Rodent Treats

I don't consider scraps, fruits, vegetables and nuts, essentially any whole foods treats for the rodents.  (I don't consider a peanut or sunflower seed a treat, I just consider it a limited food item.)  I consider treats something that is not part of their regular diet.  I typically buy Curly Whiskers Rattery Hanging Chew Treats, Mazuri's Monkey Crunch and any Cloud Star's Itty Bitty Buddy Biscuits.  They really like these treats and I feel pretty good about giving them these treats.

Rodent Diet

I've been made some changes to the dry diet to offer more variety.  Their dry diet consists of a combination of commercial blocks, a commercial mix and a homemade mix.

species	commercial food	source
rat/ mouse	Rodent Breeder 6F # 5M30	You can contact your local feed store or order it online through mazuri.com
hamster/ gerbil	Mazuri Hamster/Gerbil Diet #5E10	I get mine from my local feed store but you can also order directly from mazuri.com
hamster/ gerbil	Supreme Hazel Hamster	I order mine from Pet Mountain.
hamster/ gerbil	Drs Foster and Smith Signature Series Premium Hamster Food	Drs Foster and Smith

The items with a * indicate a non-human grade ingredient.

As of 7/2013 the homemade mixes are:

Homemade Dry Mix Base for Rats and Mice

60%
Thick cut Rolled Oats
Barley Flakes
Rye Flakes

20%
Total Cereal
Cheerios

15%

Air Dried Carrots
Dried Parsley
Dried Cranberries
Dried Bananas
Split Peas
Herb Salad (Calendula (Marigold) Flowers, Whole; Chamomile Flowers; Dandelion Leaf, Cut; Hibiscus Flowers, Cut; Raspberry Leaf; Rose Hips (Seedless), Cut)
Dried Sweet (Bell) Peppers
Other Dried fruits and veggies as available

5%
Dog Food (I use Kirkland Lowfat)*

Syrian Hamster/Mongolian Gerbil Homemade Dry Mix:

27%
Thick cut Rolled Oats/Groats
Barley Flakes/Berries
Rye Flakes/Berries

18%
Seed Mix (millet, canary, flax seed, safflower, hemp seeds)*

27%

Air Dried Carrots
Dried Parsley
Herb Salad (Calendula (Marigold) Flowers, Whole; Chamomile Flowers; Dandelion Leaf, Cut; Hibiscus Flowers, Cut; Raspberry Leaf; Rose Hips (Seedless), Cut)
Dried Sweet (Bell) Peppers

Other dried veggies as available

9%

Unsalted Roasted Peanuts

Sunflower seeds*

Pumpkin seeds*

4%

Split Peas

Lentils

Total Cereal
Cheerios

15%

Freeze Dried Meal Worms* and/or Freeze Dried River Shrimp*

Current fresh food offerings:
As I've been doing more cooking at home, I've moved away from the basic frozen mix.  In season fruits and vegetables, scraps from the table make their way to the critter cages.  Just be mindful of the forbidden food lists for each species.

When I don't cook as much, I prepare a basic frozen mix is (with amounts listed) and then I add something different every day:

Frozen broccoli 5#

Peas 5#

Kale 5#

Sweet Potatoes 5 pounds (cooked, purchased raw from Winco) 

Beans 10 cups (cooked mixed beans purchased from bulk bins at Winco) No kidney beans.

Basmatti Brown Rice 12 cups (cooked, purchased from bulk bins at Winco)

Quinoa 12 cups (cooked, purchased from bulk bins at Winco)

I steam the rice and quinoa the day before combining my mix. I also cook the beans.  I boil them for 10 minutes then let simmer for 3 hours.  I cook the sweet potatoes.  I put the rice and quinoa in the freezer overnight and the beans and sweet potatoes in the refrigerator overnight.   The next day I cut up the sweet potatoes into cubes and mix everything together.  I then divide into freezer baggies for me to pull out and heat up daily for the critters.

Again, these diets are their BASIC diet.  They do eat other foods.  I mix in additional items in their frozen mix, for example bok choy, apples, canned mandarin oranges, blueberries, et cetera.  Just watch the items on the forbidden food list.

Inspiration:
I got inspiration for the diet here from the sites below.

The Dapper Rat http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#diet
Dream Mountain Rattery http://www.dreammtnfarm.com/rattery/about.htm
RatFanClub http://www.ratfanclub.org/nutreq.html
Rattie Rascals Rattery http://www.boardmanweb.com/rattery/nutrition.htm
Shunamite Diet: http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=shunamite
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