Potty training

[Dena]

Not sure if this is where this goes, but here it is.

I recently got my ratties a CN. I had been using only bedding. I have recently switched to fleece, and litter boxes. I put their poops in the litter box a few times a day. And empty the litter box every few days, aside from a few poops I leave in there for them to know this is where to go. They have a pee rock that's about the size of a 4month old rat in it. The thing is, I haven't noticed pee everywhere, but there's ALWAYS poops scattered about the cage. I use critter care bedding. The same they used to have in their cage. They seem to like to scatter that around too. I'm thinking about switching to yesterday's news. Also, they keep pulling up the fleece, and putting it in their house.
I go in, and fix the fleece, and put their litter back in the pan, and pick up poop it seems like constantly. I know there has to be a better way to do this. Binder clips don't work, because I can't shut the door with them in place. But at least their cage doesn't reek from pee so much anymore. I just need them to poop in their box now! LOL

 

[Rocket99]

Yes, absolutely, i couldnt deal with spot cleaning up after them every day if they weren't. Some are better than others, but ALL 12 of my mischief are potty trained. The first goal i work on with them as soon as they arrive.

 

[Dena]

How do you potty train yours?

 

[Rocket99]

How do you potty train yours?

Me? Generally the same way everyone does. I look for their favorite pooping corner and put a few fresh poops in the litter tray or box, and remove all other poops. Then i just reinforce that repeatedly by removing all poops not in the tray as often as i can, and keep putting a few freshies in their tray to help show them where they should be pooping. Most (but certainly not all) pick up on it within a few days, a week tops. Peeing is much less successful, but some rats are just very clean that way. Some pee right where they lie, and some pee only in the litter tray. Most fall somewhere in between. But nearly all poop in the litter box, more or less. And once they got the hang of it you should dump it often enough so that they wont refuse to poopbin it anymore cuz its too dirty and full of poops. Lol, thats it. Not hard, just gotta invest some time and dedication. Not unlike potty training your kid,

 

[Dena]

Well I've potty trained a kid or three!

 

[ViciousCurse]

Having been one of those kids that took forever to potty train and also having grown up in a daycare, I'd say humans are way easier to train. Two and three-year-olds, while not as fully capable as adults, can be reasoned with. Or you can find out why they don't want to use the big kid toilet. Or you can bribe and reward them. Sure, you could theoretically reward your rat each time they pooped in the litterbox, but I'm not going to sit and watch my rats' litterboxes all day.

Some rats will be stubborn until the day they pass on and you can't be like "Remi, you have to use the litterbox, it's cleaner and nicer!" because poor Remi will just blankly look at you.

Anyways, I digress.


I would answer yes to the poll, but I have one stubborn rat currently, lol. Or two.

As for the fleece problems, I will give my rats extra pieces of fleece to cuddle up with and make a nest out of that. I always try to tuck their fleece underneath the pans, but rats will be rats and they'll pull it up. I usually catch one or two boys trying to do it and I tell them no (I live in my room all day lol). Then I readjust it and they generally learn not to do it. You can give them paper towels, tissues, etc. to cuddle up with.

I currently have some litterbox diggers as well. Honestly, that's what irritates me the most. I honestly don't get bothered by my rats (except when they're being mean to each other for no discernible reason) except when that happens. I just put on a pair of gloves and shovel the litter back into the box. Ever since I've started doing that, I've noticed a drop in the amount of times they do this, but... they still do it. I just got to keep going.

I once read that litterboxes just make our job easier. It catches 90% of the rat's droppings (and urine), but there will always be that 10% outside the litterbox. Sure, you can make it 100%, but that can't be true for everyone.

 

[Dena]

For some reason, my rats seem to think I put litter boxes in their cage for their entertainment. Skittle, my youngest, will fluff the litter, and scatter it all around. Then, when I pick it up (which I can't do with gloves, since they attack my hands rather viciously if I have gloves on) they bounce on my hands and try to play with me, or they look horribly offended.

Also for some reason, they use their litter boxes from time to time to hide and hoard food.

I think I may add a small dog box to their cage, but I didn't want them to get confused, and use it as a litter box instead.

 

[ViciousCurse]

I saw you posted in another post with glove issues, so yeah... Sorry they go after your hands. Even Grumpy, my mellow old man, will sort of waddle up to gloves like he's debating whether or not to bite it. But then he just stops and goes back to doing his own thing lol. He'll follow the gloved hand around, but will move if I tell him to get going lol.

My little Arthur does exactly what Skittle is doing. He's one of the younger pair, and usually stops when I hiss "Arthur!" at him. Or if he's being stubborn, I gently pick him up and move him out of the litterbox. I don't want to make the experience scary, but he needs to learn it's not okay to dig up the litter. Part of me wants to get them a dig box, but I'm worried that may also tell them it's okay to dig up their litterboxes. I've seen Shadow the Rat use a big 10/20 gallon tank and fill that up with paper and the rats go digging and whatnot in that. My boys not only thought that was fun, but also thought it was another litterbox.

I think it's the thing where dogs look at us picking up their poo like "What are these strange creatures doing with that???" I'll usually try to play with them with one hand and pick up with the other. Easier said than done, however lol.

My boys use their litterboxes to store food and their fleece. I usually just remove as much food and the fleece as possible. Sometimes I'll let them keep the food in the litterboxes, but only if I'm sure they haven't peed or pooed on the food. Back when Amun was alive, I curved that behavior with a shoe box of all things! I always made sure to have his shoebox for him after every cage cleaning. After he passed away however, I noticed his brother, Maddox, used it to sleep in. So, it could honestly be a hit or miss.

I think my rats just like laying in their litter sometimes. Usually it's the box they use the least, though.