Harold Leaves to Reunite With Brothers

At the age of 31 months, Harold has been reunited with his brothers, Chupachup, Billy and Rutherford.  Harold, like his brothers, was a sweet gentle giant.  Always greeting you at the cage door, these past few weeks he lost the use of his back legs.  He still could scoot around until I noticed Sunday he had slowed down quite a bit.  He passed away while I was at work on Monday.

He has been prepared for private cremation at OHS.

Rest in peace little giant.

Raisin Unexpectedly Exits

I'm very upset, Raisin, one of my New Mexico rattie girls, has passed unexpectedly.   She went through so much to get here and now she has gone.  The only comfort I have is that she at least was with her cage mates.

She has been prepared for private cremation at the Oregon Humane Society.  She is survived by her 2 "sisters" Currant and Sultana.

Rest in peace little Raisin.

Frozen Rodent Mix

Taking a leaf from the Dapper Rat's site on her frozen food recipe, I decided to try a frozen mix myself since I'm always so pressed for time.

Thanks to another friend, I found Whole Foods sells frozen kale.  In the interest of time I also used the frozen rice and beans.  In future mixes, I'll make the rice and beans myself.

I gave them some tonight and they all LOVED it.  I will vary it every batch but there are some base ingredients I will use in every batch.  I'll add other items for variety.

• Frozen Whole Kale  (10#)
• Frozen Chopped Broccoli, Cauliflower, Squash, Carrots (11#)
• Peas (5#)
• Corn (5#)
• 10 cups of cooked beans
• 12 cups steamed brown basmatti rice
• 12 cups steamed quinoa
• Frozen Green Beans (5#)

For those in the Beaverton/Hillsboro, Oregon area, I get items to make the mix at the following locations:

• frozen, chopped blue kale - Whole Foods
• frozen corn - Costco
• frozen peas - Costco
• frozen green beans - Costco
• frozen Normandy vegetables - Costco
• brown rice - winco bulk food bins (you can get any grain, but since I eat the basmatti brown, that is what I buy them, it is more expensive)  And I actually purchase my basmatti brown rice at Costco or Winco, depending on which one is cheaper.
• mix of dried beans (I buy a combination of dried beans from the bulk bins in Winco; I do not include lentils or split peas because I already have frozen peas and the lentils don't seem to hold together so well.

I steam the brown rice in a cooker.  I have the small cooker so when I cook it, it takes 2 pots of it for about 12 cups.  I then cook the quinoa in the cooker and it also takes 2 pots to get about 12 cups.

I cook 1 cup of dried beans for every 2 cups of cooked beans.  I place the beans in a pot on the stove and cover with water and bring to a boil for 3 minutes.  Then I turn down the heat and let simmer for 2 and a half hours until the beans are tender but not mushy.  I then drain and put beans in the fridge to cool.  The rice and quinoa are put in the fridge to cool and then in the freezer to freeze.

I then mix all of the frozen foods together and add the beans as well.

After mixing it all together, I part it out in amounts that I will use each night.  Currently I use freezer zip bags (and I reuse them).  Eventually I will get the appropriate sized freezer containers to do this with I still have to find one that I like.

Each night I pull a packet out and  put it in a microwave safe container and cook it for 3 to 5 minutes.  Then I dish it out to the kiddos.

I do include fresh vegetables when I have them.  I don't cook those. 


Because of their dry mix, I don't put in any pasta in the mix.

I purchased the 1 pound paper boats at Costco, 250 for $5 to feed the wet mix in.  I would rather spend the money on paper plates than spend the time washing them. :D

Reference:  The Dapper Rat Rat Diet http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#diet

Rodent Diet Special

Please read http://verminvillage.blogspot.com/search/label/rodent%20mix for the evolution of the mix.

I will start using some Roda-Bites made by a Integrifeed in California.

This is available in Salem so it is a bit closer to get.   I will start mixing it in the next batch.  It comes in 50# bags.  If I continue to use this, I will use this in conjunction with Harlan since my ratties really seem to love the Harlan.

I mixed their dry mix and  this month's cereal is Fruity Cheerios.  :D

Please note, I no longer feed lab blocks. 3/16/2011

Rutherford Helped to the Bridge

Rutherford was helped to the bridge today. He was always an engaging gentle giant. I adopted him and 3 boys from a member of our rat forum. He was preceded in death by Chupachup and Billy and is survived by Harold.

His favorite thing to do was chill in a hammock or be pet under his chin. He'd been looking rather frail the last 3 days and this morning when I went in he was kind of quiet. When I went back in later today he was in distress and obviously ready to go.

He was 34 months old.

He's been prepared for private cremation at the Oregon Humane Society.

Rest in peace little one.