# Destructive beyond belief.



## CourteesRatties (Feb 23, 2016)

Now i have dealt with destructive rats before.But my new boy Galileo is on a entirely new level. He pulls up the fleece as soon as i clean the cage he'll even fight his way under the litter box to do so. And on the litter box topic, all my boys were perfectly litter box trained til i got Leo. I just dont know what to do he rearranges everything as soon as i put them in the cage after cleaning. All the hammocks have holes. I am just at my wits end im so lost. He does it as soon as i go to sleep. he cant be bored its full of hammocks and toys and they get free range time for at least 45 minutes everyday. He also throws poop and food on the floor behind the cage. Do you guys have any suggestions?


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## Rat Feng Shui (Aug 8, 2016)

Sounds like the adventures of young energetic rats. Mine have always had a cage with a deep pan at the bottom full of aspen and carefresh bedding. They dig and churn it up to keep the top fresh I think. I have never had much luck with hammocks, because the rats chew them down and drag them into their bed box. So I give them lots of paper lunch sacks to play in, tear up, and paper towels. You may want to give them nuts in the shell to chew on. I bet the most energetic one would like a digging box which is described pretty well on rat behavior dot org.


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## jamekn (Apr 9, 2016)

I find that shallow plastic dishes from the dollar store act as effective "hammocks" for rats that chew on fleece


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## CourteesRatties (Feb 23, 2016)

I've tried a digging box. Tesla seems to be against them because he throws dirt every where and drags the wheat grass out im gonna try a deeper one soon. and i have baskets with strips of fleece in the cage for him to tear up but he goes straight for the fresh hammocks. I have a play pen for them but they try to chew through the mesh im gonna try to reinforce it but that wont be for a while.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

45 mins isn't all that long in the grand scheme of 24 hours. And while they may have toys and such many rats don't really play with toys all that much.

I would suggest splitting up his outside cage time. If you can do it twice a day it is going to help more. Make interactive treats puzzles and such that make them use their mind and work at things. It can be super simple- pinatas, hanging treats from the top of the cage so they gotta climb over, shredded newspaper would through the bars is a hit.Card board tubes sometimes help or other wooden chews to mess with. I am a huge fan of a wooden toy called knot nibbler, it is like a puzzle with little pieces of wood they can take apart. Bird toys can help.

Usually though I find rats chew and tear up fleece because they want to hide. Have you tried more enclosed hammocks? Like a cube or tunnel? Putting closed boxes on the floor with just a small hole to enter/exit filled with fleece scraps? So it is nice and dark inside!


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## dashielle89 (Apr 24, 2012)

I agree, this is just how some rats are. If he is more active and bored you could try taking him out of the cage more to tire him out. Try adding more enclosed spaces to sleep in and add some nesting materials. I find that some rats like having a bunch junk in their bed and if I don't give them anything they'll tear anything they can up to get it. Sometimes I just throw a bunch of paper towels in the cage and they'll tear them up and sleep on them, and I can throw them out and get new ones when it starts looking gunky.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

For hammocks, if you buy fleece on sale it can be as cheap as $2 a yard, maybe less. Use shower rings to piece 4 holes in a piece of fleece and hang it. Even if naughty Galileo chew around the hole you can do many more holes before throwing the hammock...it won't look great but at least it is super cheap and will last you a long time or you could use those running balls to hang in your cage...I have a 12" and a 16" ball (not sure about the dimensions), I put towel paper in them and my rats absolutly love them.


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## Ratloved (Oct 4, 2015)

If you have a Pinterest account, search rat toys, tons of ideas to make things to occupy rats minds. I have gotten lots of cool things off of there for my rats.


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## CourteesRatties (Feb 23, 2016)

Thank you for the suggestions. I would love to do twice a day but with school and work and the fact i have cats who do not know the rats arent food and i have to lock them in the bathroom while free range happens as i do not have a bedroom door its not that possible. Ive tried almost everything im pretty sure what my boy needs is a neuter. Hes probably 5-6 months old now and hasn't even remotely calmed down.


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## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

CourteesRatties said:


> Thank you for the suggestions. I would love to do twice a day but with school and work and the fact i have cats who do not know the rats arent food and i have to lock them in the bathroom while free range happens as i do not have a bedroom door its not that possible. Ive tried almost everything im pretty sure what my boy needs is a neuter. Hes probably 5-6 months old now and hasn't even remotely calmed down.


I don't think a neuter would help reduce his energy...neutering helps to calm down hormones in the case of aggressive rats, but I don't see how it would have much of an effect on how energetic he is. Also at 5-6 months old, he's barely more than a baby! Being a pain in the butt is just the way babies are (regardless of species, I might add xD).

Have you considered that maybe right now just isn't a good time for you to have rats? They need a lot of interaction to be satisfied.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

A neuter could make him a bit lazier but it wouldn't solve the underlying issues at all. And IMO a neuter is quite a risky operation to do unless really necessary. 

It is hard to make time for things with a busy life. But sometimes some pre-planning/scheduling helps alot. Multi-tasking is always helpful. Taking a shower/getting ready? let him run around the bathroom. Cooking dinner? let him run around the bathroom. 

Buy a playpen with a top. Martin cages makes a nice one. So it can be kitty proof. Fill it so full of toys and boxes and things to climb in/on!

I already made suggestions above for in cage interactive toys. 

It takes effort, but is worth it.


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## CourteesRatties (Feb 23, 2016)

I have had them for a year and my town really isn't a rat as pets friendly place more rats are snake food. I took him to the vet because the woman i got him from had to take him to have surgery on his tail when he was a month old due to a sibling slicing his tail so she checks the progress every so often and we both noticed his ummm testicles look pretty large for his age and she suggested that he might have over active testicles for his size and that his hormone levels could be really high so in a month or two he will be neutered and for the time being i have hired my 13 year old cousin who is staying with me to take them out another 45 minutes a day to play. I am working on making a cat proof dog proof and rat chew proof play pen.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

CourteesRatties said:


> I have had them for a year and my town really isn't a rat as pets friendly place more rats are snake food. I took him to the vet because the woman i got him from had to take him to have surgery on his tail when he was a month old due to a sibling slicing his tail so she checks the progress every so often and we both noticed his ummm testicles look pretty large for his age and she suggested that he might have over active testicles for his size and that his hormone levels could be really high so in a month or two he will be neutered and for the time being i have hired my 13 year old cousin who is staying with me to take them out another 45 minutes a day to play. I am working on making a cat proof dog proof and rat chew proof play pen.


Dog and cat proof will be tough to do, unless you buy one that is to surround your rat proofed homemade pen. Just curious on what materials you are planning on using to do a dog proof/ cat proof / rat proof playpen.


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## CourteesRatties (Feb 23, 2016)

My dad is helping and we are gonna use a ferret playpen with h core plastic lining the insides and plastic small grating for a "lid" or modify a baby playpen


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