# My rats go crazy in the dark! Help plz!



## mw012 (Dec 14, 2011)

My two rats, both girls 4 months old, start going nuts as soon as it is quiet and dark in the room. They bite down on the top of the cage bars and shake the cage, that's all I could see them do, but they make so much noise running around and banging around in the cage. It's only when it is dark and there isn't any sound. If the tv is on they don't do it, if my computer screen is lit up they don't do it, but as soon as I want to go to sleep in a nice quiet dark room they start going crazy. Last night I had to leave the computer screen on so I could fall asleep. Why do you they do this? Can I stop them? Please help! ???


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## Tibbs87 (Dec 25, 2011)

Before I can offer any advice, may I just ask...how often do they get out of the cage to run around? When they get out, do they get free roam of your home or do they have a contained playpen? When do you usually let them out? I may be able to offer advice once I know more!


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## 1a1a (May 6, 2011)

Rats are nocturnal, night time is their day time, they're young, they're female, they're ready to play and explore and trapped in a small space. Various options, wake them up lots in the day time and give them lots of free range time (trying to tire them out). Keep the cage in a different room at night. Get them a (very big) wheel to run on (although not all rats used them, you never know your luck though).


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## BigBen (Nov 22, 2011)

My gang tends to get really active starting around midnight, even if they've been out of the cage earlier. They are supposed to adapt to your schedule eventually. For now, I try to nap earlier in the evening and then give them some play time while they're active. But I've come to feel that the sounds they make in the dark are comforting--kind of like my mother when we were kids wanting to hear my sister and me make at least _some _noise, so she'd know we weren't up to anything, LOL!

Since you have girls, try getting them a Wodent Wheel (Senior or Robust model). It's very quiet, and my girls love it. (Of course, if they stash a couple of lab blocks in there, . . . !)


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

Mine do the same. I spend time just before bed playing with them most days. I've also found that playin durin the day and then feeding right before I go to bed helps. I guess they get full then lazy  lol. I feed first thing when I get up then late at night after homework and right before bed. This made a big difference


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## Arykins (Nov 22, 2011)

Our rats are the same way. When we're going to bed and we turn off the lights, we can hear them start running around in their cage. Their cage is in the living room, so it doesn't really bother us. They do it more if they haven't had time to run around during the day. We let them out most days for a couple of hours, sometimes a couple of times a day. The new guy (who's in our room) is pretty quiet at night, we mostly hear him eating and drinking and moving his house around, LOL.


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