# help! rats chewing on plastic cage cover!



## ratrightsactivist (Apr 12, 2021)

so i have two male rats, probably about a year old now. we adopted them from a woman when they were around 6 months who couldn’t keep them at her new apartment. from the get go it was clear they were never PROPERLY socialized; they were happy sniffing your hand and comfortable taking food from you, they’ll even lick peanut butter off your finger when offered as an (occasional!) treat, but they won’t let us handle them. we had been making some great progress, where the rats would climb up your arm after enough time then run right back, and then we transferred them to a new, larger cage (the one they were in was large enough for one rat, but definitely not two, and they’re large rats! so they tripled in cage size) and hit the reset button. no handling allowed, they even made me fight them to get them in the new cage (not a process that could’ve happened on their own terms because of the cat in the house).

anyways, because they won’t let us handle them (which we work on whenever i have free time), they’re getting bored inside their cage and have begun to chew the plastic bottom-cover on the second story. literally pushing their bedding out of the way to do it. i’ve gotten them wood chews and lickable treats and cardboard tubes and foraging toys and they’re not interested in any of it! they’ll chew the wood sticks i bought for them for a day and a half and decide they want to discard them. they’ve had a hay-stuffed log sitting in the cage for a month and haven’t even touched it. they have, however, ripped up the nylon ferret tube i got for them. how do i stop them from chewing the things they’re not supposed to and get them to chew on chewing treats? bonus points if it stops the plastic chewing or if you offer fun rat toys they can’t destroy!


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## 511958 (Feb 11, 2019)

Maybe put some cardboard over the area they are chewing? It'll only be a temporary solution though. Could you maybe order a custom bass pan or make an acrylic base for the cage?

What cage is this?


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## ratrightsactivist (Apr 12, 2021)

Willow&Whiskers said:


> Maybe put some cardboard over the area they are chewing? It'll only be a temporary solution though. Could you maybe order a custom bass pan or make an acrylic base for the cage?
> 
> What cage is this?


They have a double story Critter Nation cage. I’ll add a photo of the cage but don’t have any of the spot they’ve chewed - just from when it was brand new and barren-looking. I would take out the plastic covering but then it’s a wire bottom. A custom bass pan could work, and I like that they make them for cages from the same company, but would the sharp edges hurt their feet?


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## ratmom! (Mar 11, 2021)

you’re cage looks pretty bare... I would add some toys and hammocks and ropes and ladders


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## ratrightsactivist (Apr 12, 2021)

Willow&Whiskers said:


> Maybe put some cardboard over the area they are chewing? It'll only be a temporary solution though. Could you maybe order a custom bass pan or make an acrylic base for the cage?
> 
> What cage is this?


I forgot to include this in my other reply, but it’s worth noting that we had them in their old, way too small cage that they came to us in for a few months to give them more time to adjust before transferring them. That one was entirely wire with no cover for their feet so they didn’t have a cover to chew, but they did destroy their bunk bed hammock to sleep between the layers of fabric. I’ve offered them so many toys in the new cage and the old and they’re uninterested in all of them


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## ratrightsactivist (Apr 12, 2021)

ratmom! said:


> you’re cage looks pretty bare... I would add some toys and hammocks and ropes and ladders


As I said in that reply, that photo was from when I first got the new cage and at that point it was pretty bare. I underestimated the size (ordered it off Chewy) and have since added many toys that they’re not interested in. Won’t run on the wheel or forage with their hay log and they absolutely demolished a tunnel I had put in there. They’ve been offered wood chews that they ignored completely and a bendable wooden bridge that they chewed a little, but mostly just ignore.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

Anything in their space belongs to them and they'll do whatever they want with it. If they decide that they want to chew something, they're just going to do it and there's not much you can do to stop it. 

Like @WillowWhiskers mentioned, metal trays might be a good idea. The ones made by Bass Equipment have folded edges so they're not sharp. Ordering acrylic cut to size and making your own pans is another good option. Rats won't chew acrylic but you would want to sand cut edges because they can be a little sharp.


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## 2blackdumbos (Mar 23, 2021)

ratrightsactivist said:


> so i have two male rats, probably about a year old now. we adopted them from a woman when they were around 6 months who couldn’t keep them at her new apartment. from the get go it was clear they were never PROPERLY socialized; they were happy sniffing your hand and comfortable taking food from you, they’ll even lick peanut butter off your finger when offered as an (occasional!) treat, but they won’t let us handle them. we had been making some great progress, where the rats would climb up your arm after enough time then run right back, and then we transferred them to a new, larger cage (the one they were in was large enough for one rat, but definitely not two, and they’re large rats! so they tripled in cage size) and hit the reset button. no handling allowed, they even made me fight them to get them in the new cage (not a process that could’ve happened on their own terms because of the cat in the house).
> 
> anyways, because they won’t let us handle them (which we work on whenever i have free time), they’re getting bored inside their cage and have begun to chew the plastic bottom-cover on the second story. literally pushing their bedding out of the way to do it. i’ve gotten them wood chews and lickable treats and cardboard tubes and foraging toys and they’re not interested in any of it! they’ll chew the wood sticks i bought for them for a day and a half and decide they want to discard them. they’ve had a hay-stuffed log sitting in the cage for a month and haven’t even touched it. they have, however, ripped up the nylon ferret tube i got for them. how do i stop them from chewing the things they’re not supposed to and get them to chew on chewing treats? bonus points if it stops the plastic chewing or if you offer fun rat toys they can’t destroy!


my rats do this with my SCN too, its their space they can do whatever they want with it, it doesn't bother me too much? They just prefer chewing on it instead of their toys, also your cage looks (in the nicest way possible) very boring and un-enriching. Add wood chews, ropes, ladders, tunnels, etc.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

2blackdumbos said:


> also your cage looks (in the nicest way possible) very boring and un-enriching.


I remember when I first got a double unit CN. Being that it was a massive upgrade, it took me a little time to gather the number of cage accessories to fill the cage. My first set-ups were pretty barren, as well. As OP has mentioned twice in this thread, the picture was taken when they first got their cage.


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## Angel12 (Apr 9, 2021)

Uhm don't feed rats peanut butter its too sticky and can kill them...


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## Angel12 (Apr 9, 2021)

So uhm. I recommend taking all the shelves out and the middle tray and filling it with toys. Some cheaper toys could be cardboard boxes cable tied to the cage (they love chewing these and it doesn't matter if they destroy it  get some tie/scarf hangers to use as nets


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## _Rat_Girl_ (Apr 8, 2021)

ratrightsactivist said:


> so i have two male rats, probably about a year old now. we adopted them from a woman when they were around 6 months who couldn’t keep them at her new apartment. from the get go it was clear they were never PROPERLY socialized; they were happy sniffing your hand and comfortable taking food from you, they’ll even lick peanut butter off your finger when offered as an (occasional!) treat, but they won’t let us handle them. we had been making some great progress, where the rats would climb up your arm after enough time then run right back, and then we transferred them to a new, larger cage (the one they were in was large enough for one rat, but definitely not two, and they’re large rats! so they tripled in cage size) and hit the reset button. no handling allowed, they even made me fight them to get them in the new cage (not a process that could’ve happened on their own terms because of the cat in the house).
> 
> anyways, because they won’t let us handle them (which we work on whenever i have free time), they’re getting bored inside their cage and have begun to chew the plastic bottom-cover on the second story. literally pushing their bedding out of the way to do it. i’ve gotten them wood chews and lickable treats and cardboard tubes and foraging toys and they’re not interested in any of it! they’ll chew the wood sticks i bought for them for a day and a half and decide they want to discard them. they’ve had a hay-stuffed log sitting in the cage for a month and haven’t even touched it. they have, however, ripped up the nylon ferret tube i got for them. how do i stop them from chewing the things they’re not supposed to and get them to chew on chewing treats? bonus points if it stops the plastic chewing or if you offer fun rat toys they can’t destroy!


I have some tips on how to get them to stop chewing all though it might not work, all rats are different.

Put some weird smelling spray (or but the ones online) and see if they don’t like it, they will most likely avoid chewing!

You can also put duck tape where they are chewing because they, for some reason, don’t like duck tape.

Putting more food in the cage might work as well because they will rather munch on that instead of the cage.


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