Most rats do just fine if given the usual grains that a person would give to a hamster or ferret.  In fact, that's what most rats DO end up getting. But rats love variety, and it is a lot more healthy to give them a better balanced diet. Along with food specifically engineered for rats (hard to find, but SOOO much better), I give them fresh fruits and vegetables, noodles, and small amounts of cooked meat.  Strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, banana, cheese, spaghetti, and macaroni are big time favorites!  Bread and peanut butter also are grabbed away very eagerly. (Note: if you give your rats peanut butter, mix in some honey so that it doesn't get stuck in their throats.) Peanut butter usually gets eaten fast enough that it is also a convenient thing to mix with medicine (crushed pills).  The rat never realizes that it's taking it's pills!  Yogurt and baby food are also great for this purpose.  Rice is also an instant meal, but beware that it has to be cooked! Uncooked rice can expand in the rat's belly, and you should know here and now that a rat is physically incapable of throwing up, so in large quantities it can kill the rat!  Spaghetti, angel hair, and other types of noodles (cooked) are instant hits, especially if flavored with any kind of sauce.  Rats are omnivores, so meat is all right too, and I try to mix in a fairly regular supply of it!  Rats can eat chocolate in small quantities, and there doesn't seem to be too much of a risk for chocolate poisoning, but too much can't be a good thing.  I never ever feed my rats junk food; no chips, no candy, nothing that isn't completely natural as in from a farm, not a factory.  I have a friend who fed her rat all sorts of sugary, candy like things, and that rat had a stroke in a little over a year.  My rats live for at least a full year beyond that, usually longer.  The difference is easy to see.  Just remember that before you feed your rats anything, don't give them anything you wouldn't eat yourself.  If it doesn't smell right anymore, it probably won't be a good thing for the rat, and the rat won't necessarily ignore it if it doesn't think it's a good thing to eat.  They're very trusting that you will do that for them. One thing that is often mixed in with the dry rat food is alfalfa pellets; I've never met a rat that would even TOUCH these, and I've heard several times that they can't digest it, so try to keep them down to a minimum in the food you buy. (Alfalfa pellets are the little green cylindrical things.)

My rats also drink a lot of water; I refill the bottle about every two days, and I only have three rats!  Water must always be present for a rat to be happy as it runs and plays.  Don't put water in a bowl for them to drink from; I can guarantee it will be buried in shavings or food, and it will become a convenient toilet!
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