Don't eat that

i have a rat that was too small when i got it from the store about a month ago, so i kept her in a tank until she was ready to feed off! well she's a pet now, i can't feed her off

anyway i heard they eat their own poop, but i didn't know how true it was. I just seen it with my own eyes, she's eating her own stuff. is there anyway to prevent this, or is this what they do?

I can't say I've ever heard that or observed it with my rats colony. I know naked mole rats are known for doing that but they are so much unlike rats (or even true mammals) that really doesn't apply.

What do you feed this rat and how often?

Rats and guinea pigs DO eat their own poop. This will sound weird, but they produce two different "types". They will eat poop that has travelled through the digestive system once, to gain all the "beneficial vitamins" possible. Some people call them "vita-poos". On the second go-around, they seem to know which ones to eat and which ones have been "used" already. Very strange, I know. There's a term for it, coprophagia.

As for what to feed it, they have a prepared food at PetSmart or wherever you usually shop for pet food.

Thats interesting. We had several breeding groups of rats and I never observed them doing that.
They had a varied diet from the normal rat feed to veggies and even some of normal human food as an occasional treat.

I'm using the mix that Becky posted a while back........and she has a full bowl of it all times. It's weird, and she digs for the ones on the bottom, i have seen her do it twice! Only thing that stops her is if i rattle the cheerios box......then she comes running to grab one of those

LOL its funny how smart they are. We had a little female Houdini. No matter what I put her in she would figure a way out. But as soon as I walked into the rodent room and called her she would come running out and climb up to my shoulder.

The only thing that kept her in was when she had babies or was about to have them. Then she would stay until they were weaned.

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I'm using the mix that Becky posted a while back........and she has a full bowl of it all times. It's weird, and she digs for the ones on the bottom

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We had that problem for a while when we were feeding mixed food. They would eat what they wanted and throw the rest out of the bowl. So we switched to the feed blocks mixed in with the other stuff I posted.

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Originally Posted by ffollett

We had that problem for a while when we were feeding mixed food. They would eat what they wanted and throw the rest out of the bowl. So we switched to the feed blocks mixed in with the other stuff I posted.

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theres mazuri blocks in there as well............and she eats almost everything in the bowl, i throw everything out every 3 days then i fill it up again

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Originally Posted by amystours

Rats and guinea pigs DO eat their own poop. This will sound weird, but they produce two different "types". They will eat poop that has travelled through the digestive system once, to gain all the "beneficial vitamins" possible. Some people call them "vita-poos". On the second go-around, they seem to know which ones to eat and which ones have been "used" already. Very strange, I know. There's a term for it, coprophagia.

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Rabbits do it also.

Just found this...............it's normal

this is from the Rat Care Guide that was posted on this site


http://ratguide.com/care/behavior/coprophagy.php

Yup, when I have some away from the colony for quarantine, you can see them nibblin on some poo. They create 2 different kinds of poo just like guinea pigs and rabbits. Gross, but they like it. :)

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Originally Posted by reediculous

Just found this...............it's normal

this is from the Rat Care Guide that was posted on this site


http://ratguide.com/care/behavior/coprophagy.php

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Cool link. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Yup, when I have some away from the colony for quarantine, you can see them nibblin on some poo. They create 2 different kinds of poo just like guinea pigs and rabbits. Gross, but they like it. :)

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i ran out of coco puffs.........i might jump in the cage and grab a couple! :confused:

I still think it's neat how they can tell the difference between "vitapoos" and "regular poos".

Isn't it amazing the conversation that can be struck up over something eating their own poop. lol

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Originally Posted by reediculous

i ran out of coco puffs.........i might jump in the cage and grab a couple! :confused:

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something tells me that the milk wouldn't taste as good.