Thursday, July 30, 2009

Is it toxic to rats?

Is the paint or wood on a pencil toxic to rats? She didn't get to the lead but she chewed on the wood which contains the yellow pencil paint. I shouldn't have to worry should I?
Answers:
Considering the amount of people that chew on their pencils, yet alone handle them daily, I think that the companies that make them would probably avoid using toxic chemicals to paint them. Don't worry, our ratties have gotten into way worse and are still running around being their little mischievous selves. =P
i think that she will be fine... rodents are pretty smart when it comes to things that they can eat... that's why the rat bait traps must use a slow kill poison... if a rodents eats and then immediately dies the other rodents will not eat it... that's pretty smart.. you can call the pet store to be on the safe side but she will be fine give her a little water and a stone(large) to gnaw her teeth on
The pencil paint probably is toxic to some degree. Obviously, you shouldn't on it. The wood isn't going to bother her at all. You actually might want to get her some wood chew toys if she's willing to chew it.

There reallny isnt an reason for you to worry
My rats have chewed on pencils before and been fine, rats are usually smart enough not to eat stuff that's really bad for them. And the "lead" is actually graphite, so its not that big a deal either.
For the little bit that she chewed she will be perfectly fine. You wouldn't believe the things that I've heard of what other people's rats have consumed and survived without incident.
Taste testing behavior in rats:
http://www.ratbehavior.org/rattaste.htm...
I even doubt that she would have consumed any of the pencil as it is not food, and she just gnawed on it. Rats gnaw on most anything they can get their teeth around. Rats have muscular flaps situated on either side of the jaw. They fold across just behind the front teeth, forming a plug and prevents the rat from swallowing what it is chewing on.
Explanation of that gnawing behavior:
http://www.ratbehavior.org/teeth.htm...
spazrats
"my life has gone to the rats"
it's not actually led in the pencil it's graphite. a little bit of the paint shouldn't hurt her.

3 comments:

  1. A rat gas invaded my home; I had some dcon and put it with a little piece of watermelon to lure it and rat are all and it didn't die; what could have hapoened?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A rat has invaded my home; I had some dcon and put it with a little piece of watermelon to lure it and rat ate all and it didn't die; what could have happened?

    ReplyDelete