Dangerous, Poisonous Foods Rats Should Never Eat
We all love to pamper our rats with delicious foods.
No matter what it is, they seem to rip it from our fingers, run off, and eat it as if it’s their last meal for a week!
Unfortunately, there are some foods rats should never have; and they might just be foods that you would have NEVER suspected would be dangerous for your ratties.
I am going to go into detail with just a few of these items, and I will list the rest.
Enjoy the video you find below if you do not feel like reading today!
Poppy Seeds
While we might love to eat poppy seeds on our sandwich buns, bagels, and muffins, they are actually very dangerous for pet rats. They can cause neurological (brain and nerve) damage in pet rats, and can be fatal.
Poppy seeds are in a lot of different foods that humans eat. While those foods would be considered safe for rats for the most part, we may forget about the poppy seeds that are on them. This was a wonderful poisonous item to bring to your attention because of this! It is almost always in our diets through garnishing. For example, you might make lemon poppyseed muffins for breakfast, then innocently feed leftover bits to your beloved ratties. This is a really bad idea, as these seeds can lead to neurological damage and even death in large amounts! You might find these seeds present in or on:
- Muffins
- Bagels
- Sandwich Buns
- Hotdog Buns
- Gourmet Salads
- Salad Dressings
- Specialty entrees from restaurants
Apple Seeds
While apples are safe for rats to eat, apple seeds are not. They contain a deadly chemical that is a derivative of Cyanide. This compound could kill rats in large quantities. Core apples before feeding them to rats. The seeds are toxic for rats, dogs, cats, humans, and many more.
Rats absolutely love apples, in all forms! Some of us have even tossed a whole apple into the cage and watched the fun ensue. However, the seeds of an apple can be excessively toxic. If your rat has gotten ahold of an apple seed, do not panic yet; he or she should be fine as long as it wasn’t many. You should core the apple before putting it into the ratties’ cage. The seeds contain a dangerous toxin similar to Cyanide (it’s actually a derivative of this toxic compound), and it will not be a good situation if a rat ingests too many of them.
Citrus Items (Oranges) are Dangerous for Male Rats
Male rats should not have oranges or other citrus fruits, oils, or juices due to d-limonene. This chemical compound causes proteins within the male rat’s kidneys, or renal system, to clump up into tumors. The prognosis becomes bleak when these noncancerous tumors develop.
D-Limonene is a naturally occurring chemical in the oils of citrus fruits. This chemical D-Limonene is only dangerous for male rats, as it causes tumors within their kidneys (renal tumors). The tumors are a result of the D-limonene reacting with a specific protein within the male’s renal system. Fortunately, this does not happen among female rats. However, you might want to steer clear of any and all citrus for all of your ratties.
Have Questions About What Foods are Dangerous for Rats?
If you still have questions, please leave us a comment and I will do my best to answer your questions. After all; if one person has a question, it is highly likely that someone else is also out in the world asking that very same question! There are most definitely more foods out there that are considered dangerous for rats. I wanted to give you all a quick overview of some of the most dangerous ones. Of course, preservatives and other chemicals in human food are not ideal for our pets; JUST LIKE THEY ARE NOT GOOD FOR HUMANS. However, rats do live fairly short lives, and it does not hurt to indulge them with the finer things in life from time to time. Chocolate lava cakes and margaritas are not good for us (and in some cases dangerous), but we still indulge in them; moderation is always key!