[Indywroe]

So my rat is about 2... And I let him roam around my apartment and I've noticed some weird things he has been eating...

Some leaves had come into my apartment, about 10, and my rat ate them all! Not in one go but over a few days.

I give him cardboard to munch on but I noticed he has actually been eating it!!

Anyone else experienced like this? And yes I do feed him! (Not just cardboard and leaves)

 

[Malarz]

Well something that disturbed me was when they started eating tile glue which fell out from between floor tiles. I stopped the immediately. But leaves, and insects they eat often. And most recently they started to eat granule paper bedding in the cage. I have to admit it does look like food.

 

[sarah424]

The girls don't eat much that isn't food, don't chew much either. Can't really complain about that! They did chew up the rope I bought them, though....

 

[RePyper]

I had a major probably with Kari eating the paint off of my bedroom wall. I know she's also chewed up a candle, but idk if she actually ate it. And then she acts like the litter is food too, but I don't think I've seen her do more than tasting it. Haha.

 

[ksaxton]

I have a rat who actually eats wood, industrial glue, permanent marker tips, packing peanuts, and whatever else he can find. Another one is OBSESSED with tea bags and likes to take them out of the cup, rip it open and eat/play in the leaves

 

[Malarz]

Oh I forgot one thing. My rats seem too like plastic containers, especially cosmetics. They will chew through face cream tubes and such. Once I worked with cardboard and I have a tube of Superglue on the table. Niunia snatched it, and I had to dive on the floor to catch her. Luckily she did not puncture the tube, or that could end in a tragedy. So the lesson is not to keep dangerous chemical substances anywhere in even remote vicinity when rats are out!

 

[PawsandClaws]

My boys seem to want to test nibble anything they find on the floor. They especially enjoy rummaging in the little waste paper trash can we have in the bedroom so we always have to remember to empty it before letting them free range. It is usually pretty easy to notice when they have grabbed a hold of something they shouldn't since they suddenly dash off at the speed of light carrying something in their mouth. Luckily I have yet to see them eat something bad. We try to keep the floors pretty clean and move potentially dangerous things out of reach. When we see them run off with something, we usually offer a trade for something better - like a Gerber puff or a piece of chicken.

 

[Marz42]

Grizz eats aspen. I have no idea why, and I can't get her to stop. There are a billion other things to eat or chew on, and she has to eat the bedding like its popcorn...

 

[Isamurat]

I had one girl years ago who was actually scary. I was a teenage girl at the time and she had pretty much free range of my room whenever i was home from school, so you can imagine what she could get her paws on. Some of the highlights were;
Pencils
Pencil crayons (note this turned her poo to whatever colour she ate, very scary until i figured it out)
pencil sharpeners (mainly chewing the plastic rather than eating, but quite dangerous, i had to hide them out of the way)
Acrilic paint (i doubt its toxic but i did wash her mouth out)
cuddly toys
posters
soap (she loved body shop natural mandarine soap best lol)
bath pearls (she attacked these as they smelt nice but tasted bad so she was apparently angry at them)
any sweets she could het her paws on
my homework (i did successfully use the legitimate excuse my rat ate my homework on at least one occasion)
candles
chewing gum (this was bad as she started immediatly grooming into her fur, it took me ages to get it out of her teeth and fur)
my bean bag (RIP)
my duvet

and so on

I will say that despite this being far from ideal she was my longest lived girl to date, living 38 months at least.

 

[mimsy]

Whats with the soap? I just naturally keep soap away from my rats. But I recall my first rats, years ago would always eat soap if given the opportunity. They didnt' even mind baths and would just try and lick the soap. It was the bar type soaps they loved. I've had ferrets that also loved bar soap.