Restricted Feeding is often when rats have set amounts of food and set meal times, often this to benifet the health of overweight/zucker rats.
Some people restrict the food by feeding the amount that will be eaten in 22 hours, leaving the bowl empty for 2 hours before feeding. An alternative is to weigh out the food each day and reduce the amount by a small amount if the rats are becoming overweight. This is useful if you are scatter feeding as you cannot see how much is left in the cage. I decrease the amount going into the cage by 5 grams and then weigh the rats again after two weeks. If the rats look underweight then the amount can be raised slightly until they look right.
There is no 'right' weight for a rat, as each one will differ in build, does are in general lighter than bucks and muscle in a young rat will tend to turn to fat in an older one. The best way to judge their weight is by sight - do they look fat? It's better to prevent the rats from becoming obese than to try to diet them after it has happened, as overweight rats are less active and therefore find it harder to lose weight.
