Heyo! Ive been on this sub for a few months and finally got my sweethearts today! I felt like I did all my research well but when I got to the store they were telling me in importantance of these salt licks? I am finding very contradictory information about them so I was wondering what you internet friends do? Do you use them? Do your rats like them? Thanks in advance ❤️
If you look at food grown in nature, there is generally enough in the way of minerals (with exceptions like iodine in iodine-deficient regions). Remote hunter-gatherer tribes survive just fine without salt because their food contains enough sodium.
So why do animals seek out salt licks? Do they, like humans, just like the intensity of flavor brought on by salt? Or do they actually need those minerals because their diet is deficient or they're not as good at preserving salt in the body as humans?
Some rocks, minerals and crystals contain lead, arsenic, mercury, radioactive minerals and other toxic compounds that could poison you and make you very ill or even cause death if consumed. Taste is also not a necessary or helpful in metric in identifying your specimen.
Metrics used for at home identification of rocks, crystals are physical appearence such as color, opacity, luster and crystal system, and physical properties such as hardness, streak, cleavage, fracture, magnetism and sometimes density when appropriate. If you suspect it could be radioactive them a GM counter can determine that.
Locality, knowing where the specimen came from, also helps, as well as any known minerals associated with it.
You can also send a specimen out to be analyzed using XRD or microprobe.
I managed to confuse fluorite with halite in my lab today, so hopefully i won't die (it doesn't seem to be soluble in water so i should be fine).
I know they aren't necessary to a rabbits diet and buns generally are good about regulating their salt intake, but seeing him lick this giant Himalayan salt chunk I got him for christmas (he really really loves licking these things) got me a little concerned. Honestly he licks anything and everything so he's just a concerning creature in general.
He has a normal, recommended diet consisting of pellets, an assortment of veggies, and hay as well as a daily multivitamin.
I have no idea where would be the best sub reddit to post this other than here. If there is anywhere better please let me know.
As in the title, I would like to know the form minerals are found in at natural wildlife mineral licks. Carbonate or citrate etc
