RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:27 pm

One of our rats (fudge) hoards food so much
Last night we filled their bowl up with food, we woke up this morning and it was all gone - hidden under the bedding Rolling Eyes

i know its normal for them to hide a bit of food, but a whole bowl? Shocked

Do your rats do the same?

Laura

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RIP Curly My Little Friend

Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:36 pm

Yep. My girl, Neiko, can empty a bowl in about thirty minutes, and she frequently does. Cage cleaning takes forever because I dig thru the bedding to recover the food, which she stashes away.

I haven't figured out a way to stop her, either.

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Thu Feb 16, 2006 4:59 pm

I was gonna post about our rats doing this today.
They sleep in a tea towel on the top platfrom of their cage.
A tube leads up to that platform from the platfrom below, and they sometimes sleep in the top of that just inside. They hoard all their food and go to toilet in the tea towel and all over the top platform and sometimes in the tube.
We tried taking the tea towel and putting it in a box downstairs for them to sleep in, but they are still using the tube to sleep in and the top platform to poo on.
They havnt quite established a toilet corner yet as there is poo all over the cage, but mainly at the top.
How can we get them to sleep in their box, and not drag their bedding upstairs through the tube to sleep. How can we train them to go to toilet in one area. I know if you clean an area too much then they wont go to toilet there again straight away cos they wont recognise the smell.
Also, what can we put underneath the water bottle to stop it dripping on the plastic. We are using another tea towel at the moment, but they keep stuffing it up the tube. The water drips when the cage is moved or it is changed.
Will our rats grow out of these habits and become cleaner? My rats were never like this and ours were tdyish when we first got them.

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Life is only what you make it

Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:16 am

One of my rats, Aleric, is a major stasher. He won't even let me enter the cage until he has a piece of whatever I'm bringing in, and runs immediately down to stash it. I always put their lab blocks on the top shelf of the cage (3 shelfs and a groundfloor) and he runs up and grabs one at a time, then runs all the way down to the groundfloor and stashes them in one corner. I think that's where he gets most of his exercise. I dont think you can really stop that behavior, it's kindof a personality thing. Like some rats are licky and some arn't. I don't even bother putting their lab blocks in a bowl anymore. They never stay there for more than an hour anyway. Might as well let them set it up themselves. Besides, it's really cute! wink

If you're worried about how much food they are actually eating, you could always measure it. Clean their cage and put in a specific amount of food (ie. 1 cup). The next day at the same time, search and find all the food that's left. Measure it. After a day or two you should be able to guess pretty well how much food they actually eat everyday.

BlackRose, for under the water bottle try a medium-sized pourous rock or piece of terra cotta that has been steralized by being heated in an oven. To get them litter trained (which some rats just never accept) have a special litter box filled with litter that is different than their bedding. For instance, I use Eco-Bedding in their cage and Yesterday's News in their litter box. This will help them differentiate and see it as a defined space. Also gather a few pieces of their poo when you are cleaning it up and leave it in the litterbox. They are more likely to keep it all in one place as they are over-all fairly clean animals. You can also just move the litterbox to the area they use most already.

Honestly, the're going to sleep where they like, which may change day to day. Just make sure to give them a couple nice, cozy, covered areas where they can feel safe.

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And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit. ~The Tick