[Carpenters4522]

Is it normal for rats to eat their bedding? I mean I know females nest but this not a female who's moving or eating bedding. Pop is a male, 4-5 inches long from nose to butt, and he's been eating bedding lately? Should I be worried about him? I've only had him and his brother since Thursday. I've never had any other rodent/small animal actually eat their bedding.

 

[Carpenters4522]

can anyone estimate about how old he is for me also? I'm not really sure how old any of my rats are. Their lengths not counting their tales are 5 inches (Rob), 4 1/2 inches (Pop) about 3 inches (Missy and Spot) and 1 1/2 inches (Dot)

 

[Carpenters4522]

I think they're Fancys but I'm not 100% sure I'm new to keeping rats.

 

[Vladina]

Hmmm, I have never heard of rats eating their bedding, if you are referring to the loose bedding like Carefresh or similar? What kind of bedding are you referring to?

I am not sure how old they might be based on the size you gave, but there are others on the forum who might be more knowledgeable about estimating age.

Fancy rat is just a term for domesticated pet rats, basically. So all pet rats that are not wild are essentially "fancy" rats.

 

[Carpenters4522]

We use white carefresh so its easy to spot clean daily

 

[Vladina]

Okay, so you use white carefresh (which is great because it is less dusty than regular Carefresh, so that is at least good).

So my next question would be, are you sure he is actually eating the carefresh or could it just look like he is eating it, but he is shredding it with his teeth? Just wondering, because this reminds me of when I used to have gerbils and a new gerbil owner on the forum thought that her gerbils were "eating" their toilet paper rolls but of course it just looks like that, but gerbils like to shred them and chew up the paper rolls, but they do not actually eat it, even though it appears that way.

Is it possible he is just shredding the bits of Carefresh up as part of his chewing behavior?

 

[Carpenters4522]

Now that i think about it, he could very Well just be Zeitung it up since the Inka other thing he has to tear up is a Ball and his house. My gerbil passed away roughly 3 years ago at about 2 years old. I forgot how gerbils do that.

 

[Carpenters4522]

Zeitung is supposed to be tearing, phone somehow accidently switched to french.

 

[Carpenters4522]

And inka should be only...

 

[Vladina]

Ah, yes, then he is probably looking for things to shred and to use his teeth on. Animals from the rodent family like rats and gerbils have to have things to chew on all the time as it is an instinctive way to keep their front incisor teeth worn down, so they don't get overgrown, as their incisor teeth constantly grow throughout their life.

Some wood chew blocks/toys from pet stores or online pet stores are inexpensive and great for chew toys for your furry kids.

And of course you also have things like paper towel and toilet paper rolls that your ratties might like to chew on also. My own rats for some reason don't really care for chewing on cardboard rolls but many rats like it. My own rats have little wooden chew toys and blocks that they like to gnaw on.

 

[Carpenters4522]

Yeah, I've always left those available to my rodents in the past. My rats have one of those twig balls with the nuts in it and the tunnel that's made of alfalfa and hay. They normally chew that but apparently he needs something more, I'll be making a trip to the Pet store to get him some blocks soon.

 

[Vladina]

That sounds great, I am sure he will like gnawing on some blocks. You can always throw in a white paper towel or some paper napkins too, for him to shred. Rats love to add paper shreds to their sleeping boxes and nests.