baby rats eating poo

[pscychopomp]

Last week I got 3 new babies, 2 boys and 1 unrelated girl. The girl is especially doing this, she just munches away like it's the best thing in the world :sick2: I thought it was only her doing it, but I just saw one of the boys do it. They've got plenty of food blocks and water...are they lacking nutrients or something?

 

[sausage4ever]

Nope they're fine!!! Rat are like bunnies and have functional ceca, therefore they produce special eatin' poos, that we often catch them chomping on.

 

[Rachael]

What diet do they get? Some of ours have had a gross habit of this too, I prefer to kiss their little heads or noses. And don't let them lick you....

 

[ryelle]

its called Coprophagia and is completely normal. You normally find it if they have been lacking in the proper nutrition that they need to re-digest their faeces to get as much out of a meal as they can. As Dee said above, they create a softer edible poop that they re-digest.

Where did these babies come from?

 

[LA]

Actually I think it's a 'coating' of sorts that is on the poo and thats why they eat it.

 

[jorats]

They are recycling their nutrients. Thank god we don't have to do that. :giggle:

 

[pscychopomp]

Ok, I have seen rats do it in the past but never seen my other current rats do it, so I thought maybe I need to be feeding them something else (they get Extrusion). I gave them some cottage cheese last night for protein.

 

[Rachael]

They are recycling their nutrients. Thank god we don't have to do that. :giggle:

:scolding:

 

[Cityratt]

Their cecum has functional hindgut fermentation capacity but limited ability for resorption - so essentially they can make nutrients but can absorb them across the ceacum wall (like we can absorb nutrients across our intestinal wall) so the only way they can benefit from the fermentation process is to eat their poop

 

[pscychopomp]

Are they always going to do this? Or will they grow out of it? I saw one of the boys poop then a minute later he was eating it. I picked him up to stop him and then took him out, but he smelled like it so I had to put him back :/

I just don't get why they are doing it when none of my others do, not when they were babies either.

 

[Argent]

It's perfectly normal - don't worry and don't stop them, they'll never learn not to. It seems gross to us, but it's a perfectly natural function and you probably just haven't witnessed your other boys doing it. I haven't really seen any of my guys do it, but I know they do.

 

[ashana]

I am with everyone else on this, as gross as it seems the rats do this for nutritional benefit and it is very normal.

 

[Moon]

Are they always going to do this? Or will they grow out of it? I saw one of the boys poop then a minute later he was eating it. I picked him up to stop him and then took him out, but he smelled like it so I had to put him back :/

I just don't get why they are doing it when none of my others do, not when they were babies either.

Most rats are just more stealthy about it, only chowing down when you're not watching I bet your other ones are doing it, you just don't know about it!