pencils and styrofoam to play with

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Agy

Agy

Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
5
Location
West Sussex
Can I give my rats coloured pencils to chew on? Will they swallow them or spit them out? The pencils are wooden but the colour might be toxic. also styrofoam?? is that safe?
 
Please don't

Give wooden chews you can purchase or you can bake branches etc (to kill any parasites etc) and make them available as chew toys
 
Ok good to know. I only asked cos I had some pencils I don't use. I have styrofoam packaging so not the balls but the actual things that are used to packing eg computers, TVs etc.
 
they have some other toys in the cage to chew on and they never use them. the hammock is insane. i'll attach a picture later. basically there is no hammock. only a giant hole and left over fabric
 
That used to be a hammock
 

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I have another question. I saw these baby mats in the pound shop. I wonder if they are suitable to put inside the cage? Are they safe? Cleaning wise they would be easier to manage than the cage fresh which twice a day i'm having to pick off the carpet as they chuck it outside when they jump around. Also is it safe to clean the cage with baby wipes? I saw some people do it.
 

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Agy said:
they have some other toys in the cage to chew on and they never use them. the hammock is insane. i'll attach a picture later. basically there is no hammock. only a giant hole and left over fabric
Click to expand...

My ratties don’t really use wooden chew toys. They love boxes, paper and Kleenex boxes full of Kleenex that they can tear to shred. They also love lava blocks.
 
I wouldn't use the pee mats because of the plastic and they likely have chemicals in them as well to absorb urine

Try this, get a cardboard box, remove any tape, cut a hole in 2 sides and in the top for doorways, put crumpled paper in it (packing paper or newspaper with vegetable dye ink) and put it in the cage with them ..... they will likely enjoy climbing on it, going inside it, burrowing in the paper, chewing the box, and peeing on it .......... it will need to be thrown out or recycled after a few days and replaced but it is an inexpensive toy that will likely bring joy to their lives and give them something to chew.

Edit: vegetable dye ink is supposed to be safe. The ink will get onto them and they will lick it off.

You can freeze the box for 48 hours if you are worried about parasitizes

For example:

IMG_1053.JPG
 
Agy said:
i'm having to pick off the carpet as they chuck it outside when they jump around. Also is it safe to clean the cage with baby wipes? I saw some people do it.
Click to expand...

Put a large piece of thick linoleum, etc under the cage because rats will chuck things out of the cage. They will also pee out the bars so it is good to put a sheet of chloroplast behind the cage to keep urine off the walls - chloroplast is easy to wipe down.

You could use unscented baby wipes - I have no idea how it will impact your cage on the powder coating on it ....... but you can use other things such as:
- wash with dish soap and rinse well before drying
- spray with a vinegar/water mix, rinse well and dry - but vinegar can be hard on powder coating
- clean with hydrogen peroxide, rinse and dry

If the cage is small enough, you may be able to put it into the tub to wash and rinse
 
I've used puppy pads with my oldies who can't clean themselves anymore but yes, you do have to watch them chewing it.
My rats loved boxes and napkins too.
 

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