# How to stop rats from climbing their cage



## theratmom (Oct 6, 2017)

Hey, 
so my rats love climbing their cage and it?s just a matter of time til someone gets hurt. Is there any way at all that I can stop them from doing that? You can teach your dog to not go on the sofa, and since rats are so clever can?t you teach them that too? Or maybe use a negative experience every time they do it like spray them with water mist or clap loudly? Does any of this work without traumatizing them? I don?t wanna do anything that?s bad for them but they do it increasingly often and either they get stuck up there and don?t know how to get down again or they jump really recklessly from way to high and I just know at one point one of them will get their foot stuck in the bars or something.
Hope someone can help!


----------



## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

Hi! My thinking always has been, rat's cage, rat's rules. They are going to climb, chew, be reckless, and make their cage their own when they're in it. What I do as a rat parent is to fill the cage with things that will encourage climbing and safety. Perhaps putting in more baskets so they can climb safely would help them. I don't know what kind of cage you have, but you can also consider getting some fleece to hang in the middle of the cage if you're worried about your rats falling. Climbing is what rats do, and I suggest to never spray them with water because it won't be nice and they won't stop climbing.

I've attached an image of my cage when my girls were younger. They loved climbing everything. When they turned 1.5 years old I added the middle portion, but still, there's a lot they can climb on. All the baskets are from the Dollar/Euro store, and I hang them with zip ties.


----------



## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

I doubt you can train it away, just because rats love to climb and it's such a natural exploration behavior. My rats don't have cage access during free range, but they do have a human sized tower to climb up. Now they used to just jump down, but then I placed a step ladder next to the tower! Next thing you know, they're using the step ladder to get up and down the tower. Now they no longer fall, and in fact their jumping skills have improved quite a bit (it's around a foot down for every step). 

In your situation, I'd probably try something similar that lets the rats go down on their own. Spraying them will annoy the rats, but it won't stop them from doing natural behwviors (trust me, tried it when my girls used to hop out of the pen. Long story short, it just made them jump and climb faster to escape.)

If you can't build a staircase of sorts to let them get down, perhaps just block the lower cage area? If you place cardboard around the cage, or make a mini cardboard pen, you can effectively block it off. You'll need a different water source then, but my rats get by just fine with a water bowl during free-range.


----------



## theratmom (Oct 6, 2017)

I forgot to add! They climb the cage from the outside it?s not the inside that worries me. Inside they can?t fall more than 40cm but when they fall of the top there?s nothing to stop them and their cage is as tall as me... I could maybe try to find something they can use as a ladder of some kind but right now I have no idea what that could be..


----------



## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

theratmom said:


> I forgot to add! They climb the cage from the outside it?s not the inside that worries me. Inside they can?t fall more than 40cm but when they fall of the top there?s nothing to stop them and their cage is as tall as me... I could maybe try to find something they can use as a ladder of some kind but right now I have no idea what that could be..


I too recommend making a fence around the outside of the cage, using tall sheets of either cardboard or corrugated plastic and putting it around the cage when you have them out. If you want to help them safely get down from the cage you can zip tie some tubes outside the cage to make a little highway to the floor, a "staircase" of ledges, or a bendable rope. For tubes I like the large Ware ferret tunnels.

Rope: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=25561

Lava ledges: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19806 (multiple to make staircase)


----------



## theratmom (Oct 6, 2017)

Thanks for the ideas!!


----------

