# my rat went crazy last night



## montessoritori (Mar 24, 2008)

i usually get my rat out of her cage twice a day,
for not very long, 5 minutes at the least,
15 minutes at the most.

i hope to make this times spent outside her cage longer but
my 2 year old boy is demanding and his attention can only be held for so long.

well, 
last night after my son went to sleep i got my rat out and kept her out for almost an hour.
she sat with me a while and then i let her run about all over my bed,
she loved it and would always run back to me for a sniff and then off again.

that night she went insane in her cage, full of energy,
tore it all up, overturned everything, and hardly ate she was so busy 
destroying everything.
she's never done that before,
and i wondered if you all rat experts had any insight into this sudden
crazy, behavior.

one thing that came to mind was that it didn't have to do with the long time spent out of the cage but had to do with the storm outside.
it was most the night and huge thunder booms and hail.
could she have been driven to nervousness by this?
do your rats react to the weather in similar ways?
sorry to be so full of questions.
thanks in advance.


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

Honestly tearing up the cage is totally normal! Mine do it also. Rats really should be let out of their cage for about an hour a day though. If you don't they tend to be depressed. Your rat sounds like a lone rat also, that really isn't good. Rats are highly social (perhaps more social than human's) and they need a friend! It's really not a want, it's a need. Your rat may have gotten some social interaction and started acting like a normal rat. I know when I can't get my rats out of their cage for a day or two (like last year when me and my boys had the stomach flu) they got really depressed, their personalities changed and it was really not pretty. 

You said you have a 2 year old and have a hard time keeping his attention. I have 3 toddlers in my home right now and the best thing I have found is to get the rats out and put them on my bed. I set up the toys for the rats to play with. Ya know tubes, boxes to hide in, things to climb, they are in love with the weebles treehouse and little people home while I play with puzzles with my little guys and other toys on the floor. The rats don't really need you to be there every single second, but they do need to be let out to explore and run around. What about when your child gets a bath? You could let the rat out in the bathroom while your child is playing in the tub! You can let the rat out while your child is eating also because lets face it, 2 year olds take forever to eat sometimes!


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## montessoritori (Mar 24, 2008)

thank you SO much for your insight and suggestions.
i can see them working for us very well.

i am concerned that i should find my rat a home now,
b/c there is no way i could get another one.

i live in a TINY house, (400 sq ft)
and we have just enough room as it is.

if we maximize the time spent out of the cage,
do you think she'll be ok by herself?

thanks so much!


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## RoRo (Mar 10, 2008)

LOL I call it NumNums happy dance. I find it when he's happpy he'll run all over his cage and tear it apart. So No worries. I nono I going to give my boy another rat soon, and he gets lots of love more then that in a day. Just keeping him younger.


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## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

People are not rats. No matter how much attention you give your rat, no human can replace rat on rat interaction. And rats are colony creatures, they crave other rats as a basic way of life. 

There are a few exceptions, like some males who have always lived alone don't tolerate being integrated into a colony. But I would guess about 98% of all rats would be best with other rats. 

To me, it seems a basic principle of having a pet rat to have two, at least. 

That being said, yes, rats can live their whole lives happily enough if their humans give them enough attention. It's just not ideal. But that's with HOURS of attention, I wouldn't think ten minutes or even two hours a day isn't enough to keep boredom at bay for a single rat. 

Beds are a great place for free ranging rats, like lovingmyworm mentioned. I used to be able to leave my girls for a half hour or longer to just play around by themselves, checking in for some skritches occasionally, until they discovered the floor while I was out of town, and a friend left their cage open for two days...


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