ratties, posts by tag: litter training - LiveJournal

Hey guys!

So my gorgeous little hamster just died recently and I was surfing around the Scottish SPCA website looking to see if they had any hamsters in (I know it seems a bit soon but she was OLD, her sister died 6 months ago and I've been expecting her to go ever since!). Anyway, no hamsters but they do have some gorgeous white ratties. 10 four month old males and 2 ten month old females.

"Ooh, ratties!" says I. "I could have a rattie..." I says.

So it's not definite yet but a friend and I are going to go have a look at them next week, when I have some time off work (Golf Open + pub work = ZOMG STUPID HOURS!). If they're still there I'm pretty sure I'll end up with cute ratties, I find it hard to say no to fuzzies!

I'm not a complete newbie to rats, my older sister and younger brother had 5 between them when I was growing up (in fact, we had 33 at one point. Stupid pet store sold us 3 females and one, uh.. wasn't. 2 litters of fifteen babies later...) but they weren't mine. I had mice and hamsters and rabbits instead. Also, I know now that a lot of the way we treated our rabbits could have been improved so I want to make sure I'm not making mistakes with rats just because "that's how I've always done it!" (sorry, that's what my Mum says when I talk to her about how she keeps her current rabbit and it really pisses me off).

So, newbie questions. Behind cuts, because I'm nice like that.

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Is there anything else I should have asked but have forgotten?

Cheers everyone! Will be back with pictures if/when I get my rats.

Oh! Do albinos/PEWs (which is what I assume these are) have problems with their sight like my PEW bunny does? It doesn't seem to affect her that much, you just occasionally catch her swaying from side to side looking at something. Silly girl.

I've lost two of my girls in the past few months and so when a friend needed to relocate her two young rats I took them in. They weren't litter trained, but mine are. I remember that when I litter trained mine, I just put their poop into the litter box and they caught on really quickly. I also used litter in the beginning but now I don't anymore. The two new girls made a HUGE mess of the cage SO quickly, so I went out and bought some litter. I got yesterday's news and today I put it in the litter box, and ALL the girls (mine too) just think it is the greatest snack/chew toy. I don't know whether to take it all out or to just keep taking them out of the litter box and putting their poop in their. I found one of my original girls hiding food in it. Do you have any different methods for litter training? Any recommended litter?

Hey everyone...

Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice that you community members have already given me...and I have another question!

I'm trying to potty train my two girls, but it seems they're just not getting the hang of it. I've gotten them a separate potty tray with litter, and put it in the corner of the cage where they've (previously) been most often pooping. I've put their poops in it to give them the idea that this is where they're supposed to go. However, they apparently just decided to switch pooping places....XD

Then tonight, one of them pooped on me for no apparent reason, which she's never done before. She wasn't exhibiting any signs of stress or squirming, just decided to go. When I was cleaning everything in preparation for the new litter box, I noticed that my older girl (pretty sure it's her, anyway) has apparently also been pooping in the food dish, which I thought was pretty weird. Neither of them seems sick in any way, though...

Any tips??

Again, many thanks!

Thank you so much for the toys, angii!

The girls love playing in their new tube, and the hammock is great! I have to keep watching Sadie when she plays with that ladder; she keeps trying to get her head stuck, hah! ♥

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Completely unrelated, but I'm going to try and switch my girls from bedding into a litter pan and fleece. How hard is it generally to litter train? Pretty easy from what I've heard, but my girls are such slobs! And, what type of litter should I be looking for? We use a wheat-based litter for our cats, but I think the rats would much rather eat it than poop in it.

So my baby is doing so well with her new huge litter box and fleece lined floors.... but i come home tonight and she's taken to bringing one of her new pieces of scrap (a glove at one point) into her box. As i was cleaning it out i noticed half of one of her chews in there too. And as i type, she's sitting in her poop box, eating a piece of her lab block.
How can i discourage this? She was being so great about using it just to do her business!

Today I noticed some liquid seeping though the bottom of one of the rat hammocks. A shooed out the girls and found that it in fact was pee and there were also a few poops too. I took out this bed too wash and both rats have been using the litter box since then and both rats were are very active and playful this morning, so Im not worried that one might have a UTI or anything like that. I really think my rats would rather just pee in bed then move the foot or so to the litter box! So, I guess I'll try moving this bed really close to the litter box?

Has anyone else had an issue like this? My rats are 90% litter box trained (one of them doesnt get it as well as the other...). Rodents aren't supposed to eat or sleep where they go to the bathroom, but clearly my rats arent bothered... any advice?

Soooo i just revamped pennys cage and lined it with fleece/velcro, which is funny because i was in the middle of doing it when i read the post a few down about that. What's the best liter box suggestion? I have a morphed ziploc container for now, but its so not good enough. i need something bigger for her to dig around in. I just don't want her gnawing on whatever i want her to poo in!
Another thing.. penny likes to piddle in the corner of her third floor area.. and it doesnt go straight down, it goes out the cage and on the surrounding floor. Is there anything I can put in the corners to prevent this? I was thinking some sort of metal squares or .. i have no idea. I just don't want to have to worry about putting plastic around the bottom of her cage anymore. :(

also:

First off, thank you for accepting me! :] I don't own any rats yet,I hope to get two girls within the next year or two. But I have quite a bit of questions. Ready?


How bad can cigarette smoke aggravate rats? My bedroom is NEVER smoked in but the rest of my house is so naturally, my room reeks of it. =/ Will this be a big issue when I get ratties?

Would Arm & Hammer carpet cleaner for pets be harmful to ratties?

Probably a silly question, but I am really curious, does neutering actually get rid of the visible balls on rats?

What do you use specifically as bedding and as litter and where can I get litter pans or what can I use as one? And prices?

Can rats develope an allergy to fleas? A lot of the cats we have are outdoor cats, the only one I REALLY interact with I try and use flea medication on. And does any one know if those flea sprays for small animals really work?

Florida rats owners, what do you do to make sure your rats stay cool? My bedroom gets didally squat from the A\C, so it can get pretty hot sometimes.

How often do you guys do ratty laundry and what soaps do you use?

What is your favorite cleaning solution for cages? And how often do you deep clean the cages?



That's all the questions I have for the moment, sorry for asking so many. I just didn't want to forget them. ^^; I'll probably have more soon.
Thank you all in advanced!

Articles:
The Dapper Rat: Litter Training
Fancy Rats: Litter Training

In this post, please share your experiences, tips, and advice in regards to litter training rats.

Just got my Ferret Nation 141 in the mail today! Even for being the single cage, it's HUGE! Iggy and Bubbles look so small in it :)

Anyways, I personally thought it was a pain in the ass to put together. I don't know how but somehow I put the doors on upside down (smart I know) so I had to take the whole thing apart and start again. Ha ha.

Anyways, since the pan is so low I wanted to cover them with fleece and then have a litter tray. I know the basics of litter training, but any tips from anyone who has trained older rats (1+ years)?


Thank you!