The Scuttling Gourmet News
Fruit and vegetable list – source: The Scuttling Gourmet
All listed fruits, vegetables and legumes are suitable for rats within the parameters described.
A
- Aduki beans (sprouted, raw, canned or boiled)
- Apple (pips removed if you’re a purist but they really won’t do them any harm unless you feed by the cupful!)
- Apricots (no stone – as for apple, dried are usually preserved in sulphur)
- Asparagus
- Aubergine (eggplant, bitter when raw) Avocado (flesh only, no skin or stone – this one matters)
B
- Bamboo shoots
- Banana (fine for oldies in moderation, yes they are high in potassium but the kidney failure suffered by rats causes fluid and electrolyte loss through increased urine productions – so low potassium is a potential problem)
- Bean sprouts (make your own from all varieties of beans and peas that can be eaten without cooking)
- Beetroot
- Bilberry
- Blackberries
- Blackcurrant’s
- Blueberries
- Bok choy (Pak choi) (great alternative to kale and dandelion)
- Broad beans (canned or boiled)
- Broccoli Brussels sprouts (raw is fine)
- Butternut squash (more palatable cooked)
C
- Cannellini beans (canned or boiled)
- Cantaloupe melon (great moisture source for shows)
- Carrots Cauliflower Celeriac Celery Cherries (without stone – as for apple)
- Chick Peas (roasted, sprouted, canned or boiled)
- Chicory
- Clementine (girls only)
- Clover leaf
- Coconut
- Collard greens
- Courgette (Zucchini, bitter when raw)
- Cranberries
- Cress
- Cucumber (great moisture source for shows)
D
- Damson
- Dandelion leaves (great ratio of calcium and phosphorus for bone health)
- Dates
E
- Eggplant (Aubergine, bitter when raw)
- Elderberry
- Endive (in moderation)
F
- Fennel
- Figs (small amount)
- French beans (raw or cooked)
G
- Gala melon (great moisture source for shows)
- Garlic (more palatable cooked)
- Globe artichoke
- Gooseberry (cooked)
- Grapes
- Green beans (raw or cooked)
H
- Haricot beans (canned or boiled)
- Honeydew melon (great moisture source for shows)
J
- Jerusalem artichoke
K
- Kale (curly) (great ratio of calcium and phosphorus for bone health)
- Kohlrabi Kidney beans (canned or boiled)
- Kiwi (small amounts, without skin)
- Kumquat (girls only)
L
- Leek (cooked)
- Lemon (girls only)
- Lentils (all varieties raw, sprouted, cooked)
- Lettuce (small amount)
- Lime (girls only)
- Loganberry
M
- Mandarin (girls only)
- Mange tout
- Mango (girls only)
- Marrow (more palatable cooked)
- Melon (great moisture source for shows)
- Mulberry (leaves can be eaten too)
- Mung beans (sprouted, raw, canned or boiled)
- Mushrooms
N
- Nectarines
O
- Okra
- Olive
- Onion (more palatable cooked)
- Orange (girls only)
P
- Pak choi (bok choy) (great alternative to kale and dandelion)
- Papaya
- Parsnips (more palatable cooked)
- Passion fruit
- Peach (no stone – as for apple)
- Peas (frozen or fresh)
- Pears
- Peppers (all colours)
- Persimmon (sharon fruit)
- Physalis (chinese lantern fruit)
- Pineapple Plums (without stones – as for apple)
- Pomegranate
- Pomelo (girls only)
- Potato
- Prunes
- Pumpkin (more palatable cooked)
R
- Radish
- Raisins
- Raspberries
- Redcurrant
- Red cabbage (small amount, more palatable cooked)
- Red onion (more palatable cooked)
- Rhubarb (small amounts and cooked only)
- Rocket Runner bean (cooked)
S
- Savoy cabbage
- Shallot (more palatable cooked)
- Sharon fruit (Persimmon)
- Soya beans (canned, boiled or fermented)
- Spring greens (spring cabbage, useful alternative to dandelion and kale)
- Spring onion
- Spinach (small amounts – high oxalate greens)
- Squash (more palatable cooked)
- Strawberries
- Swede
- Sweet chestnuts (more palatable cooked, may cause digestive upset raw)
- Sweet corn (frozen or fresh, on cob or off)
- Sweet peppers
- Sweet potato (more palatable cooked
- Sugar snap pea
- Swiss chard (small amount – high oxalate greens)
T
- Tangerine (girls only)
- Tomato
- Turnip
W
- Water chestnuts
- Watercress
- Watermelon (great moisture source for shows)
Z
- Zucchini (Courgette) – can be quite bitter fed raw.
Unless otherwise stated all foods can be fed raw or cooked, but might be more palatable one way or the other, and preference may vary from rat to rat. The fruits that are only suitable for girls are those that contain d-limonene, a compound that can cause a male specific protein to clump together in the rat kidneys, which may affect long-term kidney health.
Thank you for this list! Amazing, I’m gonna bookmark it.
I wanna request a post about if you think rats can be vegetarians/vegans. Thank you!
Thanks Tamlina, that’s a great question and will be the topic of my next blog post. Thank you for the input.
Btw, is it ok to translate this to Swedish and have as a file in our rattiegroup with a link to this blogpost?
Nice comprehensive list. Just a bit concerned about the inclusion of tomatoes and citrus , as tomato has been linked to renal failure in other mammals. Garlic and onion is also a no no for dogs, so not sure if it is truly safe for rats. Perhaps I’m being overly cautious?
Thanks! 🙂
I’ve read that sweet potato can be toxic if fed raw.
Hi Eva, yes – I researched this when I wrote The Scuttling Gourmet and it isn’t true. I believe the original source (it’s just been copied wholesale over and over) may have confused sweet potato with cassava – another edible root that we use to make tapioca. I can’t find any other connection – and since cyanide is toxic to humans to, if there was truth in this it would be widely known for human toddlers since raw sweet potato will be lying around in many homes.
There was also a comment here which I unintentionally sent to spam asking about the safety of onions and garlic, in view of their toxicity to dogs. These are fine for rats – indeed garlic is used widely for it’s immune system boosting properties, here in the UK. Powdered garlic is also added to feeds.