well, I guess this explains why I couldn't find that eraser.

[ratcreature]

It was mostly eaten by the furry menaces cohabiting with me. I either must have dropped it, or they made away with it when I didn't look. I found the stubby remnant (less than a fourth of it's original size) below a shelf today. It's a wonder rats don't all die from bowel obstruction and the like considering that they insist on gobbling up inedible stuff. Well, in practice rubber seems mostly harmless for them, they chew it up in small pieces and those aren't sharp or anything, so unlikely to injure. But still. I give them plenty of tasty stuff, why did they have to eat my eraser? It was one that I quite liked because it worked well too. *sigh*

Comments

[nacbrie]

Oh, dear. My previous rat managed to chew through the cabling of about ten different appliances (without harm!), and the current lot have destroyed a couple of towels and sofa cushions ... but they're so cute, you can't even be annoyed at them for very long.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, I'm very familiar with the damage their teeth do. Mine have destroyed many cables as well. Among them that of my DVD player (unfortunately sort of fixed to it on the one end, so not easily replaced), though at least they let the cables that are going to the outlets mostly alone (my building is old and the electricity connections haven't been put beneath plaster). I've finally found a decent and affordable cable protection which is a tubing intended to bundle a cable mess from IKEA. Cheap, and it takes them a while to chew through it.

They also destroyed the USB cable of my tablet, which is so thing that it basically only takes two bites for them to get through the insulation and sever it. I have temporarily fixed it with tape, but the tablet never has been the same. (On the bright side I probably wouldn't have tried acrylics if they hadn't eaten my means for digital coloring.) Several earbud headphones were a total loss as the cable of those are so thin that it takes a rat only one curious bite to sever.

Prior rats ruined one feather duvet when I wasn't careful about putting it away. (It's now synthetic cushions and blankets, which cope much better with chewing damage, as they don't spill feathers everywhere with a tiny hole.)

Previous ones also chewed on rare signed (with art!) comic editions when my rat proofing turned out to be not so rat proof.

My carpet has been chewed on as has most furniture... so in the grand scheme the eraser is very minor damage. (I think people who can't cope with damage to stuff shouldn't live with animals, I mean my siblings cats and dogs certainly did enough damage with their claws and teeth as well, and at least rats' peeing is constant rather than them taking revenge on you.)

[trewestriandta.livejournal.com]

I've discovered a similar confusing habit of my kitten. Despite thoroughly enjoying good food, and often. He is constantly trying to eat things that make NO SENSE. Pens, lighters, cardboard, my fingers...... I think it might be a small animal thing, or a young animal thing or most likely, a small, young animal thing.

[ratcreature]

Well, I think rats like rubber and insulation and such in particular because the plastic softeners make it taste sweet, and as rodents they have a strong urge pretty much all their life to chew on everything anyway, because their teeth otherwise would grow too long. I just frequently wish they would stick to the chew toys I installed everywhere in and outside the cage. But in the end you have about as much chance to stop a rat from exploring with its teeth than you have to stop a toddler in the oral exploration phase to stick every random disgusting thing in their mouths.

[droolfangrrl.livejournal.com]

With rats isn't it more a case of what they won't/ can't eat?

[ratcreature]

Yeah. With actual food they're omnivores just like humans (that's why my pets' wild cousins like to make away with our food so much after all), and all inedible things are at least good to hone the teeth on.

There are a couple of things that are not good for rats, like some rat books say certain kinds of avocado are actually toxic for rats, and they should not be fed things that lead to gas (cabbage, legumes) though they are not as susceptible as rabbits to colic, and large amounts of stone fruits are bad for the cyanide traces (as they are so much smaller than human, the obviously get to toxic dosages much quicker), but otherwise all the dietary advice is more for their health just like human diet advice is (don't feed them refined sugar or too much fat, too high protein diet may be bad for their kidneys etc. etc.) not rules that you have to follow or it will drop dead.