Rats chew paper constantly, but they rarely eat it for nutrition. Paper serves two practical purposes for rats: it’s ideal nesting material, and gnawing on it helps wear down their teeth, which never stop growing. Whether you’re dealing with wild rats destroying documents in your attic or wondering what’s safe to give a pet rat, understanding why rats shred paper helps you respond the right way.
Why Rats Chew Paper
Rats have a strong, instinctive drive to build nests, and paper is one of their favorite construction materials. They shred it into strips and pieces, then gather it into loose nests tucked into warm, hidden spaces. Wild rats will target cardboard boxes, stacked newspapers, paper towels, insulation, and fabric with equal enthusiasm. They aren’t picky. Anything soft and shreddable works.
The second reason is dental maintenance. Rat incisors grow continuously throughout their lives, so they need to gnaw on hard and semi-hard materials to file them down. Paper, cardboard, and wood all serve this purpose. A rat that can’t gnaw regularly risks overgrown teeth that interfere with eating, so the chewing behavior is deeply hardwired. You’ll notice rats don’t just nibble the edges of paper. They work through it aggressively, leaving behind torn fragments and rough edges that look unmistakably different from insect damage.
Do They Actually Swallow It?
Rats may swallow small amounts of paper while chewing, but paper has no caloric or nutritional value for them. Their digestive systems can’t break down cellulose the way termites or some herbivores can. When a rat shreds a stack of documents or a cardboard box, the vast majority of the material ends up in a nest or scattered across the floor. They’re processing it mechanically, not consuming it as food.
That said, rats are opportunistic. If paper has food residue on it, such as a greasy pizza box, a food-stained paper bag, or a wrapper with crumbs, they’ll chew through it to reach whatever’s edible. The paper itself is just an obstacle between the rat and a meal.
Signs of Rat Damage to Paper
Shredded paper is one of the most recognizable signs of a rat infestation inside a building. If you find loose piles of torn paper, fabric scraps, or insulation in hidden areas, you’re likely looking at a nest. Common nesting locations include attics and lofts (especially favored by roof rats), basements and crawl spaces (preferred by Norway rats), wall cavities, spaces behind refrigerators and ovens, and areas near furnaces or water heaters where warmth is available.
Rats are cautious by nature and prefer to nest as close to their food source as possible. A nest made of shredded paper behind your kitchen appliances usually means the rat is feeding somewhere in the same room. Look for droppings, grease marks along walls, and gnaw marks on other surfaces to confirm the activity.
Protecting Paper and Documents
Cardboard boxes offer almost no resistance to rats. If you’re storing important documents, photos, or books in a garage, attic, or basement, switching to hard plastic bins with tight-fitting lids is the single most effective step. Rats can chew through thin plastic, so choose sturdy containers. Metal filing cabinets and storage trunks work even better for irreplaceable items.
Reducing clutter matters too. Stacked cardboard boxes in a warm, quiet corner are an open invitation. Rats are drawn to undisturbed spaces with plenty of material to shred, so keeping storage areas clean and well-organized removes both nesting material and hiding spots. Sealing entry points into the building, particularly gaps larger than a quarter inch around pipes, vents, and foundations, addresses the root problem.
Safe Paper for Pet Rats
If you keep pet rats, giving them paper to shred is actually a great form of enrichment. Rats enjoy tearing apart nesting materials and arranging them, and providing paper lets them express natural behavior. The RSPCA recommends shredded paper, paper strips, and plain white tissue paper as suitable nesting materials. Many rat owners find that their pets actively prefer shredding the tissue themselves rather than receiving pre-shredded pieces.
Not all paper is equally safe, though. Carbon paper and carbonless copy paper (the kind used for duplicate forms) contain chemicals that are best avoided. Newspaper can be problematic depending on the ink. Some newspapers use soy-based inks, which are relatively safe, while others use petroleum-based inks that can be toxic. Petroleum-based ink also rubs off easily and will stain your rat’s coat. If you’re unsure what ink your local paper uses, plain unprinted paper or white tissue is the safer choice.
Avoid cotton wool, fluffy bedding products, or anything that separates into thin strands. These can wrap around limbs or be ingested in ways that cause blockages. Hay and plain paper remain the simplest, safest options for nesting material in a pet rat’s enclosure.