Causes of Black Feces in Bamboo Rats and Prevention and Treatment Methods

You should stop feeding or reduce the amount of concentrated feed, feed more bamboo, or mix rice and rice bran evenly and feed that, or feed cooked foods such as pumpkin, sweet potato, and carrot. Normal bamboo rat feces are very full and large-grained, and take on a greenish color because they eat bamboo. If it is small, dry black feces, it may be constipation; if it is small and still wet black feces, it may be the early stage of enteritis, and it can be handled according to the methods above.

1. Distribution Range of Bamboo Rats

Bamboo rats inhabit the tropical and subtropical forests, shrublands, and bamboo forests of eastern Africa and southern Asia. In China they have already been farmed on a large scale and have become one of the farming industries with economic benefits.

The bamboo rat has a stout body shape resembling a zokor, with an adult body length of about 30-40 cm and a body weight of 2-4 kg. Body color varies with age, from dark to light; the fur color of juveniles is darker than that of adults, and the whole body is dark grayish black, while the back fur color of adults is brownish gray and has many white-tipped needle hairs.

2. Living Habits of Bamboo Rats

Bamboo rats like to inhabit bamboo forests, masson pine forests, and the grass beneath sunny slopes in mountainous areas, living underground and dwelling in burrows; they are more active at night and eat little and sleep much during the day. They feed on bamboo, silvergrass, plant stems, and so on, with bamboo being the best feed; they have no habit of drinking water, and most of their moisture is taken in from food. They are docile in temperament, with males and females inseparable; they have strong stress resistance and have the habit of killing each other and killing invading enemies; female bamboo rats have a strong protective instinct for their young, often hiding the young under their belly, and can nurse them automatically.