# Rats won't chew on toys/chews?



## margle12 (Feb 14, 2018)

Hello! I have two male rats and I've noticed that neither of them really chew on anything that I've give them. They have a lava block and and various wooden toys that they never use. I have given them branches from our apple trees and at first they liked them but now they don't. They will happily chew on ropes and fleece though. 

One of my boys really likes almonds so I'll give him an almond in the shell about once a week.

Does anyone have any suggestions and stuff for them to chew on? I'm worried that their teeth will get overgrown.

~ Margo


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Rats aren't really big fans of chew toys. Personally, I think they find them boring (I mean, usually chew toys are just lumps of colorful wood (and considering that rats are more or less color blind, this doesn't matter much to them)).


My girl Latte has just recently started chewing on the cage lava block at 2, and I've pretty much had one in the cage ever since she was 5 months old. So rat "preferences" for chewing can definitely change (my Latte's always been a huge fan of plastic bottles, so I actually save them and let her chew them up during playtime (rats won't swallow plastic, just chew on it and spit it out, so this is perfectly safe.)




But you really have no reason to worry. Rats primarily keep their teeth trim by bruxing, which is when they grind their teeth together (usually linked to the rat feeling content/nervous/scared, etc. - but with a healthy, tame rat, this is usually a sign of contentment). Even a rat without chew toys will do just fine teeth wise, unless genetically they are pre-disposed to malocclusion (or some sort of accident happens to their teeth to make them uneven lengths). Only one of my rats is really a "chewer", yet none of them have ever experienced any teeth issues/malocclusion.


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## Steffy (Oct 6, 2017)

I too have found that the novelty of pure chew toys wears off quickly. 
Branches are nibbled on a bit but one session is usually enough. Apple stalks are taken enthusiastically, get bitten once or twice and then dropped. Pear stalks are a bit more popular and last a little longer but are shredded to bits within 10 seconds or so. Mine do like the occasional date pip to shred to bits but if they got one every day they would lose interest quickly.
Nuts in their shell on the other hand they cannot get enough of! 
And of course things you don't want them to chew are popular, like rubbery remote control buttons:-/or wooden window frames:-( while their own wooden cage is completely unchewed!


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## margle12 (Feb 14, 2018)

Thank you! I'll try a plastic bottle and see what they think 

I have noticed that they like things that aren't theirs! Puzzle pieces... Barbie accessories... Makeup wipes... Makeup brushes...
My boys are also in a wooden cage and havent touched it or tried to escape which I'm thankful for! 

As I was typing this Ash found an empty sucker stick and went and hid with it.


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## athenianratdaddy (Dec 20, 2017)

I have probably spend hundreds of $$$ over the years on toys that the rats have completely ignored. On the other hand they're all too quick to chew on things I consider valuable, like a nice merino wool sweater. Try giving them pistachios in the shell, but just a few (they're super fatty for rats!). I noticed that the rats continue to chew on the shells after the eat the nut, I always find them shredded. Also tie a few shoelaces on the inside of the cage (remove the plastic bit at the end). I took to doing that after I noticed that pretty much every rat liked to chew on the hood strings of my sweatshirts


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## Steffy (Oct 6, 2017)

> (remove the plastic bit at the end)


My Monsterchen loves the plastic end bits the most and removes them herself - as I have found out the hard way.


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## Ratologist (Nov 24, 2016)

Don't worry about it. As has already been mentioned, rats keep their own teeth trim by bruxing. Mine have never been interested in chew toys. The only chewing they really do is related to making themselves comfy little beds. They'll shred paper and cardboard and rip up fleece to rearrange it. They don't seem to chew just for the sake of chewing.


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