rat potty training

Question
i am a first time rat owner, and have done alot of research into rat care- but i am having some problems potty training my boy. when he was very young i tried to potty train him, using a box with different bedding then the rest of his cage. i would put all of his poo in the box and did this for a few weeks- but he seems quite content to pee in his bed.
since he enjoys hanging out up high  in his cage- i moved one of his "houses" to the top shelf. and he quickly started hanging out in this bed all the time. however- he then started going to the bathroom up there. he pees (not just little dribbles) all over his bed, and then is quite content to lay in it... leaving himself  (and his cage) VERY smelly.

i moved his house back down to the bedded bottom of his cage, and he went right back to peeing in his nest.

i am so frustrated with him. how do i potty train this stubborn male?


Answer
Hi Christine

Unfortunately, some rats, mostly intact males, will wet to bed and there is not much you can do. Most of the time they do it in their sleep. Does he at least poo in the litter box?
What I have found that works is to remove ALL bedding and lay down fleece blankets or other materials that do not shed and get caught on toenails, and I keep only the litter in the litter pan. I use aspen since they love to dig. Most of my rats will do both in the boxes but there are a few males, all intact males too, that will wet to bed and lay in it all day, stinking like crazy when they do come out of their sleeping ball or hidey house etc...

Here is a trick I have learned for my rats to keep them drier.  As I said, I do not put bedding down on the cage floors and instead use material. Under the material in the area the sleeping area will be, I have puppy pads, the little pads use to house break puppies. They are kind of like flat diapers, and very absorbent. I cut the puppy pad in four pieces usually, and place a pad under their igloo before I put the blanket down over it. After that I add a pile of bounty paper towels but any brand will do. When they sleep and do wet themselves, the paper towel soaks up the urine and the wet paper towel is in turn blotted dry from the puppy pad under the blanket. It really really helps keep the rat drier and less stinky, but it is a bit more effort for the rat keeper too. I remove the blankets and add new ones every 2 days, but I do change the paper towels out at least twice a day.
I also have a litter box on all levels. I was lucky enough to find liners that are used to line ferrets litter pans. They are made from pressed cardboard and can be used over and over. All six of my boys use it daily for both urinating and pooping (Gash that sounds so unprofessional but I don't want to sound "stuffy" and say defecate or bowel movement! LOL
Anyhow, I simply dump out the old litter and put a few handfuls of new litter in every other day depending on how dirty it gets. They all poop in it though and there are alot of wet spots too, but again, two of my intact males are bed wetters and the neuters are not. I am going to assume it has alot to do with that too, and being lazy doesn't play the part so much though since most of them are unaware they are even urinating when it happens                .

You can also use a shoebox if you want to, in fact, you can make one for each level and it will be inexpensive for you as well.