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September555

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
209
Location
Kansas City, Missouri.
Ok Everyone...I have a few questions....

first I seen a post somewhere from Cait that had a new rat and I think I seen meal worms in with one of the rat food bowls? You can feed rats meal worms??? I have a lizzard also and have meal worms around and the thought of one of my girls eating meal worms gags ME! haha. I thought I read somewhere you can feed them worms, but thought ewww and never thought about it again until I seen Caits post. So it is good? The worms wont like eat at their stomachs like they can lizards? eww

Second....I have that new cage from petsmart, some of you may have seen it in the cage posts. Someone made the comment of how her bunch would pee in the shelf crevis and it would be hard to keep clean. Well, they have been in their new cage now for over a month, and just recently one of my two girls is to lazy to walk down to the bottom of the cage and pee there, she gets out of the hammock, goes to corner of shelf and pees. So I am now wiping pee out of the corner shelf 2-5 times a day...any suggestions on how to break lazy butt of that?

Third...when I do whipe the pee with a paper towel or toilet paper....both girls go NUTS and grab at the paper and try and rip it form my hands and when they do get it, they run off with it as fast as they can and try and hide with it! It is funny, but I take it away from them, afraid they will eat/digest it. Will paper towels or toilet paper hurt them if they shred it up and swallow some here and there? Jo I seen you gave your girls TP roll so I assume it is fine, but wanted to double check, how do I know they are not "eating" it??

There was a fourth....but I forgot.

Oh...vanilla ice cream...very very tiny bites...not alot, will it hurt? I gave them a tiny bite of vanilla the other day....funiest thing i ever seen them trying to eat it as it melted in their wee hands.

That wasnt reallty the question....I did forget the fourth question.....if I remember I will come back. haha I am getting to old.

Thanks
Paula
 
Rats love to eat insects, and yes, meal worms are a favourite. I for one, can't bring myself to buying meal worms for my rats. Gag for sure!
Worms from outside, you need to be careful that they aren't from a yard with pesticides.
Trying to break her peeing behaviour is going to be real hard. The only thing I can recommend is putting something in that corner, like a bird toy or something like that. You could put cloth/fleece down on the shelf so it soaks up the pee and just need to change that.
Paper towels, toilet tissue is all safe for rats. They love to makes nests with that tissues.
A little wee bit of ice cream never hurt anyone. :wink:
 
hehe thats what I did....gave them a lick of my spoon was funny to watch them try and carry it.

Thanks Jo...yeah I dont know if I could bring myself to stick a worm in there or not...it bothers me enough watching the lizard chow on poor defensless worms and crickets...I don't think I could watch one of my little girls bite a worms in half.... :puke: :sick2:

I am gonna give them toilet paper now! haha.

P.
 
Mealworms are a great treat for rats, they go berserk for them! I would always purchase them from a reputable source that you would buy them for herps. I wouldn't feed them all the time, but it is a nice treat the odd time and they are very nutritious. I personally would steer clear of the really big mealworms because they will pinch, but the smaller ones are fine.
Same goes for ice cream. I don't feed it very often, but the odd time is fine. It is great entertainment to watch them eat ice cream too! They try to keep picking it up off the spoon, but constantly drop it and flick their little hands because it is so cold. Eventually they just learn to lick it right from the spoon.
 
I would put a high back corner litter box on the shelf where she has decided a toilet should be. I would secure it there with a cable tie.

I can't imagine feeding meal worms to rats ... I don't believe in live feeding any animal!!! :(
My two newest babies (Faith and Peter) whom I recently rescued from that fate, agree with me.
As do their moms, Joy and Hope.

Besides, I can't imagine why anyone would ... ratties get so much pleasure out of vegs and fruit, etc. and it wouldn't add anything they need to their diet.

As for ice cream, I'll have to try that. My cat, Sunshine loved icecream - had to shove his face out of the way to get my spoon in the dish. lol
 
Meal worms and crickets are an excellent source of protein, and have other nutritional value [can't remember off hand], too. Rats are also hunters, and they do love to indulge in their instincts every now and again.

The rats shouldn't try ingesting the toilet paper or paper towels, but they may shred it up to make nests. My own girls are only fascinated with paper as long as I'm trying to do something with it. As soon as I let go, they have no interest what so ever.

As for the corner, there's really no way to make her stop going there. Rats have certain corners they prefer, and nothing will really stop them if it's their favorite corner. Not so much lazy as stubborn. Putting a litterbox there will help control the mess, though, and adding fabric to the shelf will keep you from having to wipe up dribbles every day.

And a smidge of ice cream every now and again never hurt anyone.

ETA: They are very high in protein, though, so they should only be given as a treat every now and again. As someone else mentioned, stick with the small versions.

:oops: oops! I deleted the other half of my response with my edit!
 
Mealworms have pinchers? :shock:

I have a hard time putting a worm on a hook to fish so I don't know if I could give my guys mealworms then let them get their gooby little rat tongues all over my face :tongwigl: :sick2: (yes, I know they eat their own poo but I don't watch :poop: )

I give my guys TP or tissues a day or so before I clean the cage because they like to pee on it and throw the pee soaked bits around :roll:

I have given teeny bits of ice cream and even light cool whip once, you would've thought they were in heaven :lol:

I would also think a little litter box in the corner where she pees would be handy or perhaps some deterrent? like a good wipe down with vinegar so it removes the smell?
 
My rats get as much protein and other nutrients as they need from their lab blocks, vegs, fruit and occasional treats they love.

As for indulging their instincts, they have each other to hunt, chase down, and pounce on.
Plus they enjoy chasing cat toys which I dangle, etc. for them.
Pouncing on my hand and hand wrestling are two more games they enjoy.

You could have said the following about my cat too: "also hunters, and they do love to indulge in their instincts every now and again. "
But I didn't live feed him animals either.
 
Thanks for the input all. I do have a high back corner potty I put in the cage originally but they didn't use it, just ate the litter. When they got out for playtime tonight, I put it back in, minus the litter and put soiled bedding in it, maybe the one that has been peeing in that corner will detour from that and start going back in the bottom like she did at first. Let's hope. I did try the wipe down, I didn't think to use vinegar....will try that as well. I just used a wet soapy washcloth and then wiped it clean.

I gave them some tissue tonight, they seemed to enjoy it for now, we will see what they do with it by the morning! haha. I am almost scared....they will either sleep on it....or shred it to pieces.

I think I will stick to feeding the meal worms I have to my Gecko. haha. Good for them or not, I just can't do it....like Chicky said....they kiss me with them wittle lips and I can't handle knowing they chomped a worm....even though they do eat their own turdies occasionally. haha....eh...gross. :roll:

Thanks again .....

Paula
 
Actually, putting the soiled bedding in that corner will actually encourage her to use the litter box. When training rats to use litterboxes, you put the box in their favorite corners to go in, and put bedding/litter that they've already gone on to attract them to it. If she winds up using the litterbox, though, it will be much easier for you to clean than having to wipe the shelf all of the time.


Holly, it is a personal preference as to how other rat owners treat their rats. I didn't say that the OP had to feed them meal worms, but that it was okay if she decided to. I'm very sorry, but I don't agree with you that larvae and grubs fall under a live animal.
 
I certainly realize that there is a great deal of variation in how people care for their pet rats, that it is a matter of personal preference and there are many different good and wonderful ways of doing so. As a result of these differences, many of us are able to learn new ways of doing things and get ideas from one another.

I have come to realize over the last few years that some people believe it is ok to live feed certain types of animals and not other types of animals. Since this is not illegal, I would agree that it is also a matter of personal choice.
 

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