# Boys pee tiny lakes around food dish



## ruffles (May 13, 2012)

Hello again rat forum!

Everything is mostly pretty awesome in Shawn and Gus land. They're getting more cuddly and less frantic as they get older; Shawn has actually started to groom me while I scritch behind his ears, finally.

Well, I've come to the conclusion that I suppose is logical on the cage front: cages that don't have doors covering one entire wall are difficult to clean. I still ADORE my cage, it's got plenty of room for the boys and therefore it's great, but hoo boy it's a pain to keep the levels clean. And lifting the wire off of the base is an adventure. I'm going to buy a DCN early next year, I think.

Until then, I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas on a weird problem. I guess maybe it's a normal problem, but it feels weird -- my boys leave giant puddles of pee around their food dish. They REALLY have at it when I feed them veggies; when I took the thing out to clean it yesterday, it was a tiny little lake of pee! It was...disgusting, to say the least.

They refuse to leave cloth in place (I haven't tried binder clips yet, washing rat-bedding is something of a difficulty at the moment) and I don't really like that option for their current setup. When I put their pee rock in a box and tried to convince them to use it, they laughed at me and started peeing on the levels and now I've lost their pee rock and am gonna have to go find a new one.

Kind of at a loss. This is probably a suck-it-up-and-take-out-the-levels-every-day-for-cleaning situation, isn't it?


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I put the food on this: http://www.petco.com/product/122222...-Animal-Hideaway.aspx?CoreCat=FamilyCrossSell
to elevate it off the floor. You could also buy a bird crock that attaches to the cage. That would elevate the food away from the urine and help with sanitization. In regards to the pee still being there, probably would require cleaning or something placed down to absorb it.

I would get binder clips or bricks around the corner (would double as nail clipping) and get a new pee rock.


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## taleia (Jul 25, 2013)

Try soaking up the pee with a few tissues, throw the tissues in the litter box, anx leaveem there for a few days. It'll smell for a fewdays, but thisconvinced me
y girls to pee there, instead.


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## Mitsy (Apr 8, 2013)

Also if the litter you have is absorbent you could absorb the pee up with the litter an put it in the litter box the same idea as the tissue but its the litter and not a big fluffy smelly tissue that the rats may think is bedding haha 


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

Rats instinctively "mark" their food with urine to signify it as safe to the rest of the clan. It's a normal behavior and while it seems unsanitary to use, it's an instinct that will be difficult to break them of.


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## JBird (May 23, 2013)

I noticed my girls were really bad about this as well. To solve the problem, I always keep food in an elevated wire dish (just a wire basket from the dollar store) and hang it above the litter box. The rats can still mark as they please while they eat, but all the urine falls into the litterbox below. Worked like a charm for me! I noticed an instant difference in cage cleanliness. No more pee to be walked in helped with keeping the rest of the cage clean.


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## ruffles (May 13, 2012)

I do actually have a crock that attaches to the wire. I just liked the bowl that came with it better for some reason...not sure why I changed it. Hm.

I may just try the tossing pee-soaked stuff in the litter box. Not 100% sure that I'll be able to train them, but hey, that can't hurt! I've been taking the levels out every other day for rinsing and soaking. It seems to help a bit -- but nothing's going to help a lot until I get rid of the accursed paper bedding I bought. Eugh. Instantly stinky.

Oh, I know it's instinctual, bless their hearts...I probably can't stop it ENTIRELY, but yeah, little bit less would be awesome, heh!

Wire basket above the litter box! Oh, that sounds good, I like that a lot. Wire basket plus the crock on the wall and maybe that would help at least with that. And it would possibly help a bit with the litter box issue. Very clever. Maybe I won't be outsmarted as well as stunk out of my room, yet! 

You guys are, as usual, absolutely awesome. Thank you so much!


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