rats and nuts

Question
QUESTION: I'd like to know whether or not nuts are good for rats and in what form, and which nuts?... I've read that you should apparently never give rats almonds, and once, after we'd actually fed them to them, we heard that macadamias and cashews are not good either... can you (or anyone) help on this matter?....can you give rats nuts in the shell? I'm guessing that they would LOVE to chew through the shell, but I don't want to give our girls anything even vaguely poisonous... oh, and are avocadoes good or bad? I've heard that the seed and skin are no, but the middle flesh parts are ok....

ANSWER: Hi Sylvia,

Thanks for doing research to find out more about your rat and having his well being in mind!

Lets start with nuts in general:
Nuts are loaded with fat and protein and are simply not something you want to feed your rat, esp peanuts. Alot of commercial rat mixes have peanuts in them and we always stress how unhealthy and incomplete those commercial seed mixes sold at pet stores can be for our rats.

As for Avocados, It is NOT an advisable food to give to rats or any pets for that matter. Avocado leaves, fruit, seeds and bark contain a toxic principle known as Persin which rodents are especially sensitive to. Consumption of avocados can lead to respiratory distress and   fluid accumulation around the tissues of the heart. Some rat owners still insist it is safe to feed the "pulp" to their rats and have done so without incident. However, the pulp is loaded with fat, the answer is NO, skip the avocado when it comes to rats. I guess I could have simply said no to start with but felt it needed some explaining to go along with it. Hope you don't mind my long responses. I have become pretty much known for my lengthy responses on here, some like it, some may not...but thats just me.LOL!

Although you did not ask about diet, I thought I would just post a little easy recipe for a fast diet mix that is easy to make and the products used are easy to find in super markets too.

Here is a homemade rat mix that is nutritionally complete:

***Recipe by by Melissa Pandajis from the RMCA**
**************

Innova Senior Dog Food OR Wellness Lite Dog Food (this should comprise approx. 1/5 of the TOTAL mix)
Dry pasta - BOTH tricolor and whole wheat (I avoid spirals)
Grape Nut Flakes
Various Organic Cereals (Multigrain, Amaranth, Bran, etc - look for sodium <100mg, sugars no more than 6g)
Puffed Kamut or Puffed Wheat, Puffed Millet
Low fat bulk soy granola AND organic low fat fruit granola (usually raspberry)
Organic rye and wheat flakes (I sometimes substitute Organic kamut or barley oats)
Just Tomatoes brand freeze dried bananas
Dried fruit/veggies (I use Just Tomatoes freeze-dried corn, peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, mango, and occasionally add UNSULPHURED dried papaya or apple)

Hope this helps clear the air about things!

Good luck with your critters


Sandra Todd



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok, so not too many nuts because of the high fat and protein content - but as something "fun to play with as well as eat" on special occasions, are there any nuts - that because of the shell, or whatever else is in the nut itself - that are bad for rats as in they'll die if they eat that particular toxin in that particular kind of nut, or that particular kind of nut's shell, rather than if i give them too many, they'll become obese and die..?
particular nuts that we have around the house in shells at the moment are brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts.
thanks so much

Answer
YOU ASKED:

******
Ok, so not too many nuts because of the high fat and protein content - but as something "fun to play with as well as eat" on special occasions, are there any nuts - that because of the shell, or whatever else is in the nut itself - that are bad for rats as in they'll die if they eat that particular toxin in that particular kind of nut, or that particular kind of nut's shell, rather than if i give them too many, they'll become obese and die..?

My response:

Not so much as toxic as it is  just simply not good for them to have. If you give it to them as a snack once in great great while wont hurt but with so many other options for treats that are rat approved, there is really no need to give them something that ultimately isn't the most ideal snack for them.


Hope this helps!

:-)