What Animals Eat Rice? 14 Rice Eating Animals!

Last updated on November 26th, 2022

What animals eat rice? This is the question on everyone’s mind.

Did you know that several animals love to feed on rice just as much as us? While most humans can be segregated into categories of taking interest in different cuisines and specific types of macronutrients, per se, some love proteins.

In contrast, others love a hefty dose of carbohydrates. Animals, too, are quite picky when it comes to their food habits. Even though it might sound amusing, there are quite a number of animals that love to feed on rice.

Animals that eat rice:

• Cats
• Pigeons
• Ducks
• Blue Jays
• Pigs
• Grackles
• Parrots
• Chickens
• Finches
• Doves
• Deer
• Rats
• Ants
• Cockroaches

More often than not, you will find a specific animal species having an affinity towards other types of food. Here is a comprehensive list of animals that delve into the pleasure of eating rice.

List of animals that eat rice:

1. Cats

Although rice doesn’t have any considerable food value regarding a cat’s dietary needs, it doesn’t hurt to include a little portion of rice in a cat’s meal.

It also helps to bulk out the quantity of a meal. But, of course, we mean cooked rice here – raw rice may cause constipation or diarrhea.

Rice is especially recommended when these felines suffer from these illnesses. While brown rice is far better because it is rich in fiber, it doesn’t hurt to serve small quantities of white rice either. However, make sure to give them only small quantities of rice.

2. Pigeons

Whether cooked or uncooked, rice doesn’t hurt pigeons in any way; we hear quite often that when a pigeon eats raw rice, the rice swells in the belly and then makes the stomach explode. This is fiction since the stomach of a pigeon would not be able to ‘cook’ the rice.

Otherwise, we would have pigeons exploding every now and then, don’t you think? Offer them some rice, and they will either eat it or, more often than not, they will choose watermelon if they are given this to feed on.

3. Ducks

Ducks just love to eat rice – both cooked and uncooked and It is good to let them eat rice as it is quite inexpensive and is rather healthy for them.

Rice has many antioxidants, vitamins, and proteins that are essential for ducks. Also, the high content of fiber in rice helps with their digestion.

Brown rice is more nutritious than white rice, but wild rice is the most nutritious. It is the most natural variety available too. So go ahead and let those ducks have some rice.

4. Blue Jays

Blue Jays just love to have raw, uncooked rice regularly. Add to that some sunflower seeds, and peanuts, and they will whistle away to let you know how happy they are, more so if you have installed a birdbath close by.

If you wish to make dining more enjoyable for them, make sure to install a tray feeder or a hopper feeder onto a post.

They detest eating from hanging feeders. Also, add an odd acorn here and there in those feeders.

5. Pigs

Pigs can digest both raw and cooked grains of most types, and rice is no exception. Pigs thrive on a diet of natural, wholesome food.

However, cooked rice seems to be a better option when feeding pigs. Also, please understand that I am talking about feeding piglets post-weaning period, not the adult ones.

The adults can be fed rice, but they already get a plethora of dietary options. On the other hand, piglets need to be given special care as they don’t get all the nutrition from their mothers.

6. Grackles

Summers provide grackles with various beetles, bugs, crustaceans, and even small rodents to feed on, which make up for more than a quarter of their diet.

However, while summers may be a time of daily treats for grackles, a substantial portion of their diet consists of various seeds, fruits under cultivation, and even garbage.

The regular delicacy is always seeds and grains in their diet, and rice and corn make up for their major diet. They just love to have corn and rice as their primary staples.

7. Parrots

Parrots include a variety of delicacies across their platter. Almost all parrots have a diet containing insects, nuts, fruits, buds, flowers, and more.

However, they just love seeds of all sorts, and since they have an appetite for grains, rest assured knowing that rice is a grain they won’t miss for the world.

Ask a parrot, and it will confirm what I am saying, although my Paulie seems to always be wanting a cracker.

Anywho, try giving them some rice and nutshells, and you will be amused to see how they eat the rice and crack open the hardest shells to get to the nuts inside.

8. Chickens

Chickens just love grains and seeds. And rice is something they simply love, whether cooked or raw.

Raw rice, cooked rice, brown rice, white rice, wild rice, short-grain rice, long-grain rice – any rice will do.

They just enjoy eating rice however they are served. They just keep clucking and cooing while pecking and eating the rice just to show how much they are enjoying it.

So give them a whole world of other food to add to their diet, but make sure it is a mixture of chicken feed – and rice in any form.

9. Finches

Ever seen those lovely small, yellow birds? The ones with a black spot around their eyes and lower wings, and with an orange beak? Those are finches. They feed on a variety of plant seeds including the seeds from pine cones.

But, of course, they eat a lot of other stuff too. However, they also love to eat grains, and rice is one of their favorites. 

10. Doves

Like pigeons, doves love eating insects, earthworms, seeds, fruits, and grains like rice. Doves love rice so much that they can even be a pest to folks harvesting rice on plantations.

They can eat rice all day. Rice is like a staple for them. However, rice can only be part of a dove’s diet and should not comprise the entirety of their meals.

Although they prefer to eat raw, uncooked rice, they aren’t opposed to some cooked rice once in a while, especially with leftovers from your dinner last night. They will even express their delight through their soft, sweet cooing.

11. Deer

A deer can be fed rice as part of their regular diet, but not as a sole source of nutrition.

For the deer that are in a zoo or reservation, their consumption of rice needs to be monitored because it’s high in carbohydrates, and deer in captivity have limited movements.

But when it comes to fawns, they shouldn’t be given rice because you will be depriving the baby deer of the necessary nutrition, which can be detrimental to the growth of a fawn.

We wrote an entire article on this subject matter and you can read more about it here – Do deer eat rice?

12. Rats

You will find that rats are able to consume both white and brown rice equally well even though they cannot distinguish between them.

But when it comes to cooked or uncooked rice, your pet rats won’t mind if you feed them either raw rice grains or boiled ones.

We covered more on this topic of rats eating rice and you can read more about it here – Do rats eat rice?

13. Ants

Ants are known to eat both cooked and raw rice. Leaving a bowl of boiled rice unattended and having an ant infestation in your home increases the odds of ants eating it as well.

In order to repel ants or keep them away from your rice, here is what you can do.

For example, if you store the rice in open sacks, add a few bay leaves to the sack. The smell of the leaves acts as a deterrent for ants.

Interested in learning more about ants eating rice? Check out that article for more information

14. Cockroaches

Cockroaches are one of the insects that will snack on rice if they are presented with the opportunity to do so.

Cockroaches will eat anything starchy, and rice grains contain a high amount of starch.

Additionally, an open bowl of uncooked rice will naturally attract more cockroaches.

Interested in learning more about cockroaches eating rice? Check out this article we wrote on the topic for more information.