Clever ways to combine common feeds for bamboo rat farming

1.  Roughage: roughage accounts for 60%-70% of the bamboo rat's daily diet. Bamboo rats are herbivorous animals with an extremely high digestion rate for crude fiber. Green feeds suitable for feeding bamboo rats include barmang stalks, napier grass stalks, and king grass stalks
, thatch roots, bamboo stalks, bamboo roots, watermelon rind, corn stalks, corn husks, corn cobs, sugarcane tops, sugarcane stems, sugarcane tails, carrots, schefflera, mango branches, banyan branches, water willow, and so on;
2. Concentrate feed: accounts for 30%-40% of the daily diet. Concentrate feeds suitable for feeding bamboo rats include water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis), sweet potato, potato, jicama, corn, grain, peanuts, mung beans, soybeans, cooked rice, and so on
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3. Compound feed: cornmeal 80%, wheat bran 8%, peanut bran 7%, fish meal 3%, bone meal 2%, plus salt and livestock growth promoter (such as Bidehao) added at 0.5% of the total feed weight. Mix the above raw materials
evenly, moisten with cold boiled water (the moisture level should be such that it forms a ball when squeezed by hand and crumbles when the hand is released) before feeding; it is better to mix and feed on the spot; of course, using a feed pellet machine to make feed pellets is also quite convenient, but the storage period
should not be too long.
4. Medicinal feed: administering medicine to bamboo rats is relatively difficult. Some of the wild roughage that bamboo rats naturally eat is itself Chinese herbal medicine, with disease-preventing and therapeutic effects:
A. Thatch root (white cogongrass root), has a cooling and heat-relieving effect, and can serve as a health feed during high-temperature summer periods;
B. Wild prickly ash (mountain pepper), has the effects of strengthening the stomach, promoting digestion, regulating qi, and killing parasites;
C. Goji (Lycium chinense), has the effect of clearing heat and cooling blood; when bamboo rats have a fever or excessive eye discharge, gather its roots and stems for feeding. This is one of the most commonly kept medicinal feeds among farmers;
D. Schefflera, suitable for colds and fevers, sore and swollen throat, and traumatic bruises and swellings. Regularly feeding schefflera roots and stems can prevent and treat influenza and heal internal and external injuries. This is one of the most commonly kept classic medicinal feeds
among farmers;  E. Honeysuckle (Japanese honeysuckle), has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying; gathering its roots and stems in summer to feed bamboo rats can prevent and treat heatstroke, colds, and intestinal infections; this is one of the most commonly kept medicinal feeds
among farmers;
F. Mung beans, fed cooked or made into mung bean porridge, can relieve summer heat;
G. Small-leaved banyan (banyan tree), has the effect of clearing heat and reducing inflammation; gathering its roots and stems to feed bamboo rats can prevent and treat colds and conjunctivitis;
5. Soil: according to an experienced old master, although domestic bamboo rats have been tamed, they still retain a certain wildness. Every 1-2 months, one should go up the mountain to collect some fresh soil, and put a handful
in each nest chamber; the bamboo rats in the nest will eat this soil. It is said to supplement some trace elements. This method is worth trying for fellow bamboo rat keepers.