Treats Rats are really prone to obesity, so treats for your rats should not exceed more than 5% of their daily diet. It can be very difficult to keep yourself from going overboard with too many treats for your rats. Rats love food and are very cute when they eat. Not to mention that fat rats are very squishy and adorable. However it is VERY important to keep your rats at a trim, healthy weight. An overweight rat will have a shorter life span, be more susceptible to health issues, have more difficulty moving around, and be just plain uncomfortable! (Although some rats still become fat even on a good diet, so keep that in mind. Genetics is a huge factor. If this happens there is nothing much you can do.) When choosing treats, try to stay with low fat, low calorie selections. Here are some examples of what we use as everyday healthy treats and our rats love them... plain air popped popcorn Rice Krispies cereal Cheerios cereal pieces of plain rice cakes plain cake ice cream cones (with out the ice cream) low fat low calorie yogurt Nature's Path Kamut Puffs cereal plain spinach pasta (uncooked) Sometimes we will share healthy foods from the table with them including... rice breads nuts meats bones mashed potatoes stuffing pasta Really sugary treats we give no more than once a week, which includes... more sugary cereals muffins donuts yogart drops cookies marshmallows ice cream You should try to never feed your rat junk food of any kind, such as chips, fried foods, sugary bakery goods, etc... unless it's a very special occasion or you are trying to get your rat to take medicine. I will give my rats a single peice of sugary cereal after they take their medicine as a reward. With rats that are underweight, very sick, or near the end of their life, I break all the rules and feed them what ever they will eat, along with trying to get them to eat regular meals of powdered baby soy milk formula mixed with water for nutrition. Another occasion to use more of the sugary treats is with new rats that you are trying to bond with. Sometimes you have to pull out all the stops if the rats are particularly fearful. Keep in mind the size relationship when giving out portions of treats. One yogurt drop to a rat would be equal to a human eating a small pie. Here, Baku receives a yogie.