# Activities, enrichment, mental stimulation, toys, exercise etc. ?



## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Bijou is incredibly active and gets into everything. I don't mind, I just try to keep her out of the rabbit's crates, and from under my bed, but she has free roam of the bedroom. She loves finding bits of paper or napkins and stashes them in a box I hid in the corner of the room for her that is inside some other stuff so she feels like it's hidden. She loves building up her little nest there and I have to be careful she doesn't steal any papers I actually need!

That is just a small bit of the activities that she does, but she seems to want more always! I'm working on trick training her which she seems to like, but she has so much energy, she gets distracted after a few rounds and wants to go run around and climb on everything instead. She's discovered the small crack underneath the door and is shredding the carpeting trying to make a hole big enough to squeeze under.

I bought a wodent wheel for her and she figured out how to use it the first day. She will trot inside it for a few seconds, but I've never seen her actually run in it yet, so she doesn't use up a whole lot of energy with it. Would a flying saucer wheel maybe be better? I'd love to see her really book it!

All of this doesn't seem to be enough for her! Does anyone have any suggestions for an over active little rat? I'll be relieved once her babies are grown and she can play with them! I love her activity level, I just want to find things that are good for her to do. She gets anxious when she's bored and I think that's why she had barbered off all the hair on her forearms because she was stuck in a little 10 gal tank and never taken out when she was at the petshop.

This world is not big enough for Bijou! She needs more things to do lol.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Heres some waffel pasted straight from my website on how i tackle cage enrichment

One of the best ways to choose the right enrichment and toys for your rats is to think about it's natural behaviours and giving the rats the opportunity to express them.

Running - Rats need to run around both to gain exercise and to burn off all that energy. You can help them do this in a number of ways. Offering a decent amount of cage floor space unobstructed with too many obstacles works well. A wheel is also often a very good addition to a rats cage.

Rats need a large wheel, particularly fully grown bucks, between 27 and 30 cm diameter should suit fully grown rats though smaller wheels may be used for small rats. The rat should always run with it’s body held as near to straight as possible, if the rat is running with a curved spine the wheel is too small for it and it could damage its back. The wheel should also not be made of wire or have open spokes. Many accidents have been reported where a rat has caught something in the spokes or wire such as there tails, a foot or a friends head and it has become trapped and badly damaged. Luckily most rat wheels now on sale are made of plastic with a solid back plate. These are worth a try though some rats will never take to them. Particularly good wheel are the Wodent Wheel Wobust and the largest Silent Spinner.

Foraging and Digging - Rats love to dig and root through things, it suits there nosy nature and also helps keep them fit. In the wild they would naturally forage for there food and dig tunnels to live and sleep in so this is a very important behaviour to them. I have put both behaviours into one area as they do have a good overlap with a rat foraging in a deep layer often resorting to digging to reach the bottom. 

You can offer rats foraging opportunities by giving them a thick layer of a good dig-able substrate in the bottom of the cage. You can expand the area by adding litter trays full of substrate around the cage. Digging itself can be encouraged by offering a digging box, either in the cage or outside of it. A digging box is easy to make; first get a deep plastic box, ideally with a lid. Cut a rat sized hole in the lid and fill with something nice and diggable. Here are some good choices, alternating them works particularly well.
•60% organic compost, 40% sand
•shredded paper
•hay
•straw
•hemp
•shredded card
•dried leaves and twigs
•a mixture of 2-3 of the above

Climbing and Balancing - Rats love to climb, and they get really fit and strong when encouraged to do it as much as possible. There are several options for encouraging climbing. The first and most obvious is to make sure the rats have to use the bars lots and lots. You can do this by leaving a good gap between objects so the rats need to use the bars. Branches, ropes, rope nets, wine racks and parrot toys can also add another dimension to climbing. Try to also add in vertical climbing opportunities by wrapping branches and poles in string or rope, this encourages the rats to climb using different muscles.

Balancing also fits well with climbing as many objects which can be climbed also require a sense of balance. A rat uses a lot of muscles to keep well balanced on thin objects such as ropes and branches and it also improves it's general coordination. Start with objects that are very steady and well anchored then move to ropes with a little swing in them or even hang down freely.

Jumping - Rats jump very well, in the wild they are capable of jumping up to around 6 feet length ways with a good degree of accuracy. In the cage rats can easily jump from side to side and even up and down quite a way. Make sure you leave a good amount of space between objects and ensure that there is a good thick layer of substrate on the floor and hammocks, ropes etc. to catch any rats that might fall.

Gnawing - Rats are rodents who are characterised by having constantly growing incisor teeth specifically designed for gnawing. Contrary to popular rumour though rats do not need to gnaw to keep there teeth short. However most rats love to chew and gnaw and offering them some items that they can freely gnaw may save your expensive furniture, hammocks and cage base. Wood items are particularly good for gnawing and branches, parrot toys, nuts in their shells and even cooked bones make excellent chew toys for rats.

Nest building - Many rats, especially does, will love to build a nest, or at least move paper around in a vaguely purposeful method. Offering a good choice of bedding material (see Bedding section for more information on choosing the right bedding) will be appreciated by most rats, and to make it more exciting you can put it in awkward positions, hang it from the roof, hide it in boxes or even offer boxes of tissue or cheap toilet rolls for them to destroy.
Love of Variety - Whilst not strictly a behaviour this is something that can really be exploited to give your rats happy, active and stimulating lives. Try to vary the objects, set up, smells and textures in your cage as much as possible. It does mean that you will need more toys and activities than a single set up but the rats get a lot of enjoyment every time they have a new cage set up, with new challenges to face them. Adding variety into your rats lives can be as simple as changing the substrate, or throwing in a handful of nice clean grass from your garden, to as complex as changing the entire layout of the cage every time.
. 
For more ideas if you post a photo of your cage and can see what i think might be missing. Also one of the best ways i have of enriching my lads lives is how i feed. They dont get bowls, in my house you have to work for your dinner and food is scattered around in the substrate, or digging box/litter trays. I also like to hang bits of veg around the cage, hide food in boxes and drawers that they have to open to get to there dinner and similar.


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## SheWroteLove1 (Jan 18, 2013)

Just throwing this out there- my rat LOVES bird toys. Anything with bells, mirrors, bright colors. 

Otherwise I think it's great you're doing the trick training. 

I think she might really like a shoebox filled with shredded paper, fleece strips, etc (just random materials of different types) that has a hole cut in the lid for her to get in and out. 

My rat loves sticks. I get one from outside, boil it in water, cool it, rub olive oil all over it, and let my rat have it. She gnaws and runs around with it XD

Cat toys. My rat LOVES those cheap little jingle ball things that you can get 4 for $4 dollars at the Dollar General. She runs around with them all the time, hides them in her bedding, and just loves them. 

More bedding. I gave my rat 6 inches of the Carefresh bedding in her pan in the cage. It offers weeks of enjoyment to dig, burrow, and use it for nesting materials. She also loves hiding all her toys in there 

My rat loves when I dangle a shoe lace in front of her and wiggle it around. Get her jumping around and running- use up that energy!


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

My rats loved when I put stick perches in their cage; the ones made for birds. They like to sit and balance.

I tried the rat toy ideas on the dapper rat website, but not all of them were a big hit. I did the ratty pinata; fold two sheets of paper towels into a ball with yummy treats and food, and hang it a bit out of reach. Unfortunately, my female just climbed upside down along the top of the cage, chewed the rope, and ate everything...
They didn't like pea fishing or cracking a hard-boiled egg, but those are other ideas.

I hung some rope in the cage and jammed a a strawberrry up there to make them climb and get it. They actually weren't good at climbing.


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