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Start by feeding your rat one table spoon of these foods twice per day. Once it gets used to food being readily available, it will learn that it doesn’t need to overeat and you can leave a small bowl of food in there at all times.

Water should be readily available at all times as rats can easily dehydrate. Have two water bottles present at all times so food and water dominance issues do not arise. Likewise, when feeding your rats snacks (veggies, seeds, fruits, etc.), it is a good idea to make two separate but equal piles. Do not give one rat something that you do not give the other rat. The rat that is missing out on the snack will smell it on the other rat and aggression can arise. The common staple food for rats is a standard lab block or lab pellets. These pellets are designed specifically to meet the dietary requirements of rats and can be supplemented with nuts, fruits, veggies, oats and other fun snacks. Oxbow rat food is a wonderful staple pellet. Do not feed your rats rabbit, hamster or other small animal pellets as the nutritional requirements of each small animal are different. It can be very difficult to meet the nutritional requirements of your rat by creating your own diet for them and missing nutrients can be detrimental to your rat's health. For this reason, it is often better to use a store-bought pellet as the staple of your rat's diet and supplement their diet with other foods. Avoid the colourful pellets at the pet store - they may seem tastier but are not often as wholesome as Oxbow or similar, and the artificial dyes can cause stomach upset.