hi! im sophia and i have 2 pet rats im a first time owner and im having some behaviour problems, i love my rats so much and i dont know if this is normal but my rat rosey is never happy with what she has, first i had her in a cage and she would do ANYTHING to get out. like she would stick her head out and refuse to go back in when i tryed to close the door. i would have the pick her up and put her back in and closh the door really quickly so now i just let them run around their own room. and it is a really big room full of lots of intersting things they can chew on and play with and hide under but at night she is constanty chewing on the bottem of the door to get out! shes got a big chunk taken out and so enof she will have made her grand escape! she is allways finding ways to get out when im not looking and nothing seems to be good enof for her! she allways seems to want more and she is so picky! dont get me wrong i love her to death but is there anyway i can get her to be happy with what she has? or at least get her to stop chewing on the godamn door? lol

Hi, lucky rats to have their own room

My friend's rats used to have a big walk in wardrobe to themselves.. She had put garden netting up the walls and created shelves linked with branches for then to climb on.

She took the door of the wardrobe and made a frame, the bottom half was fixed (when I say half I mean you could just about step over it) the top hald was hinged and the whole frame was covered with chicken wire, so you could see into the cage.

Also what I thought was really cool, she got tubes (like giant hamster tubes for rotastak) and made a run around her room with it.

Also, rats are quite sociable so maybe she just wants more human contact? My friend used to let hers run about the bedroom they loved to sit on her shoulder, and she had a harness for them too.

x

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aye there's always one!

you could try giving her a fright, when she's nawing on the bottom on the door, either stamping your foot on the other side or spraying something unpleasant (obviously something non-toxic or harmful) under the door at her. you might have to do this several times to get the message through.

Or don't let them out of their cage unattended, but make sure they get a long run around with you giving them lots of easy access to you should they want it, every day. you may find she just wants to be with you. They should reset their sleep times etc for when they're in their cage and be awake when your around. they should get ~20 mins at least of your time a day. though i play with mine for an hour or more and am in and out of their room alot.

you can also 'punisher' her for doing things wrong, by flipping her on to her back and firmly but gently holding her down, let her get out from under your hand, and just repeat every time she does anything that's wrong, like nibbling the bottom of the door. Alpha rats do this to smaller rats to show they're the boss and that the other rat is doing something the alpha rat doesn't like or want them to do. So rosey should pick up quickly what your telling her you don't like her doing.

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This is not a game of 'who the fek are you'.

Not a single gram of fek shall be given today.

rats are sociable she trust you and want lots of fuss and new smell to have a go at.
Don't frighten her you may lost her trust and she may not forgive you
if she nawing all the time she may have problem with her teeth don't forget her teeth are alway growing or she may just be bored

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A dog comes when you called - a cat takes a message and gets back to you.

rats don't hold grudges, trust me, i'm clumsy and have dropped things that have scared a few of mine, they know i'm the culprit they give me the evils for all of 5 seconds before coming over for cuddles.

making her think something scary is on the other side of the door may stop her trying to escape through it or going too near it without you in attendance, our cats do this job admirably.

you might find that the door is very nibblesome! we've found that the plastic that most cagemakers use for the cages are just the right soft consistency (genius!) for the enjoyment of the rat nibbling, other plastics just aren't as nice apparently, the door might have the same effect for rosey.

i would say try getting chew toys for your rats, but from experience these get completely ignored, you're more likey to get her attention with tissue boxes and shoe boxes etc.
You could also put a metal corner on the bottom of the door (depending on your clearance) to stop her nibbling it? we've had to do this to the inside of our cage. you know that fantasticly placed lip at the bottom of the cage, put there for god-knows-what-reason, is where one of ours decided to start getting out. had she succeeded, rolly who's cage she would have dropped into would have killed her, they don't nibble the metal corner rod that's on all ledges, it's not the right consistency
you should be able to find an L-shaped metal rod (~1cmx1cmx1m(or longer)) at a diy store. glue it to the door making sure none of the glue is near the edges, keep them out of the room until the glue is dried and the room well aired or screw/nail it on.

You could also try smearing the bottom of the door with something she does like the taste of (non-toxic obviously)

__________________
This is not a game of 'who the fek are you'.

Not a single gram of fek shall be given today.