# Your ratties' favorite toys?



## xxzz6760 (May 1, 2009)

So I'm still kind of clueless when it comes to what kinds of toys my rats would actually play with. I've researched all over the Net for toy ideas but am unsure as to whether my rats would really like them. I saw my baby rat dragging around a piece of cardboard tube in order to roll it down the side of his house and felt kind of badly for not having any "legit" toys from him to play with.

So what do your rats actually play with? What are your/their personal favorites?


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## Corpseflower (Jun 12, 2009)

Mine love balls with bells inside like you give to cats. And stuffed mice [catnip free] as well. They love ripping them to shreds!


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## abazoo (Mar 21, 2009)

My girls like to chew wood blocks and cat toys lol.
I also get plastic easter eggs, baby socks/fabric squares, cardboard tubes, little cardboard boxes and such in bulk and fill them with a couple treats and the girls forge for them! Forging for food is real enrichment that pet rats enjoy  
Oh, another fun thing is hanging stuff outside of their cage like paper party streamers(my choice) or a bed sheet that they can reach out and pull into the cage to chew... They love it


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

This website might help you: http://www.dapper.com.au/toys.htm


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## this_wallflower (Apr 19, 2009)

I gave mine a box of tissues. That was HOURS of entertainment. HOURS. They pulled out every tissue, ran all over the cage with them, slept under them, stuffed their assorted boxes and tubes with them, climbed in the now empty box, etc. 

Balls with bells, boxes to climb in and out of, I got mine those Chubes from petsmart (extra big fat tunnels that they all three pile in), hammocks, cubes, old teeshirts provide fun. I found willow tunnels and baskets for small animals at Petsmart too and they LOVED those. The tunnel is their favorite thing other than their ferret hammock (which they tore a hole in, climbed between the two layers, and sleep there instead of inside the hammock?


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## ROM (Apr 12, 2009)

this_wallflower said:


> I gave mine a box of tissues. That was HOURS of entertainment. HOURS. They pulled out every tissue, ran all over the cage with them, slept under them, stuffed their assorted boxes and tubes with them, climbed in the now empty box, etc.


That sounds like fun! I'll have to try that one out. In the meantime, when I receive a package and it has that big, crumpled up kraft paper in it, I put a whole big wad of it in their cage and I'll hear them be busy with it all night long.


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## notscaredtodance (May 5, 2009)

If I was willing to shell out 20 bucks on a toy, I'd definitely get mine this octopus thing for ferrets with multiple tubes (the arms) and a little tent in the middle. But they really do seem just as content with a box of tissues like someone above suggested, or cardboard tubes.


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## xxzz6760 (May 1, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions! My mother is already at work sewing ratty pockets and pouches from the website, and she's in the process of cultivating a dig box for them as well. My little rat seems content with his half of a cardboard tube - he loves kicking it around and putting it in various places within his cage. He's so amusing!


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

My rats LOVE pringle cans haha. I like to stuff them with tissues and treats, and they get a kick outta puling out all the stuff, and then hiding in the can. So cute


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## teresaisaacs (Jul 31, 2009)

mine love cardboard boxes that i put on top of their cage... and inside! also from the pet shop i got a "plastic" ball designed for rodents to gnaw on, they have chewed it to shreds and still love to carry the remains around the cage! they also have toilet rolls once in a while (extremely funny to watch!!!) my partner also brings home poster tubes which they love to hide in as they are huge enough to get a small dog inside lol (not that i would try lol!!!) they corncobs as well, (the leftover bit from when you eat them) i put them on a skewer and they go nuts getting the remains off the cobs!!!! i also make crackers using tissue paper and toilet roll tubes and fill them with various things: treats, paper, more tissue paper etc... they love making a mess of it! 

they love their hammock as well.


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## maddy (Jul 27, 2009)

mine have 2 massive cardboard tubes on the bottom that they like running through/hinding in/standing on the top of
and ash really loves her wheel
only 1 out of 4 of my rats will run in the wheel 
(maybe they cant have a go in it because ash is always in there)
they have a big plastic tube hung from the top with chains (made by ferplast) that they hide in some times
i've stopped getting them hamocks because they shred them to bits and get really smelly easy
they have a savic sputnick house
(not sure if u can get them in the states)
its almost ball shaped but it has 3 legs coming out of it which u can iether stand on the floor of the cage or hang it up with
mine's suspended from the top of the cage
and they love going in that
grass nests are a big hit as well as they have 2 holes in them u can iether leve it on the floor for them to run through or hang it up (using the wire from the drinking bottles) to have as another nesting site
that seems to last longer rather then hanging it up with string
mine also have a gingle ball which they love batting about the cage
also i sometimes make a food parcel out of little squairs of kitchen towel with a treet rapped inside the paper then i ripeet the parcels till i have sevral then rap it all up in a single squair of towl and then the rats rip it to bits
eat the treets and shread the paper 
(don't know what they did with it) as there was nun left the next day
hope this helps


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## maddy (Jul 27, 2009)

also, forgot to add
when my rats are free ranging they have a box with a hole cut in it (so they can get inside it) filled with old toilet roll tubes, bits of paper, some treets hidden inside the boxthat they love foraging inside 
it keeps them all busy for a while and stops them eating the carpet (which they love doing!!)


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## xxzz6760 (May 1, 2009)

Great ideas! Barnabee and Swistzgard will be much entertained now!


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

This toy always goes down well during free range time. They like to push the balls out too, then I put them back for them to push back out again ;D. Spike likes it the most and always falls asleep in there when he's out.


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## amruiz (Sep 30, 2009)

Haha, Tachi would never play with toys. Everything in my room was her toy. Ah, but right now Pandora loves, LOVES LOVES those little plastic balls for cats with bells inside. She likes to pick it up and set it in her food bowl and then she looks for me to give her something. Like: "I'm acting cute, so gimme treats!"

It's funny what they'll come up with on her own. I didn't even train her to do that!!


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## cassi.opeia (Oct 1, 2009)

Right now, my rattie is really into his empty coffee container [one of the small plastic ones] he loves hiding inside of it, or stashing his food behind it, or just rolling it around the bottom of his cage.. 
He also has a rope that he almost never plays with, and small balls with bells inside [the ones for cats, that a bunch of people have mentioned] Plus, I've noticed, that once he's finished with his fresh fruits and veggies, he likes to play with the bowl that they came in. I usually see him tipping it over on its side and sticking his head in it, or moving his lab blocks into that bowl [as if a different bowl will make it more appealing. ;D]


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## xxzz6760 (May 1, 2009)

I think my rats are just lazy! I've bought them ladders and ropes and balls with bells and a dig box, but their favorite toy is a piece of string. They love chewing, pulling, and chasing ribbons and strings! So cute. My little guy loves stuffing all of his toys into his food bowl, as if he's saying, "These are mine!" So cute.


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