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Original poster

More ratty advice needed please

32 replies

joelallie · 02/11/2006 10:24

DS#1 is having a pair of rats as a christmas present. Having asked for advice here (and other places) and had a good look around I bought a big wire cage with 2 levels - it was sold as suitable for all small animals, the gaps are small enough to keep the rats in and according to a ratty cage calculator I found online will happily hold 4 rats so I?m confident that it?s OK in most ways. But I was wondering if I needed to cover the bottom of the cage with a layer of something solid ? I?m worried that the wire might hurt their feet.

Any advice gratefully received.

OP posts:
edie123 · 02/11/2006 10:55

The wire won't hurt their feet. I think I know the cage you mean. The bottom of the cage needs to be covered in shredded cloth or paper. They sell stuff in pet shops that will be suitable. DONT USE WOOD SHAVINGS as it will mess with their resp system.

Rats need lots of play and I even managed to house train mine-they used to run about the room and then go back into their cage (open) when they needed loo. Awww.

Frogdelalune · 02/11/2006 11:24

Hi joelallie
My dd is after some rats too. She met a little girl at a music festi this year who carried her two rats around with her and dd fell in love with them.
What is the cage going to sit in/on?
Here's a good site - scroll down and click on litter and bedding.
Let me know how you get on

Frogdelalune · 02/11/2006 11:28

Here's some more info

Original poster
joelallie · 02/11/2006 12:22

Thanks.

Hi froggie - bumblefoot sounds scary That is the kind of thing I was worrying about. I used to use recycled cat litter for the cat - until she decided she preferred the carpet.... or the beds !!! Wonder whether the Independent is rat friendly or not....

edie - the cage is all wire with a metal tray that fits underneath. It's called 'critter' I think but it's the one with 2 floors. I've bought a rat-friendly wheel and a sort of tunnel thing for them to sleep in. Maybe a hammock too. The intention is that they will spend much of their time out of the cage with one of us. I started DS's obsession by telling him about someone I used to know at uni that carried his rat about with him in his coat inside pocket to lectures and to the pub. Lovely little thing it was. DS realy liked that idea. Hoping that they will be semi-house trained like yours was but we'll see....So if I line the cages with paper that will be enough will it?

OP posts:
edie123 · 05/11/2006 15:17

Yes but its better if it is shredded, just buy some bags from a pet shop. Its only obviously the bottom of the cage that needs covering. A wheel is good but will be noisy at night, a tube/tunnel will prob be where they sleep or a hammock if you get one. Good luck they make very good pets for children.

muma3 · 14/11/2006 08:59

just seen this thread and thought i better show you this
Wire cage floors

Some wire cages made especially for ferrets, chinchillas, or laboratory use, have wire floors with a pan below to catch droppings. These wire floors can be dangerous for rats; they may trap feet, and can also cause, or aggravate, a condition called bumblefoot (ulcerative pododermatitis). This leads to severe irritation and swelling of the hocks, and cannot usually be cured.

Research shows that ammonia levels remain many times higher in cages with wire floors than in those with solid floors plus litter. ('Differences in the microenvironment of a polycarbonate caging system: bedding vs raised wire floors' by Raynor, Steinhagen & Hamm, Laboratory Animals Vol 17, pp85-89)
here

Original poster
joelallie · 16/11/2006 11:32

Thanks muma3 - I've been thinking about this and I've asked DH to make some plywood 'floors' to go over the wire cage bottom and the top floor too. It makes me so cross that they sold this cage as suitable for rats....

OP posts:
charliecat · 16/11/2006 11:41

About 24 hours away from buying a critter 3....hmm... glad ive saw this thread.
The plywood will REEK though after a while.
You would be better with the wipable stuff they use inside kitchn units.
Or plywood wrapped with lino.
Or just a cheap offcut of lino that you use everytime you change the cage out.
I have 5 rats. They are lovely

Original poster
joelallie · 16/11/2006 12:35

Lino...good idea. The thing that made me even more mad was the cages they were selling as suitable for rats were so small and one even had a wheel with struts rather than a closed one.

OP posts:
charliecat · 16/11/2006 19:08

Girls smell a lot less than boys BTW. But girls are faster and more likely to dash off, but boys sit and love being stroked, but smell.

JanH · 16/11/2006 20:31

DS2 and I went to the petshop tonight just to get some wood shavings for mucking out the gerbils, and came away after talking to a cage full of lovely young rats having paid for 2 of them and a cage

They are white with brown heads & shoulders and are very sweet - haven't got them yet, they are being delivered tomorrow. DS2 said he wanted 2 boys, but after reading your last comment charliecat I'm wondering if we should change to girls?

It's a big cage with a plastic tray base and 3 or 4 levels. DS2 also decided we should buy one of those balls for them to roll around in (it is a huge one made for rats) - are they a good idea or not?

charliecat · 16/11/2006 20:44

I should imagine the rats would prefer the floor, or the sofa, than a ball.
Boys, well they wee every foot or so. Marking, it think, but its grotty. Girls dont do thins. they will just do one big wee in a puddle, not a continual dribble. I have 5 boys BTW if I could give them a sex change I would.
Rats and sawdust dont get on, its not good for them breathing in the dust.
You can by paper cat litter(although one of mine doesnt like that either) or brown stuff that the name of I cant remember that is soft for the floor.
Or do as i do and ask for everyone to pass you thier old clothes and tear it up into small bits and its warm, cosy and absorbent.
They love hammocks, you can rip up old tshirts and hook them up with pegs/paperclips or buy them.
They LOVE digging through mud. I buy a growbag, 99p and throw some bird seed in it...it takes a couple of weeks to sprout up but they LOVE digging in it, and if you put it in something that fits in the bottome of the cage they will be eternally grateful

charliecat · 16/11/2006 20:49

heres two of mine, id like to see pics of everyone elses:)

JanH · 16/11/2006 20:54

Thanks, charliecat!

I just followed a link from another rat thread on here, and it mentioned ecopetbed and biocatolet (but said that has had perfume added?) - ecopetbed sounds as if it might be best?

We got shavings from the pet shop, not sawdust - I have to change the gerbies so I'll see how it looks.

Do they eat the stuff that sprouts in the mud or just dig? And what do you feed yours on?

charliecat · 16/11/2006 20:58

They seem to dig out the sunflower seeds and munch the botom of them. And the leafs that grow and it seems to excite them walking through the grass.
The bio cat litter- green packet when your looking in the catl litter aisle is good..
I feed mine Reggie Rat. Buy it in Bulk at the pet shop having 5. And occasionally buy hamster food and mix it in as they like it, but im not sure how good that is for them.
They also, every night have a bit of whatever we are eating. And in the morning the girls save them some weetos/weetabix or whatever

Original poster
joelallie · 17/11/2006 15:48

Sainsbury does its own brand paper cat litter. If you use torn up rags for bedding Charliecat, can you wash them (inside a pillow case or something) and re-use. The rags in the pet shop were really expensive and presumably meant to be thrown away. I am extremely resistant to buying all the 'stuff' that pet companies market these days. For environmental reasons and 'cos I'm mean Last year DD had a fish tank for Christmas and I was stunned when I saw how much you 'need' to keep a goldfish alive nowadays. Amazing that they ever survived at all when I were a lass

SO ...to recap oh rat-guru....they need rags to sleep in and cat litter/shavings on the floor of the cage or is it just one or the other? I am getting confused.....

OP posts:
Iklboo · 17/11/2006 15:54

Ratties chew & chew & chew. Instead of spending money on a hammock, use sleeves of old jumpers, legs of jeans etc. Hang them from the cage by bent up paper clips.
Ours used to run back into their cage to go to the loo too.

Boys pong a bit but easier to teach to cuddle. Girls are fast, sprightly & v adventurous

I miss my ratties!!!!!

Iklboo · 17/11/2006 15:55

And we used to give our a sunday dinner - a little of our chicken, cooked veg etc. They loved it (sob)

charliecat · 17/11/2006 19:44

I suppose you could wash the rags...but i throw mine. I scrounge other peoples old clothes
At the moment we have rags on floor 2, cat litter type stuff on the bottom floor(pooing floor) and floor 3 is a stretched t-shirt on hooks acting as a floor!

JanH · 17/11/2006 20:03

Well ours have arrived and they are petrified.

They are pooing on the top floor, is that nerves, will they stop when they're settled down?

How soon will it be OK to handle them? They've only been here a couple of hours - they are in the front room with a low light and nobody there atm. Should we leave them alone till tomorrow or keep visiting and talking to them?

TIA

charliecat · 17/11/2006 20:30

Hmm, they might not have been handled very much if they are from a pet shop...
...stick a radio on or something so they get used to it.
I babysat someones rats a few weeks ago. She lives on her own and is at college all day.
I have 2 dds, a tv, friends round, a cat and 5 rats and a stereo...they were fine after 3 days. They just needed us to be a little bit quieter to begin with for them to adjust.
A radio and your soft voices.
When you do get them out, wear something long so you can tuck them in the bottom of it on your knee.

charliecat · 17/11/2006 20:32

You will need to train them....ha! to poo where you want them too...they will probably tell you though...whether they prefer crapping on the bare floor the litter or whatever

JanH · 17/11/2006 20:43

The cage has 2 half-width floors and the tray at the bottom - they have probably pooed in the bottom as well as the top - I'll see how they go!

Good idea to put radio on low. They only landed at the pet shop yesterday, they were in a house before but with lots of noisy kids apparently.

Thanks, charliecat, it's very reassuring to have you here

JanH · 17/11/2006 20:47

I just gave them half a left-over chip each - they seemed to find that acceptable!

charliecat · 17/11/2006 21:05

I bet they did...if they were in a house with noisy kids they may find the quiet baffling and scary

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