feed live but my snake want eat dead so I just put the mouse in &amp; watch &amp; a few mins later he eats it I don't leave the mouse in the tank I stay till the snake eats. &amp; he eats a lot so I don't half to wate long. If I see the mouse trying to bite the snake I take the mouse out than try later.
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[JuliusSqueezer]

Dye in dog food is bad...animal protein is worse. Feed em lab blocks....good stuff

Feeding live to wild caught snakes? Why and what has this to do with anything? CB snakes are as wild as the ones you catch. Instinctwise there is no difference. No snake really has to be converted to prekilled....wild snakes will eat dead things they find too. It as as natural as killing. I have several snakes that I have caught....all are feeding on frozen thawed and have been since the first time offered.

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[ChrisRezendes]

From my experience it is very much easier to ween CB onto dead feed. Especially when they are still very young. I've NEVER had any success getting a wild snake to eat dead, so I don't bother anymore. All the captive bred snakes I've bought over the years eat dead with no problem (except a gopher I had, who only ate dead sometimes). Captive bred are sometimes picky, but I also noticed that wild caught are ALWAYS picky. At least what I'm catching around here. But that's just me.
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	Captive Born Captive Born

[JuliusSqueezer]

Oh Bull....that's a total crock. I have snakes that I even caught some of right now....ratsnakes, a cornsnake, adult copperheads ...a baby copperhead....none have ever been offered live and none have ever refused thawed. Your experience is mostly out of library books dude. trust me on this...I have been catching snakes twice as long as you have been alive. I have kept thousands....I have never had a single snake that wouldn't eat prekilled or frozen thawed.,....not one single snake ever.
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