Eating the poops!

[Rodentist]

Oh my goodness, I know this is normal, but how many poops are too many poops? My newest, Arya, rescued and adopted about 6 weeks ago, *really* like to eat her poops...and the poops of others, she is not fussy. Every poop I've seen has bite marks on it.

She is my first girl....my other 7 have been boys and they didn't/don't eat that many....

I feel a wee odd obsessing about this but is there some sort of vitamin she needs that I should supply? I do give her ferret-vite, but I suspect...*sigh* she might just enjoy them.

Thanks!

 

[jorats]

Unless she's underweight, there's no need for ferretvite. In fact, it's way too high in protein for her. Give her lots of dark leafy greens and other veggies. She's recycling the vitamins when eating poops so there's something her body might not be getting. Is she on a good quality block? Only blocks contain all the proper amount of nutrients for rats.

 

[Rodentist]

She is getting Harlan-Teklad 2018 blocks with a plate of fruits and veggies for dinner, heavy on broccoli, spinach with maybe peas, grapes, bananas, pasta, soybeans....I thought I've covered all the bases...except the poops. That's BYO.

I usually save ferret-vite for the sick, recovering, the elderly who are refusing food, and bribing them from out of the inside of the couch....but I thought it was worth a shot.

 

[jorats]

She's definitely getting her full nutrients. Mmm... maybe she's one of those that enjoy snacking? :stupid:

 

[Cityratt]

maybe its a habit shes picked up from living with feeding conditions that didn't quite meet her needs?

or maybe shes from a super strain of rats that has hyperactive hind gut fermentation which is allowing her to obtain never-before seen amounts of VFA's which couldnt be absorbed across her large intestine wall.

ok. so im rambling and making stuff up with the last part.... :wink:

 

[Rodentist]

Oooo! I liked the second part, that sounded gooood! I'll use it if she eats her poops in front of company! But I would tend more toward the first part.

She was snake food who beat up a snake and was taken to the SPCA. She is a feisty thing...she steal blocks from the boys hands while they are eating them....and they don't seem to care.

Although she has the veggies, she really doesn't eat them like the boys do....maybe habit? Maybe in time she will learn to eat more broccoli and less poop. I'm looking in her house at her poo crumbs now. *sigh*

 

[papercrow]

I saw a show on Animal Planet that said if you add pineapple to a dogs food then it will taste bad to them on the other end! Maybe it's worth a shot?

 

[Vanessa]

Hey you!

I am going to hijack your thread to ask how little Milton is doing?

 

[trillium]

I know this may be impossible, but the only thought i had that might -- um -- shift her preferences a bit was this: IF you had enough time over a couple of days (like a long weekend) to really clean her out well and try to pick out poops quickly after they're "deposited", maybe it would break the habit down a bit?

I suppose if she's in with the other rats then that would be a huge task, but maybe using an easy to remove/switch bedding for a few days?

In case you end up inviting squeamish company over and were reaaallly desperate to make her stop.....

 

[Rodentist]

Heh....if only I had enough time....and no need for sleep.

Has anybody else ever read that bit from The Rat Lady about not cleaning all the poops out of the cage because they need them for nutrients...and thought to themselves...

"How is that even possible?! They just make more! And nothing loosens their little bowels up like a freshly cleaned cage! "

I'm really hoping that it was a habit she got into as a feeder, and then at the SPCA....eventually she will notice her Harlan Tekland lab blocks and bowl of fresh fruits and veggies and prefer that. To poop. Hopefully.

 

[Cityratt]

i know that in some coprophagic species they re-consume a specific form of their feces, like their night-time poops (or morning poops, cant remember which) for their nutrients and then the other one (be it morning or night) is their actually 'true waste' that they dont eat.

 

[dubchick]

i cant wait to go give our girls a big kiss :wink: lol
i never really noticed our girls eating their poopies.. never really realized they even did this.. or maybe deep down i did know and just kinda built an ignorant wall up to kinda "forget" about it lol... what you cant see, cant hurt you ... lol ...