Scooping food out of bowl?? Why?

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kristunnn

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May 15, 2016
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Hi! So I have a pet rat named Mordecai. He LOOOOVES his food. So much that he hogs it and pushes his housemate, Louis, out of the way! (Must remember to get a second food bowl...)
But it just makes SUCH A MESS when he eats!

He is always scooping his food out of h
the bowl. Forever doing it. He scoops out a fair bit but will then refuse to eat it off the floor.
Can anyone tell me why he does this?
I will attach a video if i can find out how. Thank you :)
 
e2d7d4b3cb418c96a9bd3750fc36bc47.jpg
 
https://youtu.be/qm3Dz_8ak34

I put it on Youtube if anyone is curious :)

Also they eat from a bird food bowl as they flip their bowls over then refuse to eat it off the floor.. so it was wasting so much food! And this feeder golds much more too :)
 
It looks like you are feeding some kind of mix? So what he is probably doing is knocking out the less tasty parts and digging out his favorite parts to eat.
This is why it is important to feed a lab block type food and not a mix. Ratties get the full nutrients they need in a block, whereas they can miss out on different nutrients when they pick and choose what to eat in a mix.
 
What is a block? I've never heard of it.
I also feed them fresh corn on the cob, sunflower seeds, shelled peanuts, yughurt drops, apple and blueberries.
I am new to rats, I have only had them for about 2-3 weeks so I am still getting used to diets, behaviour etc :)
 
A lab block is rat food that is similar in style to dog / cat kibble. Most rat owners feed Oxbow Regal Rat or Harlan Teklad. If you Google those you can see what I mean. :)
Where are you from? Some countries it is harder to find good rat food.
Lab blocks are good for rats because they are specially formulated to be healthy and provide the right amount of carbs/fat/protein/vitamins etc. It's good you feed fresh food too, you should definitely still do that! The general rule of thumb is 80% of their diet is a lab block and 20% is fresh fruits and veggies. :)

Here's a good list for safe fresh food ideas too
http://www.rattieratz.com/rat-care-information/safe-foods-for-rats-list/
 
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Oh right! Thanks for that :)
I'm from Australia, I've looked in all my local pet and fet food shops and have only seen the loose mix foods.
I'll have a look around and ship some in if I can't find any locally!
Thanks for the info! :)
 
One of our rescues does that with his oatmeal.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3p77EHEgqM[/ame]

I'd like to know why too. Maybe he figured out he's in a free country and can do as he pleases:wink:
 
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