My pet rat will do a poop in her litter tray but then wees on the floor of her cage after shes piled all of the bedding into the middle of her cage! both of these problems are driving me nuts! What can i do to fix them?
2007-02-13 14:20:47 · 3 answers · asked by ljo_angel85 2 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
I've never managed to get rats to use the litter tray for wees. I'm just grateful that most of them wee on surfaces that are easy to wipe clean.
Your girl is making herself a nest by piling up the bedding. She is building it in the middle as it is the safest area as its away from the edges. Is she on her own? Has she got other houses she could use? Try putting one of her houses in the middle with some of the bedding already in it. If she accepts that then each time you clean the cage you can slowly move the house to where you want it to be.
2007-02-14 09:54:59 · answer #1 · answered by kiffie 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Rats are what they are and we need to accept their individual behaviors in order to accept them as pets.
Rat Behavior and Biology:
http://www.ratbehavior.org/
Yours is a delema experienced by many rat-keepers and some have found a solution, although this takes time, consistancy, and dedication, and it doesn't always work.
You need to clean up the pees and deodorize the cage with hydrogen peroxide and vinegar.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=Cleaning+the+rat+cage+with+hydrogen+peroxide+and+vinigar&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAscYqL80.x8jy71l3_Mj6BgazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAsuRZXHyX3jz_HHQlFel4xgazKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=Cleaning+the+rat+cage+with+hydrogen+peroxide+and+vinigar
Put down fresh bedding. When she pees pick up that peed-on bedding and put it in her litter box. Clean out the cage (but not the litterbox) as described above, and repeat the process until she catches on. She will not understand at all that she is suppose to use the litterbox if the smell of ammonia lingers in any other area of the cage.
The other notion is that she is marking her territory in the way that she covers her pee areas. You are driving *her* nuts by constantly removing her signs.
Sandra Beasley and the Spaz Rats
(Rattery, Rescue, and Rat-care Expert)
http://spazrats.tripod.com
Slave to over 200 pet rats and member of 12+ rat-only forums in the last 11 years
2007-02-15 17:24:32 · answer #2 · answered by spazrats 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
which ever one of us figures that out first let the other know,im having the same issue with my hamster
she will poo in her potty but wee in cage,i tried to put her potty in the corner she goes wee in,but all she did was wee in another corner and only use her potty to poo,i think she like to play with the litter pellets.(but maybe that trick will work for your rat)
2007-02-14 06:21:27 · answer #3 · answered by moonwalk 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋