# Can rats climb chains?



## Rubber Duck (Apr 7, 2012)

Last night I got 4 dog leash style clips and some little decorative chain, the kind made for hanging potted plants. I used the clips to hold the bird cage doors shut because they simply slide up and down, ... no latch. And the rats will eventually figure that out. The chain was just to attach the clips to the side of the cage so they don't get lost.

Then I attached a piece of leftover chain hanging down from the top of the cage, stopping about an inch from the bottom, just to see what the rats would do with it.

I don't know what happened exactly, but I heard a bunch of noise and when I looked in the cage, their little plastic house was flipped over on it's side and scooted about 6 inches, and the end of the chain was inside the little doorway to the house and one of them was chewing on it.

I didn't put it in there so they could chew on it and use it to tow their house around inside the cage, I was just curious to see if they'd climb it.


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## Rat lover (Dec 28, 2011)

Haha. I think they can. I got the little chains linked together for baby play toys and hung them in the cage and my rats climb them. Not sure about those though!


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## DyersEve726 (Apr 15, 2012)

As long as the chains are non-toxic and don't have any sort of coating on them, I don't imagine how it could hurt them. My rats actually chew on the cage bars (as unappetizing as that sounds) so I don't believe nibbling on metal is really bad for them as long as they're not actually eating pieces of metal.


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## Rubber Duck (Apr 7, 2012)

I attached the chain to some stiff wire that I bent a little hook out of, with a tab I can grab it with my fingers. I can move it around the cage. If I hang it near the door to their little hideout box, every once in a while they'll reach out the door and grab it and start pulling on it. 

I wonder if they're being playful, or if they thing this "thing" in their cage is some kind of living being, because it moves, and they're attacking it because they're afraid of it.


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