Rat's Chewing!!!

[JGuitaristR]

My 3 rats are chewing their covering totally off. It's like a plastic covering, heavy duty plastic. I put it on there when I first got them to stop Chester from escaping. Well, now they have chewed rows and rows of this stuff off. I covered parts of it, when they first started doing it and now they've chewed it off again. They've got plenty of things to chew on, including a rawhide, which I've been told they can have, rat 'sticks' to chew on and a rat treat w/ a stick in the middle they can chew on, they're partially to the middle. I went to go talk to the rats a few minutes ago to see if Chester would still come out, but all he did was stick his head out. It is impossible to get them to stop chewing, correct? Is there ANYTHING I can do to at least minimize it? Thank you!

[wolfsoul]

I wonder if their is a special spray for rodents that you can spray on the plastic to make it tatse bad??? I'm not sure what else I can say really...

My rat once chewed through the bars of his cage, but I just covered it up and he didn't try it again, so this isn't exactly my area of expertise...

Do they bother to chew on the rawhide at all? My rats just love their rawhide

[luckies4me]

You said you sprayed the coating on yourself? Powdercoating does not stick unless it is cooked on, and ran through a heating system. PVC coating is even better. If it wasn't baked on, it will come off. Even the best of cages, like Martins still come off, but not as severely as you are describing.


Even if they have other things to chew, they will still chew there, at least that is what I have found out.

[JGuitaristR]

It's not a spray? It's like chicken wire, just heavy duty plastic.
They don't touch their rawhide. I don't know why - what kind do you give 'em? Like, what shape?
I don't want Chester getting out, the smallest one and now they can stick their heads and tails out and I have a dog who is just fascinated by them. Of course now, that they've chewed through it, Bart, the dog, can't get to them. Until I figure out what to do, they'll be separated.
Anyway, thanks for your help!

[luckies4me]

Hmm, I wonder if Bitter Apples Spray will work?

[lv4dogs]

Rats are chewers thats for sure. My only suggestion is to get them a different cage. I have a martins (very good quality) my rats over the years are chewing the coating off that, luckily it does not make the holes large enough for them to escape through.

[luckies4me]

I too have a Martins, an R695, but I have found that Quality Cages coating last a heck of a lot longer, and a lot sturdier than the Martins as well.

[wolfsoul]

They don't touch their rawhide. I don't know why - what kind do you give 'em? Like, what shape?

Well, I'm currently giving them three different kinds of rawhide.

Their favourite kind are the ball shaped ones, a bit smaller than a tennis ball, made of compressed rawhide.

The kind they like second best is a thick ring in a heart shape made of compressed rawhide. It has a coating that is supposed to make it taste like honey (I tried it, it does not taste a thing like honey lol)

And the other kind that probably works out their teeth the most, are called rawhide chips. They are flat and round, and about the size of a potato chip that we might eat..It is just regular rawhide, not compressed.

What kind are you giving your rats now?

PS if you find a kind like the stuff I give mine, and the rats enjoy it, then a good thing to do (that probably makes my rats mad at me lol) is to tie it to the roof of their cage so it's hanging, and they will have to stand to get at it. It provides a challenge and will stimulate their brains, and give their body a workout.

It only takes my rats about 20 minutes to chew around the place where it's hanging, take it down and move it into their boxes where they eat the rest of it

[JGuitaristR]

(I don't know how to do the whole quoting thing...)
I have a rawhide in their cage that has the knots at either end. It's not very big at all, but the most they'll ever do with it is just move it from one end of the cage to the other.

"(I tried it, it does not taste a thing like honey lol)"

lol, I did that a while back.

As soon as I find the rawhide that you're talking about, I'll tie it to the top of the cage - I never thought of it like that... thanks!

"It only takes my rats about 20 minutes to chew around the place where it's hanging, take it down and move it into their boxes where they eat the rest of it"

lol!

Chester, one of my rats, likes to get what looks to be big pieces of alfalfa from his food, take it into their little house and just keep it there. He'll do this until all of the pieces are gone, but he won't eat them. Do any of your rats do something similar to this?

Thanks, again!

[wolfsoul]

Chester, one of my rats, likes to get what looks to be big pieces of alfalfa from his food, take it into their little house and just keep it there. He'll do this until all of the pieces are gone, but he won't eat them. Do any of your rats do something similar to this?

Lol, no, but it's kind of funny cuz Frisco hads three floors to his cage, and Icarus has three cages put together (like a big one ) And they will take what they think is best from their food, then make the big trip all the way to the other side of their cage where they will continue to eat it heehee

If you do tie up the rawhide, it's easier to tie it with a strong wire or something that they can't just chew off easily so the rawhide falls lol. Iused to tie it up with yarn until I figured out their secret Now I use the metal holders for water bottles - I just hang them from the roof!

I know that the heart shaped kind of rawhide is by Fortum. I think they are a pretty good company? Not too sure, but my pet store sells them for fairly cheap, and they are pretty lol..
The rawhide chips are by Petcetera, but that's a Canadian company, and I'm not sure about the others, because they aren't in a package, they are just set out in jars..for free heehee

[lv4dogs]

Wolfsoul, how did you get your pic's like that? I like it!

[wolfsoul]

Thanks! I have a program called photodeluxe, and I can make my pictures do funky things lol

What I did to these pics is called accented edges If you ever want me to do something neat to your pics, just pm me! I'd be happy to!

[OiFaceJenn]

My rat is having a chewing problem as well, but not on her cage. She's chewing up everything in my room, my down blanket, all my stuffed animals, some of my shirts, and even my speaker wires. I don't know how to get her to stop so if you know anything please tell me. I let her out all the time, and I feel bad keeping her in there because she can't stop chewing on my stuff. Please help
-Jenn

[HollandLoppy89]

I have a female rat. She is still a "baby" I guess. She doesn't chew at all on anything besides her treats and things. But, if your rats keep escaping I have a question for you. Are your rats females or males? Females are more prone to escaping and males just like to hang out. This is because females' instincts are to look for food. We had to change our rat's cage because the wires were too thick and she could squeeze through them. We've had no more problems with her getting out since.