# Destructive rats- PLEASE help?



## Andyurgay (Jun 10, 2013)

Please bare with me:
I have two young (slightly under a year old) female rats and over the last 4 months, they have become more and more destructive. I expected this within their cage and know their toys will not last long. But during free roam time, they have gotten worse. They used to scamper around on my bed with me while I played video games and fed them occasional treats. Then I would see less of them and they would only pop out from behind my bed to grab a treat and run off with it. I didn't think much of it until it went on for a month or so. Only to find they had made a little treat nest under my bed full of random objects they found around my room, chewed to bits and hid in a corner. 

So I cleaned that up, set my box spring and mattress on the floor, hoping they would hide their treats in their cage or in one of the play boxes and places I'd made around my room. They never set foot in them. Instead, they chewed a hole into my box spring and hid their "treasures" in there. Eventually I had to replace it. I started taking their food dish out of their cage during free time because I noticed them running into the cage, grabbing mouth fulls of food and running under the bed with it. But I don't want to close their cage during this time because that is where their water is. I try to engage them during this time but they will hang out for a bit, only to revert back to hiding under the bed and hiding food.

Eventually, I had to replace my second box spring because it had 3 different rat holes in it and reeked of rat pee. Only to find they had also burrowed a hole in my mattress as well. So I had to get a whole new bed set. So I built a cardboard box castle for them in my room with lots of rooms and tunnels and hide outs and things like that, hoping they would be interested and maybe build little nests and hide their treats in there, chew that up instead of my bed, ect. But they are scared of it from some reason. I tried rubbing their treats on it and hiding them in it, they won't even go near it.

I've had my new bed in for two days and tonight I got home from work, let the girls free roam alone for a bit and came back up to find mattress foam all over my floor. They already have a decent hole in the mattress. I'm not upset, I just want to know, is there anything I can do to help them get out this energy? Most nights I can spend their free roam time with them. Even then, they only spend time with me when I have treats or they are feeling cuddly. But then it's usually only my girl Rascal. Valencia is always off doing her thing (burrowing holes?) even when I try to engage her with treats and play.
But some nights I work during the day, late into the night and don't have the energy to play with them for long before I fall asleep and then they roam alone for an hour or so. If they don't get free time out, they chew the ropes on their hammocks and tubes so I've had to resew those until they are almost useless. That and Valencia will chew at the cage bars for hours if I put her back before she is ready and I feel just awful.

These girls just have too much energy and I don't know how to help them use it up. I have a huge room that I try to make as enriching for them as possible but they just are not interested in anything I've tried. And I've tried everything off dapper rat and other sites, other advice and just, I'm running out of options. They have ripped the carpet out in some corners, chewed the baseboards of my walls, they find a way onto EVERYTHING despite what I thought was impossible for them. I've tried letting them roam my back yard under watch and they seem to like it, but I do have outdoor cats and I'm sure a rat would have no problem finding a way up or under my wood fence. I've tried to fit them with harnesses so I can maybe take them outside where there are no cats but they have no tolerance for it. I'm almost out of options. If I can't figure something out, I cannot keep them. We rent this house, and based on the damage they have done so far, we will not get out security deposit back. So I cannot let it get worse. But I love them and only want to make them happy and figure something out.

Any suggestions? Really, anything. I've tried all I can. Apart from letting them free roam in the bathroom, which scares Valencia, I have no other ideas. I'm scared that I may have to adopt them out, but from working at petsmart, I know the lengths people will go through to get feeder rats. 
I can charge a good deal for them and give them the cage free, hoping that will give a new owner a boost. But what person looking for feeders is going to pass up a free $200 cage they can sell for profit? And who is going to adopt $20-$30 rats ($15 at petsmart) with a $100 cage when they can get one at petsmart for $50? (granted mine is 3 times that size but there are those people). So I'd like to avoid adopting them out at all costs but if it comes down to it, I cannot keep them. I really, really need help guys.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Unfortunately, this is how rats can be especially girls. If you could block a hallway off or just bite the bullet and make them play in the bathroom you'd probably be better off. You could alternately construct a playpen using plywood boards or even cardboard and section off part of your room for them.

More time consuming would be to suggest you interact with them during free range. Rather than play games, watch them and try to get them to play with you. If they misbehave, punish them. 

If you decide to keep them on carpet, purchase a rug from the goodwill and use that to save your floor. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## cassieb (Aug 6, 2013)

Make a little fort out of your old mattress and box spring. That way they still have whatever it is attracting them to it an your new bed will be in one piece. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Andyurgay (Jun 10, 2013)

I wish I had room to keep two separate beds in my room, but I don't lol 
Unfortunately, I can now only let them run around while I'm in the room 100% of the time, so that means a bit less out of cage time for them. But I have taken to spending some time in the bigger bathroom with them both so hopefully Valencia will get comfortable in there. She was running around more in there tonight as opposed to just hiding.

I've also started taking the girls out back and letting them explore my bearded dragon enclosure under close watch. I'm still super nervous letting them just run about but it's secure enough that I feel safe letting them explore. They don't run off too far right now anyhow. It's a huge 12 foot by 5 foot enclosed section of my back yard made of a 3 foot high sheet metal fence that connects on one side to my solid wooden yard fence. I only ever hesitated to let them run around there because I was worried about any germs or weird things my bearded dragons left around it and also, if my girls found a gap or chewed one into the wooden fence. But I went over it the other day and let them run about for a bit and they seemed pretty entertained to climb around in the un-trimmed long grass, climb up the wooden logs we have in there and Rascal even dove right into the "pool". It's just the top of a plastic storage container set into the ground. She swam through it twice without even a second thought.

So I'm also teaching them to swim =] I'm just hoping all these new experiences and more physically demanding outtings will help tire them out a bit so being kept in their cage more than they used to be won't be so traumatic to them. Also added quite a few new treat toys they have never tried to their cage, will be building/ sewing more hammocks and tunnels in the next couple weeks and have taken to having them out more during the day. Even though it means I have to wake them up, they seem to enjoy it. I rarely did it before because my house is always VERY busy and VERY loud and my cats are inside more during the day than night but I try to take them out one at a time with me while I clean and do other things during the day.

I'm just hoping I'm doing the right things. I feel bad that they can't get out and free roam my room for so long anymore but I can I can make up for it and I'm not mentally torturing them by having them in their cage more than they are used to.


----------



## Andyurgay (Jun 10, 2013)

They are also not afraid of the box castle I built them anymore =] One night I got really sad seeing Val chewing the bars when I came home so I decided to try one more thing. I scooped some of their used bedding and poop out of their cage and spread it around inside all of the compartments in the castle. Instantly, they both just hopped right in when I held them up to the openings. How funny is that? Now they will climb around for a while, find the treats I hide and pop back out. They won't really pay it any attention unless I put them in it, but I'm going to be adding toys and beds and maybe a small "pool" in there so maybe they will want to spend more time in there one day.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

First of all rats hide treats in places they think you don't know about. If you built them a castle that's the very last place they will hide their treats. And some rats get destructive when they are bored. I currently have two rats loose somewhere about the house napping. They will turn up when they are hungry or want attention. They will steal some papers or scraps of stuff, but otherwise they don't do any damage. On the other hand, Fuzzy Rat who was a true shoulder rat and loved the outdoors got bored easily and liked to slice wires. Keeping her occupied outdoors worked great for her until winter came and then when she couldn't get out she eventually got cabin fever and she could do an amazing amount of damage very quickly.

Look up my thread on shoulder rats and outdoor activities if you want outdoor ideas and safety tips. Otherwise you will find some rats are house safe while other rats are home-wreckers. As to tiring your girls out, Fuzzy Rat could run along at nearly a human jogging pace for over a quarter mile when she was young and strong. She never played with toys. She would learn not to chew something if I told her NO! So instead, she would leave that wire alone and just move on to slice another wire elsewhere. Don't eat wires meant don't eat that wire. So by the time she passed there were lots of soldered wires that were safe, but she always seemed to find another one she didn't think was off limits.

Best luck.


----------



## Andyurgay (Jun 10, 2013)

I noticed lol They started hiding them on my window sill haha Better there than somewhere harder to get to. I'll just keep letting them think that's a great hiding spot.
They are both definitely not house safe so I'm just trying to get them outside, out of my room and occupied as much as possible while in my room. And who knows, maybe after a while of getting out of the room, hopefully burning off a lot of that crazy energy and some training they will become house safe. I've got a list of things I'm going to try with them in the up coming future. Thank you =]


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

So my girls are currently reasonably house safe... still as I couldn't take Max out last night I let them free range over night.... So Max figured she needed more papers for her nest and pushed a bunch off the photocopier and started to drag them to one of her nests... OK woke up to rustling papers and collected them back up.... Then a 5:00 AM Max woke up, went to her old cage, had her drink did her AM bathroom chores and started dashing around my bed, diving under my covers and burrowing as fast as possible up to my neck then out and back again, this went on while I swatted at her for a while, I heard similar swatting from my daughter's room, then things got pretty quiet except the excited sounds of little rat feet scampering about and stuff falling around the house... I know better then to keep breakables out... Later on, Amelia pops up on my bed, pries my mouth open and pokes her head in... That's her way of saying "I'm hungry, put me back into my cage where the food is." So, even when your rats aren't actually destructive per se, it's always a challenge to give them enough exercise and running room indoors. 

Just a thought... they sell really inexpensive air beds, easily wrapped in a thick comforter or cover. I have a couple set up for guests. My rats do jump up on them and off of them but don't show any interest in the vinyl balloon beds as far as chewing on them. Again, my rats don't destroy stuff, but for about $20.00 you can get a cheap one and for about $45.00 you can get a nice one at Walmart... They sleep pretty well, patch kits are cheap, about $5.00 and you might be able to preserve your box spring and mattress until your rats get over their taste for mattress stuffing. Now there is the possibility for sudden deflation in the middle of the night, but for $20.00 it might be worth finding some humor in the experiment if it goes wrong, and will save your more expensive bed.

Lastly... don't help your rats with their secret hiding spot, as soon as they know you know about it, they will move their secret place elsewhere.

Below is a photo of two of my rats at our safe site, it's 40 acres of short cut grass surrounded by water on three sides and some small trees, gazebos and kiddie playground for the rats to explore. It even has a heated bathroom with running water and a picnic area. Max tears around from tree to tree and scampers about in the trees. She can climb just like a squirrel, but not jump from branch to branch. She will walk around the park with us and sometimes sprint from us to a tree and back. An two three hours there she's visibly tired. And it is lots of fun to be able to chase around with your rats when they really have running room.


----------



## anawelch (Sep 25, 2013)

Wow that sounds the complete opposite of my boys. I have to try and get them to play and chew on things. They sleep all day and don't care for all the wood toys I put in there for them. Yesterday I was waiting for them to get up so I could get them out, finally, at 12 am they were awake so I took one out and he passed out on my shoulder while the other one immediately fell asleep in the cage. I was like "really?". During free range all my boys like to do is burrow in hair or go behind the couch cushion and sleep. And for some reason they have zero interest in treats during free range time even their favorites.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

All of the girls I've had, when they hit puberty get stuck in high gear. It's like they can't stop their feet from moving. Yes they sleep, but it's like throwing an off switch... They go form tearing around like maniacs to evaporating into some hidey hole from which there's no waking them. The trick is to catch them after they have burned off most of the excess energy and when they are sleepy if you want some affection. About 9:00 AM is a good time for Max, she will lay down on her side and nibble my fingernails as I skritch her belly, then she will crawl off under something and sleep until dinner time. When she wakes up she's a full on maniac again.

Young girl rats really are interesting to watch, it's like they have 100 things to do and 50 places to go and 1000 thoughts running around in their heads all at the same time. As they get older they slow down and seem to become more comfortable in their own fur.

When my girls are in hyper mode most would eat, but all would stash food.... I mean they were to wound up to stop and chew for long but scurrying about with food served two purposes, it burned off energy and gave them something to eat later.


----------

