# Playtime ideas?



## roaringsnail (Aug 1, 2013)

My room is being painted and, due to that, me and the rats have been temporarily relocated to the guest bedroom. My furniture is totally deconstructed and Jerry's vet has advised him not to run or climb. So, our play area has been limited. It's in a playpen I beleive is 48 inches in diameter, and, once I get in there, there's not so much space. Any ideas? Challenges or games>


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

Pom pit! It's like a ball pit for rats






aris loves it, not all rats do but it's soft and squishy and not running or climbing


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Cardboard rat maze. Ratty ball pit or dig box. Challenging treats (hardboiled egg w/ shell for example). Trick training. Chase with a bit of string.


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

Ooh hey, what's the est way to make a cardboard maze? Aris was originally trained to run a maze, she might enjoy it


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Just find a bunch of boxes of varying sizes/shapes, get a box cutter and some duct tape and make it up as you go.


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

Is the duct tape dangerous if they decide to chew on it?


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Opinions vary; the glue is the problem. If they ingest enough, they'll get ill. Some say the flue tastes bad enough that they won't eat it. Others say its impossible to get them to eat enough.


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

But the enteral consensus is nobody has had a rat die of duct tape poisoning?


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## September (Jul 30, 2013)

I used duct tape on the wire I couldn't get rid of so they wouldn't chew them when they got free range, like the ac. Everyone said that the glue was so unpleasant they'd stop chewing it when it started getting on their teeth.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

No. But if you find yourself unconvinced I'm sure you could use something else, depending on the thickness of the cardboard.


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## Willieboo (Oct 22, 2012)

I'm one of those people whose rats love chewing on duct tape. In general, rats don't eat a lot of the things that they chew on for fun/boredom (unless they're familiar edibles of course). But nonetheless I don't use it anymore, since I didn't want them to ingest the glue by accident.

Have you tried making treat roll toys? All you need is a toilet paper tube and a sheet of paper or two (I just use regular blank 8 1/2 by 11 paper). You put a bunch of yummies and things that they like in it (if these things have a strong scent, they're more likely to want to tear into it, for example roasted peanuts or yogies or anything else that they find particularly scrumptious, along with regular things like Cheerios and oats--you can put those in it, too). Then you wrap the paper around the toilet paper tube and twist up the ends like a candy wrapper, so they have to chew it up and toss it around to get the goodies out.

My girls love to busy themselves with that activity. If you double up the paper layers, it makes it a little more challenging. Otherwise I play with them with a cat feather toy (they're always ready to kill that thing, though I never let them have it for long, haha), but since your baby shouldn't be running right now, I wouldn't suggest it unless you're fairly gentle or pull the toy around slowly.


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

Plastic ducks ( not rubber, plastic) my babies love destroying them









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