Zodiac girlies having some behaviour issues...

[lizmo1221]

So far, my girls are doing amazing. Pictures will come soon! They are very comfortable with me, their cage, and their new home in general. They are starting to establish a hierarchy. Funnily enough, despite her balance and vision issues, and the fact that she is the most chill one of the three, Virgo is by far the most dominant, and routinely pins the other two. Libra is not happy about this, and usually squeals murder when this happens lol. Its all very innocent tho, with no injuries.

We are having a few issues tho, mainly food hoarding and litter training. No matter how much food I put out (two separate bowls of it!), most or all of it is in the bottom corner of the cage when I wake up or get home from work. They would rather use the bowls as toilets to pee in :S. Gemini and Libra are responsible, and I dont know how to handle it. They arent guarding it or anything, and I am pretty sure everyone gets their fair share of food, but I would rather not have them eating off the place where they do their business, and deal with the excess mess of having the food in the bedding. Any suggestions?

The litter training is something else entirely. I watched where they did their business and put two litter boxes in the two main spots. Sometimes they poo there, most times not. They would rather go right beside the box, moving the bedding out of the way. I move it to new places, they poo outside it. We have been playing tag with the boxes, moving them everywhere and still everyday I come home (or wake up) and there is poo i have to pick up and put in the litter. Whenever I see them in the boxes, I reward them, but I dont know if I am doing what I am supposed to. Help?

 

[xxchelle]

A few of my rats hoard food all the time. I just go in a couple times a day and move it back to their bowl, though it hasn't stopped them yet. It's a normal instinct, nothing bad or wrong, just a little... inconvenient, I suppose.

As for litter training, they're still young so it might take them a while to get the hang of it. Some rats never get the hang of it. What size are the litter boxes you're using? And what are you using for bedding and for litter?

 

[lizmo1221]

I am using two tupperware containers, about 5x8 inches. Bedding is carefresh ultra (multi colored!) and YN for litter.

 

[lilspaz68]

Sounds like these are just foibles rather than behaviour issues. Rats do not have the same social issues we do, they regularly stash food in their litter boxes...you cannot stop them, and they don't care. LOL. Keep working on the litter training, it can take awhile, and some never get the hang of it (eg. Sugahs...they are filthy girls who no matter how many litterboxes I put in, will poop outside of it :doh...they are 22 months old now. :roll:

 

[puffnstuff]

My 3 girls regularly stash/hoard their food. I am feeding lab blocks, and whenever I fill the bowl, they immediately grab the blocks and stash them in a box or hut. Often they will go to the edge of a ramp and just let the block go, and it tumbles down the ramp to the next level....then they run down, pick up the block and again drop it from the top of the next ramp so it tumbles down. More of a game, I think, than a "behaviour" issue. They don't hoard the fresh food (i.e. veggies, fruit, treats); they just eat those immediately; I guess they just have a natural instinct that the fresh stuff will spoil and tastes better if eaten right away.

Litter training...that's a real issue for me. They poop in the same corner -- No problem. It's the peeing that is driving me nuts. They just seem to let go wherever they happen to be, like it's too much of an inconvenience to go downstairs. So the shelves are regularly completely covered in a haze of dried pee and fresh puddles, which I have to clean off several times daily. They are walking in this and dragging their tails in it. This to me is the only unpleasant part about having rats. If I could get them to pee in one place and not all over every single shelf, life would be perfect.

 

[lilspaz68]

My 3 girls regularly stash/hoard their food. I am feeding lab blocks, and whenever I fill the bowl, they immediately grab the blocks and stash them in a box or hut. Often they will go to the edge of a ramp and just let the block go, and it tumbles down the ramp to the next level....then they run down, pick up the block and again drop it from the top of the next ramp so it tumbles down. More of a game, I think, than a "behaviour" issue. They don't hoard the fresh food (i.e. veggies, fruit, treats); they just eat those immediately; I guess they just have a natural instinct that the fresh stuff will spoil and tastes better if eaten right away.

Litter training...that's a real issue for me. They poop in the same corner -- No problem. It's the peeing that is driving me nuts. They just seem to let go wherever they happen to be, like it's too much of an inconvenience to go downstairs. So the shelves are regularly completely covered in a haze of dried pee and fresh puddles, which I have to clean off several times daily. They are walking in this and dragging their tails in it. This to me is the only unpleasant part about having rats. If I could get them to pee in one place and not all over every single shelf, life would be perfect.

Rats in the wild naturally pee as they walk along, they are actually marking where they have been (think of the bread crumbs in Hansel and Gretel's story)...so its unlikely you will get them to stop that behaviour since its a natural and engrained one.

 

[jorats]

The stashing, I don't think you can stop that. The peeing in bowls, that's another way of claiming that spot so you probably will have to just live with that too.
As for litter training, do you clean up all the loose poops several times a day? That's necessary so the rats don't "see" outside the litter pan, always keep some poops in there. Rats usually don't get trained or are not trainable till about 5 months old. Any younger and it's just pure frustration.

 

[lizmo1221]

Yep, I constantly have my arm in the cage picking up poo and redistributing it :S. I can't get it all since they live on carefresh and I simply can't see it all, but there's definately enough in the litter boxes for them to get the point

They are about six months old now, so maybe as they get older they will pick it up faster

 

[lilspaz68]

Ahhhh...so you have litter in the bottom of their cage and litter in their pan as well? Normally I use fleece and a litter pan with YN or a generic type of. With the carefresh you just may be encouraging them to poop everywhere.

 

[lizmo1221]

Nope I have carefresh as bedding and YN as litter...

 

[lilspaz68]

Nope I have carefresh as bedding and YN as litter...

In my non-fleece cages I use aspen on the bottom, and if I have a 2nd level I sometimes put a pan up there with YN. The carefresh and aspen on the bottom actually encourages them to poop everywhere. Its like a huge litter pan to them. Can you try fleece and litter pans instead?...It will be easier for you to find poops and put them in the pan. Once they are trained better you can put the carefresh back in if you prefer.

 

[lizmo1221]

Ah I see what you mean. Ill think about all of that. They are going to Chelles on wednesday for a week while I am away. I am assuming that she will put them on fleece. Ill bring litter pans to put in their cage there and see what they do with the set up that you suggest. If it works, it will probably happen in their home cage as well

 

[lilspaz68]

How are they doing beyond their bathroom habits? They were such happy monkey-girls :heart: