# Rat Psychology- Any Ideas?



## LittleBird (Jun 22, 2014)

So back when I first got my girls, they were only 4 weeks old and really tiny. (4 dumbo girls) I made them their first hammock that weekend, it was a nice fleece corner hammock, and they've been sleeping in it ever since. I've made them several other styles of hammocks and beds too but they only play in those, they always go back to sleep in the pink one. 

Now the girls are 11 weeks old and have gotten a lot bigger. I was thinking in the past few days that they were getting too big for the pink hammock. I always hear a bunch of squeaks when someone is getting stepped on while another is trying to get comfortable and usually one girl gets left out completely because there's no more room. I anticipated this would happen and made another identical hammock, only bigger, a couple weeks ago, and hung it in the lower level for them to get used to and get their smell on. Last night I decided it was time to make the switch and take out the tiny pink hammock and replace it with the bigger blue one. There's room for all the girls in the new one and it's made exactly the same way.








So this morning I get up and I am shocked to find nobody sleeping in the hammock! I start looking for the girls and find that they are all crammed into the fleece hanging tube I made them! Which is also really too small for all 4 girls.








Should I put the small pink hammock back in because that's what they've had ever since they came to live with me? Or should I give it a couple days and see if they accept the bigger blue hammock? I just don't get why they wouldn't sleep in the blue hammock when it's in the same place and made the same way. I understand that they like to snuggle when they sleep, just hated seeing someone left out when the pink one was full. 

Anyone out there good with Rat Psychology 101?


----------



## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Maybe lay the pink one on top of the blue one or sew a piece of it over the top? Since that was their first hammock, it might be more of a security attachment.


----------



## Moody (Mar 4, 2014)

I agree with kksrats. I'm not a rat expert by any means, but they could have quite an attachment to it kinda like how a child is attached to a toy or a blanket. Maybe it's a scent thing?


----------



## PaigeRose (Apr 12, 2013)

In my personal experience, rats hate new things lol. Every time I introduce something new my girls ignore it until I'm not around and then I find them all sleeping in it. Doesnt matter if its a hammock or new hide! 

I really love the design of the hammock, do you have a tutorial on how you made it?


----------



## Moody (Mar 4, 2014)

PaigeRose said:


> In my personal experience, rats hate new things lol. Every time I introduce something new my girls ignore it until I'm not around and then I find them all sleeping in it. Doesnt matter if its a hammock or new hide!


YES! My girls would rather cram themselves into a little tissue box than sleep in the nice, spacious igloo I recently bought for them TnT


----------



## CatsRatsVeggies (Aug 18, 2014)

I'm gonna copy PaigeRose and say, do you have a tutorial for you hammock? It's lovely!


----------



## LittleBird (Jun 22, 2014)

CatsRatsVeggies said:


> I'm gonna copy PaigeRose and say, do you have a tutorial for you hammock? It's lovely!


Thanks! I don't, but I can easily write one up. This was a very simple no-sew hammock that took me maybe an hour to make. I just thought of the design when I brought the girls home because I wanted to do a quick hammock for them and it's turned out to be their favorite.


----------



## LittleBird (Jun 22, 2014)

kksrats said:


> Maybe lay the pink one on top of the blue one or sew a piece of it over the top? Since that was their first hammock, it might be more of a security attachment.


That's a good idea! I wonder if I can somehow unfold it and incorporate it into the blue hammock? I'm hesitant to take apart the pink hammock since it was like their "baby hammock" and if I can't get them to accept the blue one, I feel like I should put the pink one back in even if it is too small for them now.


----------



## CatsRatsVeggies (Aug 18, 2014)

LittleBird said:


> Thanks! I don't, but I can easily write one up. This was a very simple no-sew hammock that took me maybe an hour to make. I just thought of the design when I brought the girls home because I wanted to do a quick hammock for them and it's turned out to be their favorite.


Oooo please! I'm anti-sew (purely because I suck!). I'd like to do the lads a nice little hammock to love


----------



## LittleBird (Jun 22, 2014)

CatsRatsVeggies said:


> Oooo please! I'm anti-sew (purely because I suck!). I'd like to do the lads a nice little hammock to love


I'll do that today for you so you can do your boys a nice hammock this weekend. Have you got some fleece ready to cut up?


----------



## PaigeRose (Apr 12, 2013)

Ahh a no-sew tutorial would be awesome!!!


----------



## LittleBird (Jun 22, 2014)

PaigeRose said:


> Ahh a no-sew tutorial would be awesome!!!


I've finished the tutorial! It's in the "Rat Homes" forum. I wanna see what you create!


----------



## LittleBird (Jun 22, 2014)

So this is what I decided to do about the hammocks. I rearranged some things and put the little pink one back in right next to the blue one. I then took a couple small strips of fleece and tied the openings together between the two hammocks. I'm hoping this way they can still sleep in the pink one if they want, but wander over to the blue one too and start getting used to that one as well. Plus hopefully, no one will be left out in the cold when the pink one runs out of room....they can just go over to the blue one. 

[img http://flic.kr/p/oXeqfN /img]


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I would actually take the mean option. Rats do tend ot be a little neuphobic (scared of new things) as a throw back to wild rats who need it to survive, however its something you can raise them to not be. Its actually a good thing for a pet rat to be neuphillic (love new things) as it lowers there overall stress levels and on average they live longer. You can train your rats to learn to love new things by changing things around for them regularly. It does mean you need quite a few things but as rats love home made stuff or even things we see as rubbish just as much as fancy things its actually cheap to do. I change my rats cage set up every time. This means all different hammocks, at least 25% different furntiture (so like branches, perches, ropes etc). I have a large box which i store enough for about 4 cage set ups in (actually more, i once did have 4 cages set up and had extras lol) and i rotate them. They also get lots of new things during free range and i try and take them to meet new people and places. The younger you do this the faster they adapt to new things and the more relaxed they are as they grow up when something changes around them. There are still genetic tendancies in there too, which you cant completely overwrite, but you can make a big difference form being slightly mean at first (and as they come to love it you get to spoil them even more)


----------



## LittleBird (Jun 22, 2014)

Isamurat said:


> I would actually take the mean option. Rats do tend ot be a little neuphobic (scared of new things) as a throw back to wild rats who need it to survive, however its something you can raise them to not be. Its actually a good thing for a pet rat to be neuphillic (love new things) as it lowers there overall stress levels and on average they live longer. You can train your rats to learn to love new things by changing things around for them regularly.


This makes a lot of sense. I do rearrange my cage frequently but that's mainly because I've only had the girls a few weeks and am still learning their likes and dislikes and what works best. I make all their hammocks, snuggle sacks, hanging cubes, etc., myself so I'm constantly trying to find a design that they'll love. But they always go back to sleeping in the pink hammock. When I took it out of the cage the other day, they acted like they didn't know where to sleep. They crammed into the thin hanging tube for awhile and later, they were scattered and sleeping under the bendy bridges separately. I've got several hammocks and other types of beds for them to sleep in, but for some reason, they only want the pink one. They all looked so pitiful sleeping in separate places when I took that hammock out. So I put it back in and they were SO happy and have resumed sleeping in there together. I did show them how they could go back and forth between the blue one and pink one since I tied them together, and they seemed to really like that. 

I've tried to get them interested in some of the other hammocks by putting treats inside them and putting the girls in them. They'll get in the other hammocks but only briefly. 

So how do you get your babies to accept new places to sleep? Have they not had a favorite hammock? I really think with my girls, that pink hammock is like their security blanket since it was the first one they had and they've been sleeping in it since they came to live with me at 4 weeks old. They're 11 weeks old now.


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

i basically give them no choice. i take thete hammocks out, change the cage around and so on. It starts very young here., from the time there eyes open if they are born here. Saying that even rats that join me later on adapt well. They do still have fave beds but they do use then all at some point and in a big cage like mine that's good going (especially with lazy boys lol). The other thing i always do is not give them enclosed beds for the first couple of months to get them used to the world outside rather than hiding away. It makes for much bolder brave rats who tend to deal better with the unexpected.


----------

