Training them!!

Question
Hi Sandra
Thanks for your quick reply. they dont have free range. They in a cage when im not there/asleep etc. when they are out (max 2 hrs an evening) they just manage to sneak off for a quick chew and im finding holes in everything. Managed to block the sofa off with some wood but they keep trying to chew their way through the new additions to their playground.
The new trick is trying to climb the curtains...dont you just love the ratties!!
Toffee still chewing the underside of the door. I squirted her. She stopped looked at me and carryed on!!!

On another note what do you think of the ferret vitamin paste by Betaphar?? Ive heard lots of people say they give a small bit to their rats.

Thanks
V

Answer
Hi Vicky!

Thanks for keeping me posted about the little mischievous girls!!   So you gave her a squirt and she totally did not care a bit eh? What a stinker!! LOL!!  Usually, that will startle a rat and they jump about 3 feet and take off for the hills. Leave it to your bold little one to give two cents less. I guess I am better with the medical aspect of rat care than the training part!  LOL!!
There MUST be something that scares her that you can use that she can relate that to her unwanted chewing. What about noise?  Rats often despise loud noise such as the sound of a vacuum cleaner mainly because they are ultra sensitive to noise and vibration.   Try putting loose change, nuts and bolts or nails or something along those lines in a tin can and shake it fairly hard so the metal against metal sound may possibly be a negative sound for her she may not like. DO it when she chews. When she stops...you stop....if she should begin to chew, shake it again and tell her NO! Remove her from the area she is chewing while your saying NO to her and if she heads right back over to that area again, shake the can again.  Lets HOPE the bold little one decides she doesn't like that sound nor the fact that your disrupting her at the same time and she figures it isn't worth it and stops.

We can only hope. If not...I guess we can think of something else if need be.  LOL!

I usually sit inside a fenced in play area with my rats usually at night between 7 pm and 10 pm, depending on what I have going on at home etc... They have access to their cage and also I have some things of theirs scattered about the area like two plastic igloos, a cardboard shoe box I cut holes in, a roll of cheap paper towels or cheap toilet paper that I wont care if they tear it up, some sold round balls (cat toys) with bells inside, a paper bag....stuff like that.  I use this time to straighten up their cage while they run around the play area. After that, I sit down in the area with them and usually they just climb all over me and the igloos and boxes and rip and shred the paper towels making nests and what not.  I do have a few old tee shirts reserved to wear during what I call "rattie time!" because yes, they do chew holes in EVERYTHING and do if fast, too! I have teenie weenie holes in my old tee shirts that I wear. Its nothing for me to be sitting there in the play area and have four males climbing on me, up my shoulder, down my back, chewing on the tee shirt. LOL!  I am a human rattie pyramid. :-)

As for the ferret vitamin paste, do you mean nutrical?
I am not sure what else you would mean, but can you tell me what is in this paste? What is good for ferrets isn't always good for rats and so on and so on. For example, guinea pigs cannot produce their own vitamin C therefore they need a diet that contains it and sometimes a vitamin c supplement but we don't want to do that with our rats and give them something meant for cavy since too much vitamin c is not good for rats.  See how that works? If you can tell me what is in the vitamin paste I could get a better idea about if its good for them or not.  Nutrical is ok for a rat that isn't eating good but it is super high in calories so an obese rat would not be a good candidate for something like nutrical. If the rat is eating a well balanced diet (some do and some are just too picky!) a vitamin supplement isn't really necessary but it certainly will not hurt either. I would just steer clear of stuff that isn't made especially for rats since small animals have specific needs that differ from each other.

I certainly hope the little chew demon chills out a bit for you. Sounds to me like they need something more to do to keep them busy during play time so they don't continue to cause grief for you and your household items!

And yes, to answer your question "dontcha just love ratties?!" the answer is "absolutely but they will drive you bonkers in the process too! LOL!!"