# DCN woes.



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

The cage is great. However, now that it's in my room I am getting less than stellar sleep. Something clangs when the rats jump around and it sounds like heavy metal pieces falling. I wake up terrified something has gone wrong and my babies are smushed. I haven't heard the noise during the day, but my girls go crazy in the dark. 

Worse, they seem to be chewing the corners of the ledge pans. If I cover them, they rip whatever off. 

They also don't really live on the bottom meaning it's 9 rats in a SCN essentially. They'll go down there but then they act like they don't know how to come up. 
So, fighting (nothing bad yet) has increased. Blind Iris and her skittish companion do enjoy this nest of faux fur I created on the bottom though. 

Anyway to solve these problems? Sigh and resign myself to my ratty fate?


Also. How do I get the water bottles not to tilt at an awful angle, by sliding along the horizontal bars? What is the proper height for rats? I set one higher up for Iris on the bottom, but all the kits insist on standing up and using it. The other one is set slightly above head height for a walking rat. 



Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## TexasRatties (Jun 2, 2013)

Sorry to hear that as I know you had issues with your ff too. Maybe try making the bottom really interesting more than the top so they will explore more. Also maybe ad another ramp or something for them. I don't really have a lot of good answers.


----------



## Arashi (Feb 4, 2012)

I think my rats made some noise in the dark when they were new, but they settled down after a while.

I hope things work out for you.


----------



## Trenix (Aug 30, 2013)

That metal sound is probably the loose wire mesh that makes up the roofing of your cage. When your rats jump around, you can easily hear the clashing of metal. I just put something heavy on top of the cage and it resolves this problem. As for the chewing, I'm having the same problem, right now I'm just letting them do whatever they like, eventually they'll get tired of chewing. I doubt they'll destroy the pan into being useless. Maybe I'll use some metal binding clips to stop them.


----------



## Siringo (May 7, 2012)

Did you pound the pieces together with something like a rubber mallet? My rats make the tray bounce and smack the bars but there isn't a loud metal sound. For pan chewing.. hopefully they won't go all the way through it. Mine chewed it and made the edges all rough but they gave up a long time ago. My water bottle tilts a little bit against the vertical bar too, but it doesn't mess with the water flow.

I'm not really sure how you can spread them out more though.. My rats all love the top the most for sleeping, and the bottom for playing/eating; the only time they aren't all in one unit is when some of them are still asleep. If the fighting gets too bad, is it possible to break up the group and close the gap that connects the two units? I know that wouldn't be ideal at all but just a last resort. Sorry I can't offer a solution. Hope you find something that works out for your mischief!


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I pounded the pieces together, but perhaps not hard enough. I'm going to try putting something heavy atop it.

I don't want to separate them to much, because whose bonded to who is complicated. I'm going to try and hang hammocks on the bottom more and see if they won't go down there.


----------



## saratherussiandog (Aug 9, 2013)

At night, my girls get really hyper, so when I'm sleeping, they jump from the half level to the pan of my dfn( they don't like ramps) which makes kind of a loud noise, not really the one you described but.. I'm always afraid that they will escape because my room is only rat proofed to a point(could get into trouble with no supervision and persistence.)I know this won't help but I felt like talking.;D


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

So. I redecorated the cage and focused a lot on the bottom. Now everyone is fighting :/


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Crezzard (Jul 20, 2013)

Have you made fleece liners for your ladders? If your ladders are lined they don't make noise. My rats live in my room and start running around crazy as soon as I
Turn the light off to sleep xxx


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

They've got the ones that came with them but they hardly stay on :/


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Everyone has tucked into their new hammocks, a whole bunch of them are downstairs. I think part of that is fearing the colony hammock haha. They are just being frustrating, piling on their hut and kicking off the weakest link. (I'm actually off to console Circe who was again singles out)

So far no new chewing of the pan as far as I can tell. 

I went to Aldis and got some boxes that are PERFECT for rat houses. I love it. I'm going to steal more. They're too sturdy for a rat pile to collapse, and I should know. They are also a good height and lovely open so no sticking my hand in and startling my blind girl.


It's also gotten very cold, so less nighttime activity is occurring. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------

