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RattieRatter

New Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2019
Messages
2
Location
oregon, united states, Earth
Idk really where to put this. I thought this is the best spot. But my quetion is, whenever im not holding my rats, they just sit on top of their food hopper and stare at me begging me to get them out. What im pondering is... is there anyway to give them somthing to do? I put alfalfa hey(dust free) in their hopper for them to build a nest. But they still seem board. Any ideas?
 
Rats need lots of enrichment toys in their cage. They may be really bored. I'd remove the alfalfa hay, and just give a little bit of Timothy hay. But as far as bedding ideas to make a nest, try paper towels, strips of fleece, and even bits of toilet paper left on rolls for them. Cat toys, empty boxes of various sizes, stuffed with crumpled, or shredded paper, baby toys.....they will play with almost anything. If it's baby safe, it usually rat safe.
 
One of the things our rats enjoy most is a full box of Kleenex (plastic bit removed, of course). They nest with the tissues and chew on/sleep in/play with the box.
 
When giving them Kleenex, make sure it isn't the lotion kind.

There are also a lot of DIY toys you can make for them as well. Shadow the rat on Youtube has some cool DIY videos too.
 
We just use a generic two-ply with no lotion. (Kleenex with lotion feels kind of horrible. It would make an awful nest.)

Plain white tissue paper is also a welcome treat. Ours have a ball carrying squares of it from the bed into their house. They can spend the better part of an hour doing that. For something like a buck at the dollar store, it is an excellent investment in rat entertainment. They also enjoy stuffing tissue paper under my husband’s pillow in order to keep his nest warm. (He is BigRat to them. I think I might be FoodRat.)

One of our girls, Elsa, loves playing tug of war. I had wrapped a dingle-ball in fabric and tied a length of yarn to it so I could drag it around for them; Elsa decided that she preferred the string, and has great fun pulling the string away from me so I’m left holding the ball.
 
Haha! That's awesome! I never thought of that! I'm going to try that stuff now! :p:D
 
Rats need lots of enrichment toys in their cage. They may be really bored. I'd remove the alfalfa hay, and just give a little bit of Timothy hay. But as far as bedding ideas to make a nest, try paper towels, strips of fleece, and even bits of toilet paper left on rolls for them. Cat toys, empty boxes of various sizes, stuffed with crumpled, or shredded paper, baby toys.....they will play with almost anything. If it's baby safe, it usually rat safe.
OK i will remove the alfalfa hey and give them timothy hey. just wondering why? kinda a NOOB/NUB rat owner
 
Not entirely sure, but I have read that rats can't digest alfalfa hay, and that it's not good for them. I go on the idea, that pretty much everything you put in their cage, they may eat some of, even if by accident. I know they don't have a problem eating, and passing Timothy hay. Obviously, they don't need it in their diet, so I just give them a pinch of it to play in, and scatter in their cages. I know alfalfa has a different fatty content, and protein content. We used to feed it to our horses from time to time in the winter for extra calories, and stuff. And I know with rabbits, you usually only feed it to pregnant, sick, or very young rabbits. I'm just very cautious when it comes to that. But you may ask more experienced rat owners. I just keep Timothy hay for my rabbit, so I give a little to the rats from time to time. Not a lot. Also keep in mind that rats need lots of room in their cage too. If their cage is too small, with not enough places to hide and play, they may want out more than usual. Does your cage have levels, and plenty of houses and hammocks? You can also make levels with baskets from the dollar store and zip tie them to the sides. The more places to hide/sleep/play, the happier they will be when it's not out time.
 
Not entirely sure, but I have read that rats can't digest alfalfa hay, and that it's not good for them. I go on the idea, that pretty much everything you put in their cage, they may eat some of, even if by accident. I know they don't have a problem eating, and passing Timothy hay. Obviously, they don't need it in their diet, so I just give them a pinch of it to play in, and scatter in their cages. I know alfalfa has a different fatty content, and protein content. We used to feed it to our horses from time to time in the winter for extra calories, and stuff. And I know with rabbits, you usually only feed it to pregnant, sick, or very young rabbits. I'm just very cautious when it comes to that. But you may ask more experienced rat owners. I just keep Timothy hay for my rabbit, so I give a little to the rats from time to time. Not a lot. Also keep in mind that rats need lots of room in their cage too. If their cage is too small, with not enough places to hide and play, they may want out more than usual. Does your cage have levels, and plenty of houses and hammocks? You can also make levels with baskets from the dollar store and zip tie them to the sides. The more places to hide/sleep/play, the happier they will be when it's not out time.
yes my cage has levels and a hammock/house type thing.ill put a picture later. they have a few chew toys and more toys on they way. and they get plenty of time out of their cage.
 
My guys routinely get paper towels (unscented, no lotion (honestly don't know if any of that sort of stuff exists)), the only problem is I have to remove them after a couple of days because they turn yellow from the amount of marking. I got eight male rats, so *everyone* needs to mark this one piece of paper towel :p

I use cardboard boxes as hides, but again, those don't last very long simply from marking and urinating in the box. Mine prefer wooden or plastic ones, but I clean those as well just to keep hem in tiptop shape. Hammocks are a favorite of rats, along with those space pods. Mine don't care i it's hanging up or on the ground; they'll sleep in it either way.
 
LMAO I tried hammocks, and the day I got it, pepper chewed the tabs hanging it from the cage, right off! I basically wasted $17 on a piece of material that ultimately ended up chewed into pieces and on the floor in the first few hours we had it. So since then I've used cheap baskets lined with paper towels, and space pods. My boys do have a huge igloo that they adore. I may try to make a hammock for the girls. The boys pee too much, and skittle has no manners. He poops in bed, so I may not make the boys one. Haha
 
lol my boys (mickey and Jerry) have a plastic pod looking thing i didn't even know what they were for until yesterday i used the top part as an igloo and the bottom piece as a sculpture (idk why i guess mi kinda classy or ) anyway they love it. i have to drag them out of it or else they will sleep in it all day. also my rats NEVER chew or bite, Jerry had a rubber band on his nose and we had to get it off. other than squirming he was fine. idk why cuz they r both still intact...for now
 
here is a pic it looks kinda like squeaking jellybeans prof pic
 

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LOL they have chewed a little on the blue part. I don't know why, but mine love to lay in theirs, and give it a nibble. Especially skittle. The girl's is chewed as well. Jellybean, my daughter's rat that died giving birth almost a year ago, used to chew theirs up, and now créme is slowly finishing the job jellybean started. LOL
 
LMAO I tried hammocks, and the day I got it, pepper chewed the tabs hanging it from the cage, right off! I basically wasted $17 on a piece of material that ultimately ended up chewed into pieces and on the floor in the first few hours we had it. So since then I've used cheap baskets lined with paper towels, and space pods. My boys do have a huge igloo that they adore. I may try to make a hammock for the girls. The boys pee too much, and skittle has no manners. He poops in bed, so I may not make the boys one. Haha
Call me paranoid, but I had a bad experience with store-bought hammocks. I just end up making my own hammocks. Remnant fleece at fabric stores are cheap and you can at least be sure that they're safe for rats. I feel ashamed to admit this, but... I made the mistake of buying a hammock from a store. Overnight, one of my smaller rats tried to climb into it, but it failed and he fell through. He passed away because threads got wrapped around his neck. DIY hammocks are time consuming, but having my own makes me feel safer. My rats also tend to chew store-bought ones more than my DIY hammocks, or even ones I buy off of Amazon.

My rats LOVE the plastic pods. I bought another one just because it was such a hit with my boys. Mine have chewed on the tabs a it, but not too much. I redirected their attention from the space pods to their little pool. I've noticed that my rats prefer to drink from their little pool than their water bottles. They also like to move the rocks around and splash in it. It's very cute to hear some water being splashed around. I used to put peas in it, but they just never seemed overly fond of sticking anything but their feet and tails in the water.
 
Call me paranoid, but I had a bad experience with store-bought hammocks. I just end up making my own hammocks. Remnant fleece at fabric stores are cheap and you can at least be sure that they're safe for rats. I feel ashamed to admit this, but... I made the mistake of buying a hammock from a store. Overnight, one of my smaller rats tried to climb into it, but it failed and he fell through. He passed away because threads got wrapped around his neck. DIY hammocks are time consuming, but having my own makes me feel safer. My rats also tend to chew store-bought ones more than my DIY hammocks, or even ones I buy off of Amazon.

My rats LOVE the plastic pods. I bought another one just because it was such a hit with my boys. Mine have chewed on the tabs a it, but not too much. I redirected their attention from the space pods to their little pool. I've noticed that my rats prefer to drink from their little pool than their water bottles. They also like to move the rocks around and splash in it. It's very cute to hear some water being splashed around. I used to put peas in it, but they just never seemed overly fond of sticking anything but their feet and tails in the water.
yeah you always take that risk buying pre manufactured store stuff. i am kinda a DIY person so ill just put some of my rat proof creations in there. Imma make a layered chewer and put it in there in there that the rats have to get through to get yummies. ideas on materiel would be great. thanks for your help guys btw. i put some toilet paper on the roll in there and they rapped-no-knotted it on their wheel. and it took me like 10 minutes to get it off. lol
 
I refuse to buy Petsmart or Petco hammocks anymore, even if it seems like good quality. From now on I'm making my own toys/hammocks/anything fleece related, or buying it from Amazon. My boys love all of it.
 
I made my own hammock out of a rag from work. It was clean. But I took scissors and cut 2 "ears" on each corner so I could tie them to the top of the cage. They love it. Theres more room than the pic makes it seem. They just like laying on each other
 

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