Natural Diet of Rodents
Rodents are a very wide category, incorporating a variety of species around the globe. Rats, mice, squirrels are some of the most common animals belonging to this category. These rodents are quite a survivor, withstanding severe conditions and surviving extreme weathers. They are omnivorous animals, meaning they can eat about anything they can find.
They are not picky but devour anything they need to survive. That’s why you often find lurking around in garbage cans and heaps of dump. The things they love to eat starting from fruits, vegetables and go up to meat. They even can hunt smaller animals like insects, but rodents like raccoons can even go for snakes, frogs or fish.
Fruits and vegetables
One of the most common things that rodents eat in a wild environment is fruits and vegetables. They love to eat fruits like berries fallen from trees, and they can even eat old or decomposed fruits and vegetables. They can even climb up trees in search of fruits and can go even search around human trash. That’s where most of the human counters occur for them. When the fruits are in abundance, they don’t have to go searching anywhere else.
Plants
Probably the most abundant source of food they will find in a natural setting are twigs, grass, leaves, seeds or barks of trees. Rodents consume plants regularly, and they even eat dead plants. Leaves fell from trees, seeds, twigs, and grass they can consume just about anything. That’s what makes them such a survivor. Squirrels and Porcupines eat cons and nuts too.
Meat
Some rodents like to eat meat. While only a few rodents can hunt for themselves, most of them are opportunist creatures. Dead animals or carcasses of animals are a great source of food for them. They will go around searching rotten or thrown meat in the human trash. They are often around scavenging dead animals left behind from roadkill. They would pounce on the opportunity to consume any meat available.
Waste and scraps
In a natural setting, these rodents would eat the food left behind by other animals. Food left by predators in the form of meat is luxurious to them. They often feed on the food of domestic animals like dogs, cats or birds. Dairy products like cheese, milk, butter, and bread are a favorite food for rodents. That’s why in a domestic setting, you will mostly find them in your kitchen. They are attracted to sugar and salt and will often target clothes having that salt ingredient in them.
Seeds or nuts
Seeds of plants are a great source of food for them. Rodents like squirrels love nuts and will rely on them as a primary source of food. But other rodents like rats, mice or porcupines also consume them whenever they have the chance to.
Hunting
Large rodents like raccoons can hunt larger animals like fish, frogs, and snakes. But small rodents like rats and mice are also capable of hunting insects like cockroaches, grasshoppers, etc. But mostly do it as a last resort for survival.
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