Fancy Rats Forum

I have a couple different foraging toys and my rats like and know how to use them. At the moment i do not scatter feed, because i try to get them more potty trained, so for now they only have a soft blanked on them cagebottom and a toilet with substrate, so no room for scatterfeeding atm.

Do you think feeding from foraging toys is a good substitute for scatter feeding?

I have one rat that puts on weight very easy, and he is lazy, so i think he will eat less when he has to work for it.

Also, how much RR mix to feed? Is about 2 tablespoons per rat daily ok?
And should i put everyting in the toys, or maybe provide a liitle bit in a bowl in the eveningand let them work for the rest?

The get fresh veggies in the morning.

Foraging toys will be much better than a bowl, so yes, ditch the bowl and share the food out between as many toys as possible.

The average amount of RR mix each rat should have daily is around 15g. Some need a bit more, some need less.

How long do you expect to toilet train in that way? If they haven't 'got it' in a couple of weeks then I'd recommend reverting to loose substrate as it's more important to them for enrichment reasons than toileting. Do you have a second toilet in the cage up high next to their favourite bed? That's the one I find they use most.

Yes i have multiple toilets, also up high in the cage.
But when i use bedding on the whole cagefloor, even when it is other than the toilet substrate, they poo everywhere, and not only in their toilets.

I would still say that providing loose substrate is more important than having that substrate poo free.

Yes i know, this is just to remind them there is a toilet, and it works wonders!
Maybe i should try another bedding. I use B2N in the toilets, and used geen mile on the cagebottom before.
Now with fleece on the cagefloor, they use the toilets 100%.

What bedding can i try next? Maybe something like carefresh? Or cotton and comfort/ no smell bedding?

I don't like hemp because it is sharp and it flies around the room when they jump.

well maybe.... i could use back2nature on the whole cagefloor? is it possible to let them scatterfeed in B2N?

B2N isn't suitable for the main floor either - they can't dig in it. Carefresh is perfumed so can make some rats sneeze. Have you got access to kiln dried/heat treated dust extracted shavings?

I can get this one, but not sure it is safe for rats:
https://plospan.com/product/kingsize-woodshavings/
or this:
http://www.allspan.de/en/cats-and-other-pets/

would this be suitable?
https://www.drdknaagdierwinkel.nl/en/ti ... dding.html

oowie wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:00 am

I can get this one, but not sure it is safe for rats:
https://plospan.com/product/kingsize-woodshavings/

This doesn't say it's been heat treated/kiln dried, but would be worth asking to see if it has.

oowie wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:25 am

or this:
http://www.allspan.de/en/cats-and-other-pets/

This is definitely not suitable, this sort of wood pellet disintegrates to sawdust.

oowie wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:25 am

would this be suitable?
https://www.drdknaagdierwinkel.nl/en/ti ... dding.html

This looks like it could be very dusty.

So it's a no to all of them apart from the first one which is a maybe.