my only suggestion is not to allow her near the carpet
….. maybe a different room? maybe cover the carpet with a large, thick piece of linoleum (which also protects the carpet from urine etc)?
or let her destroy the carpet, carpet isn't great to have anyway and she is doing you a favour by starting renovations
you could try coating the carpet with bitter apple - a product sold by vets to deter pets from eating things they shouldn't - I never had any luck with it when I tried to deter chewing of the wooden legs and arm rests on my couch, but you never know
Please do not use negative reinforcement with a spray bottle. If it spays into her face it can cause health issues.
You can try scooping her up and using a short "time out" of 3 or 4 minutes (no longer then this) in a boring cage when she does this to teach her not to ….. but if she is determined it may not help. See joinrats.com for ideas
Can you give her other things to rip up?
She might like a digging box?
Check out the dapper rat at
www.dapper.com.au/
Does she live in a huge cage with other rats and lots of interesting things to do?
She sounds like a real character ……… my Hannah used to organize the other rats to help in her quest to build an extra, small doorway into the bathroom ……….. nothing could deter her and her work crew and those rats designated to distract me - Hannah was definitely smarter then me.
