This article is from the WSSF 2008 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Carol Lawton

This is a snack for your rats and mice that you can make in your oven or dehydrator. When using a dehydrator, the nutrients aren’t cooked out like baking. The dehydrator is more gentle with air flowing through it, not sitting on anything getting brown. The whole point is to not kill off the vitamins and the dehydrator will do a better job at that than baking.

1 part lab block dust (sifted to take out the big pieces)
1 part mixture of your favorite healthy rat snacks such as:

rolled oats
whole grains
flax seeds
high quality cereal like Flax Plus granola
finely chopped raw seeds or nuts such as sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts
finely chopped dried fruit

1 packet of instant oatmeal per ¾ cup of lab block dust

• Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl
• Add 1 part warm (not hot) water or ½ juice ½ water
• Mix immediately as the mixture will soak up the water quickly
• After mixing thoroughly, let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes
• Turn the dough onto a large cookie sheet and press it into a ½″ thick rectangle
• Put a piece of plastic wrap over it and apply pressure to flatten and spread the dough to about ¼″ thick
• Remove the top plastic wrap and use a large knife to score the dough into strips (press the knife straight down, don’t try to slice through the dough)
• Place in a warm oven (150–200 degrees) and slightly vent the oven door
• When the surface is dry and firm (about 1 hour) you can separate the strips, break them into smaller pieces, gently turn them over and either return them to the warm oven for at least an hour (until they are thoroughly dry), or place them in a dehydrator until they are thoroughly dry
• Store the “cookies” in a plastic ziplock in the refrigerator or freezer

I pulled them out of the dehydrator about 10 minutes ago and passed them out to the rats . . . nobody stopped eating until they were completely gone. The mice liked them. They were not as enthusiastic about them like the rats but did eat them.

“KKS2020-1 Madeline,” a Russian Blue Irish Satin young rat grabbing a cookie; owned by Carol Lawton.

Back to top