Rat diet?

[ConfusedPixie]

I'm getting a pair of rats in a couple of weeks and have obviously been researching. I'm getting a lot of conflicting information on diets of rats. Some say to feed them anything and everything you may eat, some say stick to the special 'lab blocks'(?) only, there's arguments over protein percentages and how much fruit/veg they can have and so on.

Is there anybody who can help me find just a simple page with information that will help me understand what I can/cannot feed my rats, what diet would likely suit them best and maybe some British brand names of what I can/should buy for them? As most of what I'm finding is based in America.

It feels stupid to ask but it's the only thing that I'm just running myself round in circles about, everything else has been relatively simple, even the wood shavings vs. non-wood debate!

Shunamite diet.

A suitable base makes 60% (this is a good quality rat/rabbit mix - often rabbit)
Human cereals low in salt and sugar (so usually value like tesco value cornflakes) - make sure theres a couple of diff ones in this 30%
Pasta 5%
Good quality dog kibble 5%

This is all done by volume so you can do it in cups... say 6 cups of your base, 3 cups of mixed cereals, half a cup of the other two.

There are loads of bases that people use. The best thing to do is to get yourself on a forum for pets because the people that REALLY care are there!

Thank you, I saw that one and then forum I found bit on had a lot about supplementing it too so I think I'll go down that route :)

I was going to sign up to the simply named ratforum tonight but our internet is being twattish. Typical. Needed to do a big order of ratty bits for the cage too!

We always used rabbit food, then a daily bowl of "human" bits and pieces - cooked pasta, pieces of carrot, cucumber, apple, defrosted frozen peas, small pieces of egg etc.