Hi. My ferrets have no interest in eating the rice, and part of why we chose it (we thought of it ourselves and then found references to rice boxes online) was b/c it was said that the uncooked rice cannot hurt them if they do eat it. I am no vet, though, and I have no scientific data to back that up, but I read it in a few places, and my ferts really have had NO interest in trying to eat it-they see it as just for digging and playing. Hope this helps! -April [Posted in FML issue 3385]