Homemade Hides

[Kristen]

hey guys! i'm a new rat mom, trying to think of some good ways to keep my rat warm and happy. i'm a pretty crafty person in my day to day life, i do lots of crocheting & sewing, and i would love to make stuff for my rat! i just have one question... is it safe?

i've seen people make 'cozy sacks' for animals like hedgehogs and guinea pigs, usually made out of fleece, so i'm assuming this can be given to rats as well! what i wonder about more is crochet things. is yarn safe for rats if they nibble on it? is it too 'stringy' and could they somehow get a toe wrapped up like if you used a fabric that frays easily? i just don't know!

i'd love to hear about or see anything you might have made for your rat to hide and take a nap in!

 

[Luna&Ralph]

I tend to use materials like cotton, flannel, and fleece when I make hammocks for mine. They do chew them up pretty quickly and they end up having holes in them, but I haven’t had any major injuries when it comes to them tangling in the fabrics (and by major I mean one had a swollen toe once but I’m not sure if it was hammock related). That’s a good question though, I think it really depends on your rats, I’ve never had any that ate fabrics so you should be able to use anything as long as they don’t actually eat it. It’s always great when you can make your own cage accessories because they’re so much cheaper and fun than store bought ones!

 

[Mizzely]

Mine don't tend to chew fabrics much but they love to chew other stuff in the cage that I give them so perhaps that helps?

Anyways, I can't sew to save my life so I end up buying hammocks online and leave my homemade stuff to the toys I give them and using cardboard boxes as hides!

I tend to only use things that don't fray like fleece because I know from personal experience with parrots that they can easily get a foot tangled up on loose strings and get themselves in trouble.

 

[jorats]

Another thing rats really love are boxes. I used to create huge box castles. My sister used to make all kinds of hammocks out of fleece for our rats.

 

[SQ]

yes they love boxes ..... mine especially love boxes loosely filled with crumpled paper and with a hole in the top and a hole in two different sides