# My Rats Are Olympians! HELP!



## Kenowhereman (Aug 29, 2015)

I had recently asked how I could "rat proof" the room I let my girls run around in. I decided to build a plexiglass wall as part of this. The wall is about 2-feet tall and extends across the room. Apparently, this isn't enough of a deterrent as my most agile little bugger, Trouble, is able to leap right to the top of it and then plops herself down on the other side. I'm a bit frustrated by this. The wall was rather expensive and I'm honestly shocked she can vertical that height and go right over. I've begin to believe that China had less issues with the Mongolians than I am having with my rats.

This is making it very difficult for me to give them time out of their cage. Between them chewing the carpet, the walls, the paint, and now being able to leap to the other side of the room, I'm getting frustrated with the whole ordeal. I want nothing more than to be able to let them out for an hour or two, spend time playing with them, and watch a movie or something while they run around but it has become a time where I have to get up over and over to pull them back on the right side of the fence. Their cage is the two store critter nation and it's completely filled with toys. In addition, you can see a lot of the toys in the room I have for them. Included with these are other tunnels and nooks for them as well as the cage itself which they try to climb up and down.

Any ideas? I want to give them more time out of the cage but it's become such a hassle that I can't leave them out long - then they spend the next hour at the cage door trying to find a way out and looking as sad as anyone can look.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

It is frustrating. I have been there. My girl Khaleesi makes it her life mission to test boundaries and show me just how bad at rat proofing I am. I am actually dealing with an accidental litter right now because I thought my rat proofing was much better then it was sigh.

2 feet is definitely not tall enough. I believe I was using 3 foot "wall" and they could get over it if they had any leverage what so ever including somehow using the wall. 

It really just depends on the rats. I have a whole rat room with fun stuff to do and with about half of my rats I can leave the door open with a tiny playpen that is like 1 foot tall and climbable and they wont even try to come out. But with my other rats I have to keep the door closed and have something blocking the crack under it!!

redirection helps...somewhat. They more intelligent, curious, adventurous rats learn they can go over something and u dont want them to so that must mean there is treasure on the other side. And it will take alot to get their focus off that. Giving them something else to "break" into can help redirect that energy. But the only problem is once they have figured it out u have to change it. I have seen some awesome wall decor where people have hung baskets, tunnels, shelves on their walls for the rats. Put a treat reward and have them attempt to figure that out!

None of my rats enjoy toys outside of their cage. They care about food and being mischievous. 

Do not give them treats inside their cage anymore. During playtime get really good treats and make puzzles they have to work towards to getting treats. Pea fishing - filling a shallow bowl/pan with water and adding frozen peas keeps my rats busy for a long time. Teach them tricks during playtime. 

When you have those extra smart ratties they really need to have their minds worked and pushed. It can be frustrating for us but if u work at it and are creative u can have fun with it too. Check out pinterest for fun rat stuff!


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## Lauraeliza (Aug 28, 2015)

I am going through the same thing with Thelma and Louise, but mostly with Louise. She has chewed up the carpet in front of closed doors, chewed up the dishwasher hose and caused a flood in our apartment kitchen which resulted in damaged floors. She is super smart and not afraid to jump or climb anywhere she wants to go. I'm going to try spraying the bitter apple spray that someone else mentioned in an attempt to preserve my power cords.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I had a meaningful conversation with Misty about murdering my answering machine the other day and she seems to be contrite and hasn't killed any other appliances for two whole days. So you might be able to teach your rats better indoor manners.... Our girl Cloud is very well behaved and completely house safe... 

Now as to jumping... I just saw Misty flying across my desk like a bat, I'm not sure where she launched herself off of or where she landed but I swear I just saw a rat fly by.... I've set up 4 foot barricades and instead of stopping her, it just challenges her more... And she just snuck through two closed doors (likely between my feet) to wake my daughter out of a sound sleep on the other floor.

Rats may be sweet fuzz balls, but never forget they are actually rats. And rats survive by getting into and out of places nothing else can get into and out of. If two feet of Plexiglas could stop rats, the whole world wouldn't be inhabited by them.


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## Verucasdad (Aug 31, 2015)

Both my girls like to jump. They aren't snugglers, either. Our normal game is for Endora to try and get out of EVERYTHING. My two are not allowed ro roam yet, but when they are they will be monitored. My computer room may be the answer. I will just have to keep an eye on them. They are scallywags X 5!


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## Lauraeliza (Aug 28, 2015)

Rat Daddy said:


> Now as to jumping... I just saw Misty flying across my desk like a bat, I'm not sure where she launched herself off of or where she landed but I swear I just saw a rat fly by.... I've set up 4 foot barricades and instead of stopping her, it just challenges her more... And she just snuck through two closed doors (likely between my feet) to wake my daughter out of a sound sleep on the other floor..


Misty sounds like a kindred spirit to Louise as she also views everything we do to protect our home as just another challenge to sort out. When we blocked her from jumping up to a place where we didn't want her to go, she circled the area and jumped on various things nearby and assessed whether she could jump up from another location. You can see her thinking it out and damned if she didn't manage to do it later on, too. Thelma sounds more like Cloud as she is mostly well behaved. She doesn't try to climb everywhere that Louise does. The funny thing is that even though Louise is the bolder (and slightly bigger) adventurous rat, when it comes to them wrestling, Thelma always gets Louise on her back squeaking. It's her favorite activity outside the cage. LOL Here's a picture of Louise about to raid the Q-tips..


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## Mojojuju (Nov 15, 2014)

Get those q-tips, Louise! Attagirl!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Q-tips? I found the whole bag of them inside the rats nest... thankfully still unopened. Misty doesn't steal things one by one when she can buy in bulk... Yesterday I found an empty bottle of salad dressing in the rat's nest and no I have no clue how or why...Thankfully the rats hadn't actually chewed into the plastic bottle yet. Maybe they were waiting for a salad to go along with the dressing.

Mostly Misty has declared war against my answering machine... cutting both the phone and electric cord, almost every night for the last few days now. Strangely, Fuzzy Rat attacked the same answering machine several times too... In fact on the morning of Fuzzy Rat's last day on earth she dragged herself behind my desk with only her front feet working to slice the answering machine phone line one last time.... It was obviously a priority on her bucket list. And oddly Misty is targeting the same machine... 

Anyone have a clue why rats hate answering machines????

In any case after slicing both sides of the electric cord and most likely getting the shock of her life, she's learned to only cut one side now.... again just like Fuzzy Rat... 

In any case... she got bopped and yelled at and she's been really friendly since... I'd like to think I can trust her now... but we all know rats... Down deep once they have their heart set on destruction they are pretty hard to set right.

Actually it's likely all Cloud's fault, rather than being a good disciplinarian older sister, she's actually more like Misty's great aunt. She let Cloud get away with murder since she was a little rat and Cloud is likely about as spoiled as a rat gets... Max was a no nonsense rat and taught Cloud the rules when she was young, even snapping off a piece of her ear, but rather than doing the same, Cloud just let Misty roll her around like a keg... even when Misty was less than half her size... Cloud's such a big fluffy marshmallow... no wonder Misty is a spoiled brat vermin.

Naturally like any good dad... I blame anything my girls do wrong on their maternal influence.... So it's all Cloud's fault!


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## Lauraeliza (Aug 28, 2015)

Louise seems to be immune to bops and/or yells. She may stop chewing up the carpet at that moment, but her take on it is just to do it when I'm not looking.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

This reminds me of me gently bopping Fuzzy Rat's head as she chewed and clawed her way through the carpet.... She eventually stopped, but after I left, went right back and finished tunneling through to the wood floor. Unfortunately she figured out that I really never would hurt her and after that she wasn't afraid to call my bluff.

The smarter the rat, the harder they are to manage.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Could you try duct taping cardboard to add an extra couple of feet to the plexiglass wall? It should still provide a smooth surface that can't be grabbed onto if she tries to jump it, and the weight and stability of the plexiglass will make a great anchor so they can't just push the light cardboard away.

I love reading this whole post. So many clever little pains in the butt! My girl Bijou used to love roaming the whole house, and on occasion, I would let her under supervision. She quickly learned that a door was not a wall, and did her darndest to shred and dig the carpet big enough to get under the door to the rest of the house, and also tried to chew her way through the bottom of the door a little. She never succeeded, but it's nice to look at and remember what a smart little stinker she was.


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## Hal900x (Sep 16, 2015)

Reading all this I suddenly feel very fortunate. I think long-evans rats aren't the brightest in the lot, as they are genetically identical and thus, I suspect, not the smartest tools in the shed. They are athletic, but rather cautious. So much so, that I can leave them on my bed, which is just a mattress and box spring (under 2' high) and they have never even jumped down once. I have left the room for an hour and still found them zipping around on the bed. Of course I leave plenty of thing to play with and explore on the bed when I do this, such as an overturned hamper chock full of dirty clothes, joined shoeboxes with various holes, pillows etc. But still...surprising they haven't tested it. It's strange because once when very frightened, I have seen the more skittish one leap straight off a 6' high desk into nothingness (I caught him in midair, believe it or not...reflexes!), but when I leave them alone on the bed they are quite content.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I haven't worked with lab strain rats since college so I can't comment specifically on Long-Evans rats, but some rats do need to be encouraged to explore... Many rats will be hesitant to go someplace new, but once you let them roam the floor once or a couple of times, they won't stay on the bed any more.

It took weeks for Misty to come out from under my covers, this is her now...

https://vid.me/SgmU

She's the first rat at the door when I'm going outside. As to leaping into nothingness, some rats are just more tweaky than others. Fuzzy Rat had a Thorazine personality... she loved fireworks... both town fireworks and hanging out with us when we launched our own... Our part wild rat would leap into the air and disappear into nothingness if the neighbor across the street dropped a pot. Not that she was a fearful rat... she was just wired hot. When rats do that leap of faith, I don't think they are thinking about it, it's just a hard wired survival reaction. Some rats have it and other's don't.

I suppose, it would be interesting to have two genetically identical rats to see which behaviors are genetic and which are learned...


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## Newtorats (Jun 28, 2021)

I have that problem to. Also it sounds like Trouble was a good name lol.


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## Newtorats (Jun 28, 2021)

Oops I just realized this is 6 years old 🤣


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