My rat only eats organic apples?!
Question:
My rat only eats organic apples?
Can my pet rat tell the difference between an organic apple and one sprayed with pesticides? By the way I've tried both organic and inorganic apples of all types: fuji, red delicious, etc. He'll only eat the organic ones. Has anyone else heard of this?
Answers:
Rats are intelligent omnivores that have the same eating patterns as humans. They only eat "trash" that we throw out as edible food but otherwise seek the same types of things our ancestors would have when trying to feed ourselves.
They look for food that is nutritious which is also not poisonous. This is why poisoning rats is hard: they eat only very tiny amounts of something they haven't seen before and will only eat more if they don't suffer any ill effects.
Given that it can be proven through chemical assay that conventionally grown produce contains less nutrition than organically grown produce, it is possible that the rat can tell.
Also, try putting white flour down near an ant hill. Ants won't eat it because they can tell that it is a horrible food source.
Nutrition is about more than calories.