# My rats are "tidying up" their toys at night?



## ratazana (Jan 26, 2013)

I have started to noticed that I will wake up in the mornings, check on my rats, and find that they have taken all of their toys and placed them neatly into their food bowl... This isn't a problem when they put the toys into the dry food bowl, but they appear to favour putting their toys into wet food, such as yogurt -_-

I'm not really complaining, I don't mind it too much, I'm just wondering if anyone else has noticed this behaviour with their rats? 

Are they playing? or are they "tidying up" the cage, & getting the toys out of the way? 

My rats seem very happy & healthy, so I don't think it's a negative behaviour, I'd just like to know what their little minds must be thinking when they decide to do this... What sort of instinct are they portraying? 

Next time I'll take a picture and post =^.^=


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Most likely your rats are trying to tell you something... now you have to play detective and try and decipher their message to you. Rats really do try and communicate with their humans, what is it you do when you find the toys in the bowl? Do you give them new food? or do you take them out and play with them? What are they trying to get you to do?


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## PurpleGirl (Oct 12, 2012)

As soon as it's filled, my girl November covers the food dish completely with whatever is handy; I always figured it's another little trait left over from their wild counterparts, stashing and hiding food for later to protect it and make sure they always have a supply. Or, maybe your rats are just quirky and are doing it to amuse themseves during the night while they don't have your company!


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## Moonferret (Apr 13, 2013)

Ah, my guys do this when the bowl is empty, pretty sure they are asking me for more because when I do give them some the lick my hand before eating. They have me so well trained


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## xxTheRatChampion (Apr 18, 2013)

*My rat does the same thing! I'll wake up to see that she buried all of her food, and she placed the food dish in the corner 
of the cage. Her food dish would always be filled with toys, and bedding.*


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## ratazana (Jan 26, 2013)

Guess what I found this morning? 









Reading everyones replies is seriously making me think... 

*Rat Daddy & Moonferret *- I'm trying to figure out what they can be saying... Right now I found the toys in their dry food bowl which is starting to run low... Their dry food consists of a mixture that I make myself, and I throw Oxbow into the mix... My rats always eat the Oxbow last, and it's probably because it's their least favorite part of the mix. So the fact that I found the toys in there this morning can mean they're trying to tell me to change out the food...

*PurpleGirl & xxTheRatChampionxx* - I didn't even consider that they may be burying their food, like they would in the wild! Like I mentioned before they usually prefer to do this when I give them wet food, which is their favourite type of food. Maybe they're more protective of the yummy stuff... even though today it was in their least favourite Oxbox food! :S

Hmm... these are all interesting ideas... I'll keep an eye out to see if I can figure out exactly what they're trying to tell me... or if they're just being silly rats.


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## Binkles (Oct 18, 2011)

Try putting the wet food in the bowl they don't usually put the toys in and see what happens.


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## FallDeere (Sep 29, 2011)

Silver used to put _everything _in food bowls. Spoons, toilet paper rolls, chew toys, and a small bell. She doesn't do it anymore... In fact, she's decided nothing is allowed to stay in food bowls. She used to even put FOOD in food bowls if I handed it to her, but now bowls must be completely empty. I think it changed because one of my newer rats is a food hog... Silver can't afford to leave food sitting out in the open anymore.

Silver is very OCD and has to have everything in its place. She even picked up poop and put it in the litter box once.


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## Roxy the Rat (Apr 7, 2013)

FallDeere, that's adorable!

And I agree that she's probably trying to tell you something, although it could also possibly be a way of hoarding stuff. My girl Pepper loves to hoard shiny things. Locks, keys, tinfoil. Anything she can get her tiny little paws on. Believe me, this certainly surprised me the first time, when I went to pick her up and found my missing key in her mouth. If she's on my bed she'll stash anything she can find in the corner under a pillow.


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## PurpleGirl (Oct 12, 2012)

FallDeere, that is hilariously adorable!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

When Fuzzy Rat licks me she means "please", "yes", "good", "thank you" or "hello". That's a precise translation for a rat word that seems to have a few similar meanings. When we first met Amelia outdoors in a parking lot, both Amelia's former owner and I stretched out our arms so the rats could sniff each other and meet. After a good sniff, Fuzzy Rat ran back up my arm and licked my cheek... needless to say we brought Amelia home that same night and the two rats were sleeping together by the next morning. 

And yes, your rats are absolutely communicating with you and training you.


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## ratazana (Jan 26, 2013)

I'm not so sure how I feel about my rats training_ me_! >_< but since I love them, I will accept their training. 

Thanks everyone for the replies! I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one, and thanks for sharing the cute OCD rat stories


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## LeeLoo (Dec 10, 2012)

My ratty takes all of her crinkly balls and places them under her wheel where she keeps her favorite treats!


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## Sugapot (Mar 3, 2013)

OMG. So after reading your post Ratazana, Last night my boys did the same thing.... First time they have done something like that. Weird. I am assuming they want me to biff it. 



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## gretasacco (Apr 23, 2013)

My Silly Lily buries her entire food bowl in the strips of material that i put at the bottom of the cage.... I have to play hide and seek when its feeding time.. She shares her cage but not her food bowl with Lucy and i thought perhaps she was just trying to hide her food from Lucy.. Glad to see my little Lala is not the only mad one.


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