Fresh, Free Rat Food

All pet rat owners love to give their ratkids treats. We also like to give them the best food available for their health, to extend their lives as long as possible. With a cruise through the produce section of the supermarket, you can easily do both, because rats love fresh food. Carrots, tomatoes, parsley, basil, mint, broccoli, bok choy, as well as fruits such as watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe (with some variations for taste), are not only healthy, but considered tasty, too. But I noticed that if I bought a bunch of mint or bok choy for my girls, the produce could go bad before the girls ate it up. After all, they're small, and only eat a few ounces each day.

I didn't mind buying more than they could eat - the leftovers could always be composted - but the idea of a more ongoing supply without waste appealed to me. Interestingly, it was the compost pile that gave me an idea.

If you've ever kept a compost pile, you know that you can count on things sprouting up in them. If you clean out a cantaloupe, and put the innards into the compost, you can be pretty sure that you'll have a batch of cantaloupe sprouts in a week or two. The last time we did this, it hit me: Are the sprouts edible? I looked it up, and sure enough, they were. So, I plucked out 5 or 6 sprouts, washed them, and served them up to my girls. They were delighted! "Wow, mom! Where'd you get this good stuff!!", they seemed to say. The best news was that, there was a number of sprouts still there in the pile, and if I picked a few every day, they would last a long time, and stay fresh while they were waiting. So, I had free, fresh food for the girls for many days, without any effort on my part.

As time went on, I saw other things sprouting in our backyard. Most people call them "weeds", but I had heard rumors that they were actually edible. Yes! I realized I had Chickweed and Miner's lettuce growing in the same places every year. We never used chemicals* in our yard, so they were edible and clean. As the seasons changed towards conditions that favored those herbs, I found I had a continuous supply of greens during the winter months.

* Always be certain that any herbs you gather anywhere are what you think that they are, and always be absolutely sure that they are chemical free before eating them yourself or giving them to your rats.