# Apple skin?



## Rat-1- (Jul 22, 2012)

When my rats eat apples they leave the skin on it. Is this because they think it's bad for them or do they just not like it? Is appleskin bad for them?


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## JessyGene (Feb 27, 2012)

mine do the same thing too, and I was wondering why myself. I think they might just be picky, but maybe they can smell something bad on it, i dunno


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

Some apple skins can be a tad bitter, which rats don't tend to like. Also, a lot of apples bought from the store are coated with a thin layer of wax for shine, which rats generally don't want to eat.

It's not a big deal, but hopefully that helps to explain it a bit.


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## Rat-1- (Jul 22, 2012)

Thanks for the answers


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Mine also leave pea skins, peanut skins, husks and all sorts. I think the rats sense the low nutrient content and discard them as it would be a waste of energy to digest them, whereas larger animals (like us) don't have the dexterity and skill to easily remove these skins/husks so it's more efficient for us to just let i digestive system take care of them.


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## fluffpuffgerbil (May 6, 2012)

I had a nearly completely eaten apple I had finished in a paper towel behind me on my chair and Jarred caught hold of it, broke a chunk off and ate just the fruit, leaving the skin on it. Funny how it seems they all do that.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

When it comes to apples there used to be two apple trees on the burm of rt 280 in East Orange NJ... likely left over from when the highway was run through the city.. Or grown from seeds thrown by a passing car years ago... 

One was white flesh and slightly tart... a nice baking apple, the other had yellow flesh and was jucy and sweet... If you are old enough, there was most likely such a tree somewhere in your neighborhood, but you'll never find these kind of apples in the supermarket nowadays. 

The trees were about 25 ft apart, picking the first apple tree was pretty normal... the second however was overrun by yellow jacks and huge pack of wild rats... It was pretty easy to chase the rats into the tall grass and they would keep a respectful distance, the yellow jacks were another story.... From what I can tell, rats go for the sweeter apples by a factor of about 100 to 0.... Oddly enough, they didn't go after the apples still on the tree, they pretty much only ate what hit the ground, even though there sometimes were rats up in the tree. Obviously the apple trees weren't sprayed so we cut them up and juiced them. Rats have great taste, it was my favorite tree too, as to the skin, I was too busy picking and not getting bit by yellow jacks to pay that close attention to how the rats were eating their apples.


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