New Rodent Mix

After talking with a friend and doing some research, I decided to try to come up with my own mix to use here for the critters at Vermin Village. I needed something that I could adapt easily between rats, mice, hamsters, and gerbils. Currently I feed my rats (and when in residence, mice) Harlan Teklad 2014 or Native Earth 4018 if I run out of the other. When I order with the club, it runs about 66 cents per pound. But that doesn't take into account how to get it to my house. When I order anywhere online, it is $1 to $1.10 per pound.

I feed hamsters and gerbils a mix. But I've not been happy with the options available. So here it is...

Rolled Oats (Aloha Garden, Feed, & Pet)
Barley Flakes (Bob's Red Mill)
Wheat Flakes (Winco)
Titricale Flakes (Bob's Red Mill)
Wheat Berries (Winco)
Total Cereal (Any store--sale/coupons)
Toasted Oats (Winco)
pumpkin seeds (Aloha Garden, Feed, & Pet)
Flaxseed (Winco)
Freeze Dried Spinach (SFHerb.com)
Freeze Dried Parsley (Winco)
Cloudstar dog food (Cloudstar.com)

I'm still working on my diet. More protein is added for rodents of growing age and hamsters and gerbils get other items with their mix to make up for what they need.

I currently have millet and rolled barley from the feed store. The millet, while eaten by the hamsters, is not a big hit with the rats. So I'm changing it to wheat berries. The rolled barley, this gets left behind as the hull is still around it, it looks more crimped than rolled. So I am changing to the barley flakes, which they do like. If I'm going to spend the money, they had better want to eat it. :D

This mix costs me about 90 cents a pound to make.

store	Pounds	Cost	Cost/Pound	Notes
Online	200	$212.98	$1.06	Includes shipping
Club(blocks) & PetPros (hamster mix)	476	$319.82	$0.67	Transport brings it to about 88 cents.
Mix	266.91	$239.09	$0.90	Coupons and sales on cereal reduce cost.

References include:

Dream Mountain Rattery http://www.dreammtnfarm.com/rattery/index.htm
RatFanClub http://www.ratfanclub.org/nutreq.html
Shunamite Diet: http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=shunamite