He will only climb inside it to sleep in it, and to take food into it and sit and eat. He's about the laziest little thing I've ever seen! I've tried putting peanut butter on the top part, but he just got out and spun it with his little hand until he got to the peanut butter and ate it. He is smart, he knows his name and has been potty trained outside his cage, but I just cannot figure out how to make the little porker use his wheel! I spent a lot of money on it too! It is the largest Silent Spinner brand that clips to his cage. He's really got to lose weight, we give him too many treats, but a diet isn't going to be enough unless he can get exercise when he's up at night. (For those not familiar, rats are nocturnal and are about as active as a pile of mud during the day)
ANY TIPS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED BY MY FAMILY AND OUR FAT LITTLE BANDIT! :o) THANKS!
2007-02-14 09:07:29 · 17 answers · asked by justinscggirl 2 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Eh, typical male rat :) Your boy is at that age when the older male rat becomes a big, boofy, lap rat, and he doesn't really want to do much of anything (except to enjoy his scritches behind his ears). This is absolutely normal behavior. Since female rats are so much more active throughout their entire life, they are more inclined to use wheels..........but not the males. When boys are young and as lean as the girls, they are just as enthusiastic about their wheels. The guys hang out in theirs and use them for sleeping quarters and poo pads.
Rats are far too intelligent to enjoy running on wheels. If they do, it makes them neurotic. Is there a way instead of allowing him access to exercise outside of his cage? Chasing you up and down a hallway would be a good exercise. Use a piece of string and play like you would play with a cat.
Knowing rats the way I do and the reports from many other rat-keepers on my forums, there is nothing you can do to make him use his wheel if he doesn't want to. Most people have given up on wheels and removed them from the cages.
The only way to get him to loose weight is by looking to your family's will-power to *stop* giving him treats, and change his diet. I have only heard of a couple of people deliberately putting their rats on a diet, vet's orders. Their opinions on the idea is that is has been difficult.
Keep in mind that here's nothing wrong with a little chunkiness on your rat. When they get sick they loose weight very quickly and a little more beef on the bones can act as a buffer during illness. I've only had one over-weight male rat and he died from a sudden heart attack. And I've had many big males in my rat-keeping history, and they've been living to a ripe old age.
Feeding fat rats:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=feeding+fat+rats&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=feeding+fat+rats
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 08:47:52 · answer #1 · answered by spazrats 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Put her on the wheel from time to time and see if she will eventually take to it. Some wont. I would suggest other toys like ladders too. I had a ferret cage for my rats and they loved climbing the bars! Some just don't find an exercise wheel as enough entertainment and would prefer something else. Go to a pet store, get her a variety of toys and see which ones she takes to.
2016-03-29 06:38:34 · answer #2 · answered by Lynne 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some rats use the wheels and some don't. You may want to get him a new wheel. Our rats never used to run in the wheel but when we got them a new one from the pets shop they began using it. They just didn't like the one that came with the cage. We taught one of our adult rats to use the wheel by putting him in it and then turning it slowly. Eventually he got the jist that he could run in it but he only did so for short periods of time. If you want him to lose wieght you could try other types of exercise. There are tons of good rat toys at most good pet shops that will help little Bandit be more active. If your pet shop doesn't sell any try parrot toys. They are just as good. And you could always get him a hamster/rat ball and let him run around the room at night. Our rats didn't like the solid wheels because they echoed when they ran in them. I know that other wheels can be a tail hazard but we've never had a problem with that kind of thing.
2007-02-21 13:03:55 · answer #3 · answered by Skippy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've had many rats before and none of them have ever used running wheels. It's mostly hamsters and mice that like using wheels. The only time I heard you can train a rat to use it is when they are young. Rats do love climbing though, so add ladders, ropes and more levels to the cage to make a jungle gym for them. I recently bought a 5 foot tall ferret cage and I would highly recommend something like that because rats prefer a tall cage rather than a wide one.
2007-02-16 07:06:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
When you see him climb in there, you could try to slowly spin the wheel. I used to work at a pet store, and some of the animals honestly didn't have the foggiest idea what the exercise wheel was for. Good luck!
2007-02-22 05:38:05 · answer #5 · answered by Cynical 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My rats are active all day long but any way they don't really use their wheel either. They used it all the time when they were younger (all are about 2-3 years old now) but you can't really train a rat to use a wheel. I just suggest not feeding him as much.
2007-02-18 06:54:01 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bandit huh, that;s kind of cute. My boys hate their wheel, they like it so much, they peed on it every chance they got until I removed it.
I suppose your guy will eventually decide he wantsa to check it out, or he'll just go on ignoring it. If you want to liven him up a bit, gt him a little buddy to play with. Another male rat will make his day and you'll see a change in him. Rats should always be in pairs anyhow, they are far too social to be alone.
I've got 5 males, all diferent ages from 5 weeks old to 3 and a half years and they all play like little kids.
P.S. they are still chunky little buggers, i feed them better than myself.
2007-02-14 15:22:59 · answer #7 · answered by ? 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I had a chinchilla who did the same thing. Sometimes they just never quite figure out what it is for. Maybe you should try one of those large plastic balls? My girls love theirs, and even the one who doesn't like the wheel loves a good roll in the ball in the evenings. Other than that, I'm not really sure that you can make him want to exercise (kinda like humans that way, haha).
Good luck
2007-02-21 05:33:39 · answer #8 · answered by hmx_mail 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
rats get lazy as they get older. none of mine have ever used there exercise wheel. let him come out more to run around to get exercise. or try putting rope in the cage for him to climb up/on. also apple tree branches are good to put in his cage he will also trim his teeth down on them.
2007-02-14 21:57:48 · answer #9 · answered by madmad 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
with the rats i have had...they rather climb or be held than to run in a ball or wheel....they didn't like the ball or wheel too well....
2007-02-22 05:55:02 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋