Rats eat a variety of food. They have an insatiable appetite and eat almost everything. They feed on all sorts of garbage, but for the most part they prefer grain, fodder and meat. It is also known that rats eat soap, skin, furs, sweets, milk, meat, vegetables, game, eggs, corn, seeds, fruits, nuts, snails, and other rodents. A rat can eat food in a volume of one-third of its weight per day. Most rats consume water and can not do without it for a long time. Rats need about 30 grams of water a day.
The two main types of rats – rat barns and black rats – eat the same way. But there is a slight difference in their preferences. Amber, or red rats, eat almost any food, but still they prefer high-quality food, for example: meat or fresh grain. These rats also require 30 grams of water per day if they feed on dry food. They have very developed feelings such as: taste, hearing and smell.
Black rats generally prefer vegetables, fruits and grains. They are reluctant to take meat or fish. They prefer cereals, apples, sweet potatoes, melons, plums, pineapples, cookies, donuts, chocolate sweets, peanut butter and tomatoes. They also consume about 30 grams of water a day.
With regard to food, the rat is little better than mice. In contrast to mice, which bite off a little at a time, rats eat more food at a time. Like mice, rats can live in freezers, and they love to eat frozen food.
Rats absorb food by gnawing. Their chewing abilities allow them to chew or gnaw out almost everything. They gnaw on everything that is softer than their teeth. They gnaw paper, cloth, wood, plastics, water pipes, electrical wires, and other building materials. Their habit of gnawing can cause great damage to humanity, for example: fires, lack of energy and floods.
